McCoy College team advances to CFA research challenge regional

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
February 26, 2013

An undergraduate team from the McCoy College of Business Administration at Texas State University Texas have advanced to the 2013 Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge Americas Regional Finals to be held in Toronto, Canada, March 20-21.

Rene Bourgeois, Jacqueline Hummell, Scott Lanigan and Philip Wharton were named regional finalists after winning first place in the CFA Southwest U.S. Finals, sponsored by the CFA Societies of Texas.

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis and professional ethics. Students are tested on their analytic, valuation, report writing and presentation skills. The industry mentor for the Texas State team is Richard Piotrowski, CFA, from the Austin Society of Chartered Financial Analysts. Janet Payne, finance, is the team’s faculty advisor.

The 2013 Research Challenge began in November 2012 when the target company, Rackspace, was announced. The competition required students to provide an in-depth analysis of the company and produce a research report recommending a buy, sell or hold position on Rackspace. Twenty-five teams representing universities in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma were judged on the quality of their written reports, which were submitted Feb. 4. The CFA Institute announced the top five teams Feb. 11: Texas State, Rice, Texas A&M, Nicholls State and West Texas A&M. At the Feb. 16 regional finals in Houston, each team was judged on the written report, a 10-minute oral presentation and a 10-minute Q&A session. The Texas State undergraduate team took first place, edging out the Rice MBA team, which placed second.

The Texas State team will now represent the Southwest U.S. at the Americas regional finals in Toronto. Champions from four regions – the Americas, New York, Asia Pacific and Europe-Middle East-Africa will advance to the Global final in London, April 2013.