Congratulations go out today to the five-person Golden Griffin Fund (GGF) team, which finished in the top two percent, worldwide, at the CFA Institute Research Challenge (America’s Regionals) that took place in Seattle, WA on April 6 – 7. A total of 1,100 universities competed in 100 regions of the world. The GGF team was comprised of the following students: Jesse Caulkins ’16, MBA ’17 (team captain), Cory Cullen ’17, Meghan Federico ’17, Auston Ingram ’17 and Jeffrey Spencer ’17.
The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides university-sponsored teams with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis. Specifically, the competition tests the analytic, valuation, report writing and presentation skills of students studying business, finance and economics. Teams are challenged to research a publicly-traded company and write a written report with a buy, sell or hold recommendation. Teams must then present and defend their analysis to a panel of industry professionals who serve as judges in the competition.
The subject company for this year’s Canisius GGF team was Columbus McKinnon Corp. The company is a leading worldwide designer, manufacturer and marketer of material handling systems and services, which efficiently and ergonomically move, lift, position or secure material. Key products include hoists, cranes, and lifting and rigging tools. Columbus McKinnon is listed on the NASDAQ exchange under the CMCO ticker symbol.
“The Canisius team did an outstanding analysis, report and PowerPoint presentation on Columbus McKinnon Corp.,” says Richard A. Wall, PhD, professor of finance and the Canisius team advisor. “They spent four months and hundreds of hours, each, outside of class – with no academic credit attached to it – preparing for this competition.” Wall continues, “Their preparation included a carefully coordinated presentation script, presented as a team and choreographed to translate months of research into a 10 minute delivery that informs judges about the foundations for their recommendation.”
Established in 2003, the GGF is one of the region’s first real-money, equity investment funds managed by undergraduate and graduate finance majors. GGF students select potential companies in which to invest, manage and analyze portfolio holdings, and evaluate and recommend companies to add to the portfolio. In February, this same GGF team took home first place in the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge of Western New York, held at Canisius College. This was the seventh consecutive win for Canisius at the WNY challenge. The team secured its WNY win over the University of Rochester (second place) and SUNY Geneseo (third place), as well as Cornell University, Syracuse University, SUNY Buffalo and SUNY Oswego. In 2015, a five-person team from the Golden Griffin Fund placed first over more than 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students from 865 universities in 70 countries to take home the CFA global championship.
The Chartered Financial Analyst Institute is a global association for investment professionals. It administers the CFA and Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM) curriculum and exam programs worldwide; publishes research; conducts professional development programs; and sets voluntary, ethics-based professional and performance-reporting standards for the investment industry. The institute has approximately 142,000 members in 159 countries, and membership societies in 73 countries around the world.
Submitted by: College Communications
