A team from the Graduate School of Business Administration won a prestigious case competition on Feb. 25 as part of the New York Society of Security Analysts’ (NYSSA) Eighth Annual Investment Research Challenge.
Graduate students Jonathan Ball, Alex Lik Hang Ng, Thomas Messineo and Ravi Misra made up the four-person squad that defeated teams from 15 schools, including Cornell, Yale, Columbia and Rutgers universities. They were assisted by John Hunter, Ph.D., clinical assistant professor of finance and economics, and industry mentor Thomas Galvin.
Fordham will compete against teams from around the world at the CFA Institute Global Investment Research Challenge on April 17 in Hong Kong.
“This is the second time during the eight-year annual competition that Fordham’s team has won, an exceptionally high batting average considering that 16 or more teams compete each year,” said Robert F. Himmelberg, Ph.D., interim dean of GBA.
“The team members themselves and their experiences preparing for the competition tell us a good deal about the Graduate School of Business Administration. They are students from diverse national backgrounds, and they worked together harmoniously and cooperatively to achieve success.
“They are quick to acknowledge the value of the tools and methodologies they received from our finance faculty,” Himmelberg said. “That they have developed a strong sense of commitment to excellence is evident from the determination they showed as they won out over a very talented roster of competitors.”
The Investment Research Challenge is an educational initiative in which leading industry professionals teach business and finance students how to research and report on a publicly traded company. The contest spans one academic year and consists of the following components:
• training in research and report writing;
• mentoring by a professional research analyst;
• assessment of written reports; and
• presentation of research to a panel of Wall Street experts.
The four finalist teams—Fordham, Cornell, Rutgers and Stony Brook—presented their research on Feb. 25. The Fordham team was chosen the winner based on the combined scores for the written report and the presentation.
As part of their victory, the Fordham team had the honor of ringing the closing bell at NASDAQ on March 1.
