Marquette’s 2016 CFA Institute Research Challenge Teams

The CFA Institute Research Challenge offers students the unique opportunity to learn from leading industry experts and compete with peers from the world’s top finance programs.  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. 

The first ever CFA Institute Research Challenge competition was hosted by the New York Society of Security Analysts in 2002 and involved just five teams from the New York area. Since then, the competition has grown to involve tens of thousands of students from over 800 universities in more than 55 countries.

The Challenge gathers students, investment industry professionals, executives from publicly traded companies, and corporate sponsors together locally, regionally, and globally for a real world competition.  Participation in the Challenge promotes best practices in equity research and company analysis, as students research, analyze, and report on a company as if they are practicing analysts.  Additionally, all participants are introduced to and held to the standard of the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct.

How the Challenge Works: Local CFA Societies, CFA Institute, and other organizations host and launch a local Research Challenge in conjunction with their participating universities.  The universities assemble teams of 3-5 business and finance students who work directly with a company in researching and preparing a company analysis.  The team’s final presentations are locally evaluated by high-profile panels of heads of research, portfolio managers, and chief investment officers from the world’s top firms.  The local champions advance to regional competitions in the Americas, Asia, and Europe and then to the Global Finale.

O’Malley, Schulz, Canfield, Muth

The Challenge gathers students, investment industry professionals, publicly traded companies, and corporate sponsors together locally, regionally, and globally for a real world competition.  Participation in the Challenge promotes best practices in equity research and company analysis, as students research, analyze, and report on a company as if they are practicing analysts.  Additionally, all participants are introduced to and held to the standar

Wycklend, Woo, Connelly, Reardon, Tran

The CFA Society Madison is proud to host the annual local level of the CFA Institute Research Challenge in Madison.  Participating universities include two teams from Marquette University, as well as teams from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. 

The subject company is: ManpowerGroup (MAN). ManpowerGroup (formerly known as ManPower Inc.) is an American multinational human resource consulting firm headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. Manpower provides recruitment and assessment, training and development, career management, outsourcing, and workforce consulting.

Marquette students participating the Challenge include:

•          Brendan O’Malley
•          Colin Canfield
•         Conor Connelly
•          Joanne Wycklendt
•          John (Connor) Muth
•          Michael Reardon
•          Patrick Schulz
•          Paul Tran
•          Ryan Woo

Jim Stark and Eoghan Bahnson of CastleArk Small Cap Growth Fund Visited the AIM Program

Bill Walker, Jim Stark and Eoghan Bahnson

Another set of experienced equity managers visited the students in the AIM program on Friday, November 20, 2015. Jim Stark, CFA, and Eoghan Bahnson (AIM ’14) talked about the CastleArk Small Cap Growth fund.

Mr. Stark is a Vice President, Portfolio Manager, and Principal of the CastleArk Fund (http://castleark.com).  He joined the firm in 2007 and has worked within the industry since 1987. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a BBA – Finance in 1983 and from Northwestern University with an MBA in Finance & Marketing in1987.  He began his career as an equity analyst at Investment & Capital Management and then joined Kemper Financial Services as a research analyst supporting the portfolio managers, two of whom were Jerry Castellini and Bob Takazawa.

In 1993, Jim joined American Century as a small cap growth portfolio manager. After 12 years managing small cap growth portfolios, Jim teamed with Greg Baxter at M&I Investment Management. In 2007, Jim and Greg reunited with Jerry and Bob to manage the small company growth portfolios for CastleArk.

Eoghan Bahnson joined CastleArk in 2014. He graduated from Marquette University with a BSBA in Economics and Finance. He covered the health care sector as a member of the AIM program.

Mr. Stark and Eoghan talked about their team’s philosophy which is based on the belief that earnings growth is the primary driver of stock prices over the long term, and that excess return can be achieved by investing in those companies with improving business fundamentals. They discussed their investment process which included how they screen for stocks, which fundamental drivers they seek, and how they value common stock. They discussed their portfolio constructions process and talked with the students about their sell discipline.

This is the 11th portfolio team to visit the AIM program this semester and discuss their investment philosophy, strategy, and process behind their fund. These presentations provide valuable investment valuation and fundamental analysis insights. The students learn from experts and attempt to apply the same discipline as their management the AIM Small Cap and International Equity Funds.

Wells Capital PMV equity team visited the AIM program on November 18th

Krause, D’Souza and Gunderson

Students in the AIM program were treated to a presentation by veteran money managers Kurt Gunderson and Trevor D’Souza.

