Friday, March 2, 2018

Marquette University’s AIM students Advance to CFA Institute Research Challenge Regional Competition in Boston


Marquette’s Applied Investment Management (AIM) team among 54 advancing and more than 5,000 students competing worldwide


Milwaukee, Wisconsin,March 2, 2018

Marquette’s AIM program students are already making their mark in the investment management profession. The AIM team again won the Milwaukee-area final of the CFA Institute Research Challenge, an annual global competition that provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis. They will advance to the Americas Regional Challenge on 19-20 March in Boston. Students from 427 universities in the Americas Region participated in local competitions, and the Marquette’s AIM team is among 54 local winners advancing to the regional challenge.

Brooke Porath, Charles Muth, Connor Konicke, Andrew Crossman and Stephen Arcuri comprise Marquette’s team headed to Boston, along with Faculty Adviser Dr. David Krause and Industry Advisor Dr. Joseph Wall.

“The CFA Institute Research Challenge is a rigorous global competition that tests our students’ knowledge and application of investment management principles, ethics, and professional standards,” said Dr. Krause, director of Marquette’s Applied Investment Management program. “To be among the 54 teams who are moving on to the regional challenge is an incredible honor for our students, and a testament to their hard work and commitment to the competition and their futures in the investment management profession. This is eighth time in the past ten years that an AIM team has advanced to the CFA Americas Regional Challenge – and I believe this group of students will be contenders in Boston.”  

Winners of the Americas Regional Challenge will advance to the Global Final on 27 April in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where they will compete against the winners of the EMEA and APAC regional competitions. CFA Institute will livestream the Americas Regional and Global Finals so Marquette fans can watch live and cheer on the team.

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is a rigorous competition that allows teams to experience the responsibility and competitive nature of the investment management profession. The competition began in 2002 and involved just five teams from the New York area. Over the years, the Research Challenge has grown, and in 2018, involves more than 5,000 students from 1,000 universities in more than 80 countries across the globe. Recent global winners include: Barna Management School, Dominican Republic, 2017; University of Waterloo, 2016; and Canisius College, 2015. 

Marquette's AIM team advanced to CFA Americas Challenge


About the CFA Institute Research Challenge

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is a global competition that tests the equity research and valuation, investment report writing, and presentation skills of university students. This annual educational initiative promotes best practices in equity research among the next generation of analysts through hands-on mentoring and intensive training in company analysis and presentation skills. Through the course of the competition, which requires hundreds of hours of preparation, participants receive mentoring from a professional research analyst as they analyze a publicly traded company, write a professional research report, and present their research results and recommendations to a high-profile panel of experts. Points are awarded to teams on the basis of their investment case, their poise, and their ability to answer the judges’ questions. The teams are sponsored by local CFA Institute member societies or groups of volunteers, each of which previously hosted country heats of the Challenge. For more information, visit www.cfainstitute.org.





CFA Institute Research Challenge At-a-Glance
This annual global competition provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis. Students work in teams to research and analyze a publicly traded company. Each team writes a research report on their assigned company with a buy, sell, or hold recommendation and then presents and defends their analysis to a panel of industry professionals.
2018 Competition Overview
  • More than 5,000 students representing over 1,000 teams from universities in more than 80 countries have been a part of the 2018 competition.
  • Local competition breakdown:
    • Americas: 440 universities
    • EMEA: 340 universities
    • APAC: 280 universities
  • Regional competition breakdown:
    • Americas: 54 universities
    • EMEA: 40 universities
    • APAC: 24 universities
  • Global Final:
    • 5 universities
  • Regional and Global Finals will be broadcast via livestream:
Social Media Information
  • We Invite you to join the conversation and follow along the latest Twitter Feed from our 2018 Americas Regional Challenge by using our hashtag #ResearchChallenge.
  • We also suggest these tweets for your social media channel:
    • Watch the Americas Regional @ResearChallenge ‏Final Live at 4:30ET on 20 March, 2018 by visiting: http://cfa.is/AMERUlivestream #ResearchChallenge
    • Join us in wishing the @AIMprogram @MarquetteAIM team best wishes competing in the 2018 Americas Regional @ResearchChallenge in Boston on 20 March. Watch the livestream by visiting: http://cfa.is/AMERUlivestream #ResearchChallenge