February 28th, 2013
 

Montana State University (MSU) College of Business (CoB) team members, Justin Hestekin, Amanda Johnson and Brad Penoyer, traveled to Spokane last week to participate in the local CFA Institute Research Challenge, where they placed first, winning the local round of the competition in Spokane, WA. They competed against teams from Whitworth, Washington State, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, and the University of Montana, as well as Carroll College.

The trio of MSU CoB finance students advanced to the Americas regional round in Toronto, Canada, held on March 20-21.The regional competition hosted 46 teams spanning the Americas region with the winning team facing off in London against the winners from the Asia Pacific and Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA) regions.

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is a competition between university-sponsored teams that research a designated publicly traded company, prepare a written report on that company and then present their findings to a panel of judges. Business and finance students participating in the CFA Institute Research Challenge interact with investment professionals and top firms while gaining real-world experience in equity analysis, sell-side research report writing and presentation skills.

The MSU CoB team, coached by Peter Rubicam, CoB adjunct instructor of finance, and Eric Flynn, CoB alumnus with Bitterroot Capital Advisors, LLC, spent three months preparing an analysis of one company for the competition. Rubicam said, “I have been extremely impressed by the meticulous preparation and outstanding professionalism displayed by these students in achieving this victory.”

This is the third year that MSU CoB has fielded a team. Previous team members have said the experience was not only rewarding, but also provided them with invaluable experience. In 2011, the MSU CoB team placed 2nd at the Spokane competition. These students received support and funding from the Alderson Program in Entrepreneurship.

For more information about the competition, please contact Peter Rubicam, [email protected] or 406-994-6198.