Mr. Gunderson is an Associate Portfolio Manager of the Wells Capital PMV team. He came to Wells Capital Management from Strong Capital Management where he was an analyst. Kurt joined Strong in 2001 as director of information technology in retirement plan services. Prior to this, he was a program manager with Ameritech. He holds a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from the University of California, Los Angeles. He also holds a master’s degree in business administration–finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Trevor D’Souza, a senior portfolio specialist for the PMV Equity team at Wells Capital Management, also attended Mr. Gunderson’s presentation. He joined WellsCap in 2014 from Great Lakes Ventures, where he served as managing director. He was responsible for strategic advisory, consulting, and transaction services to high growth technology companies as well as portfolio management for investors in private companies. Earlier in his career, he served as managing director and co-founder of Mason Wells Venture Capital Funds.

The PMV Equity team has used the same time-tested decision-making process for more than 20 years. The team believes that a company is just a stream of future cash flows—a company's worth is determined by its competitive position and the ability of its management to fully exploit the business model, resulting in a sustainable cash-flow stream. This is the company's private market valuation (PMV) philosophy:

Kurt Gunderson

• It is important to identify trends as potential headwinds or tailwinds to individual company performance. Specifically, we examine secular, cyclical, and/or internal trends.
• Due to the inherent efficiency of the markets, value and growth are not viewed as opposing strategies but rather are used in combination to uncover relative mispricing opportunities. Performance is further enhanced by effectively leveraging market emotion.
• An inherent lack of fully disclosed information dictates that public market securities typically trade in a range between 50% and 80% of their PMV—this discount exists due to the lack of transparency in the public markets.

Mr. Gunderson discussed the philosophy, strategy, and process behind their fund and provided valuable valuation and analysis insights – and he and Trevor engaged the AIM students in investment-related discussions during and after class.

Marquette University's economics team ranked third among 16 teams in this year's Fed Challenge Competition in Chicago

Updated November 17, 2015 - The Marquette University's Fed Challenge team advanced to the final round of competition. (The first round included 16 universities, including:
Northwestern, University of Chicago, Marquette,  Ball State, Notre Dame, Michigan State,  ​Central Michigan, DePaul, Eastern Michigan, Grand Valley State, IPFW,  UIC, U Iowa, UW Madison, UW Whitewater, and Carthage College).



 

Competing against some of the strongest economics programs in the Midwest, the Marquette team (with three AIM students) competed against the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and Ball State in the final round of the 2015 regional College Fed Challenge at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Northwestern, Chicago, and Marquette ranked first, second and third in the competition.

Team members include: Dustin Hwang, Mike Reardon, Colin Canfield, Sam Davel and Chris Becker. The annual competition tests students' knowledge and understanding of monetary policy. The event attracts universities in the Midwest and the winner goes on to nationals at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington, D.C. to compete against winners of the other regions.


Special thanks to out to Abdur Chowdhury, Stephen Cole, Thomas Gregg and Jose Zenteno for coaching and helping the team prepare for this year's competition.

Congratulations to Marquette's Fed Challenge Team!

AIM students presented equity recommendations at Geneva Capital Management on Friday, November 13th

Fernandez, Kretz, Johnston, Grant, Casey, Christopherson

On Friday, November 13, the AIM students traveled to Geneva Capital Management to pitch stocks. This marks the fifth time that AIM students have visited Geneva to present stocks to the investment team.

In October 2014, Henderson Global acquired Geneva Capital Management, a Milwaukee-based US growth equity manager founded in 1987 specializing in high quality growth strategies. The acquisition was an important strategic milestone in the development of Henderson’s North American business as it added a highly regarded and well respected US equity investment team and extended its US institutional client base. William Priebe, Managing Principal and Founder, and four of this team members (including AIM alumnus, Jose Munoz) met with the students and provided valuable insights to the students.

The AIM students presenting on Friday at Geneva included:

Student Presenter	Company Name	Ticker	Sector
Jack Casey	Kirkland's, Inc.	KIRK	Consumer Discretionary
Daniel Fernandez	Experian PLC	EXPGY	International Technology
John Grant	Chicago Bridge & Iron Co.	CBI	International Producer Durables
Ryan Johnston	Cohen & Steers	CNS	Financial Services
Eric Christopherson	Dorian LPG	LPG	Producer Durables
Joel Kretz	L'Oreal	LRLCY	International Consumer Staples

Their AIM equity write-ups can be accessed at:http://business.marquette.edu/centers-and-programs/aimp-student-equity-write-ups. Copies of all student presentations since the inception of the AIM program can be viewed at this web site.

Pat Brown and Tim Fotsch visit Dr. Krause’s Fixed Income Class

Two Marquette University alumni spoke in Dr. Krause’s Fixed Income class on Friday, November 13, 2015. They talked to the students about structured products (mortgage- and asset-backed securities). Both Pat and Tim have extensive experience working within the fixed income sector of the industry during the past decade.

Pat Brown, CFA, is a VP / Fixed Income at Robert W. Baird, Milwaukee. He obtained his undergraduate degree from Marquette University with a Finance major. Pat also has a Masters of Science of Applied Economics from Marquette. Tim Fotsch, CFA, is an Assistant VP of Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities at PPM America, Chicago. Tim obtained his degree from Marquette University with a Finance major.

Following class they visited the AIM Room and informally talked with AIM seniors and juniors. This is the 8^th year that Pat and Tim have served as guest speakers in Dr. Krause’s classes.

First Meeting of the AIM Class of 2017

Karen Rinehart and the AIM Class of 2017

This past Friday, November 6, 2015, the AIM Class of 2017 met as a group for the first time. Dr. David Krause (AIM program director), Jessica Hoerres (AIM program coordinator), and Karen Rinehart (Career Development director, College of Business Administration) presented information to the newly accepted group of Marquette juniors. The emphasis of the meeting was on preparing for internships.

Marquette fall morning

Even though the first AIM course is not offered until next spring for this group, they are already meeting and beginning the process of interviewing for internships. Karen Rinehart talked about the services offered by the Business Career Center and encouraged the students to attend the career fairs, networking events, and information sessions offered by firms interested in hiring Marquette students as interns and full-time employees.


Class of 2017 in the AIM Room

Within the next week, the full list of the AIM students in the Class of 2017 will be made available. Presently, a resume book of the new class is available for firms interested in identifying potential interns from this group. Please reach out to: Jessica.Hoerres@Marquette.edu for additional information.

Dr. Krause said, "This is again a very talented group of students and I look forward to working with them over the next two years."



AIM/FMA/Investment Club Welcome Tom Pence of Wells Capital Management

Tom Pence, Wells Capital Management

On Monday, November 9, 2015, nearly 200 students attended a presentation by Tom Pence and Tom Askey in Marquette University’s Alumni Memorial Union. Tom Pence, CFA, is the Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager of Wells Fargo’s Fundamental Growth funds in Indianapolis. Tom Askey, CFA, Research Analyst for Mr. Pence’s team, also spoke to the students. The title of their presentation was “Generating Growth Alpha in a Slow Growth World.”

In addition to talking about the Wells Fargo Asset Management Analyst program, Mr. Pence addressed some timely investment topics, including: Short vs. Long-Term Focused Investing; Investing for Growth in a Slow Growth World; and Building a Portfolio that will last through the cycle.



The content of the talk touched on the importance of analysts developing the discipline to develop long-term thinking and to not get overly focused on a firm’s quarterly earnings. Mr. Pence emphasized that the most reliable alpha requires a commitment to longer-term thinking and encouraged students to find situations where there is a “change dynamic” taking place. He said for the students to “be early to find and identify change.”



Marquette Finance Students at the Pence Presentation

Mr. Pence identified an interesting investment decision marking model that he noted was based on the work of Herbert Simon in his publication The New Science of Management Decision. Examples of firms that are on different parts of the wave of change brought the point home to the students – including discussions about Apple, SEIC, WOOF, and BFAM – companies that are at interesting points on the ‘change wave.’

Tom Askey, Wells Capital Management

Noting that identifying growth in the post-2008 financial crisis world is more challenging, Mr. Pence told the students to utilize Porter’s 5 Forces and to screen for companies with pricing power, wide moats and strong cash flow. He also discussed factor analysis and observed that over the past several years growth has not been rewarded --- emphasizing that balanced portfolio construction is important to prosper across the business cycle.

Dr. David Krause, AIM program director, and Mr. Pence summarized the talk and were available to answer questions afterwards. The presentation offered the finance majors an opportunity to hear from one of the nationally recognized thought leaders in the world of equity investing. Krause added, “It was a pleasure to host Tom Pence and to continue to expand our relationship with Wells Capital. Ryan Woo, a member of the AIM Class of 2016, will be joining the Pence team full-time next summer and we are hopeful to add a summer intern to the Indianapolis-based team. It was wonderful to see Tom and his research assistant, Tom Askey, on campus.”