Feb. 22, 2013
WTAMU COB Team Ranks in Top Five at Competition
CANYON, Texas—As a top-five finalist in the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge—Southwest U.S. Competition, the West Texas A&M University College of Business team competed Feb. 17 in the oral presentation round at the Texas Investment Portfolio Symposium (TIPS) at Rice University in Houston.
The CFA Institute Research Challenge—Southwest U.S. is an annual stock research competition hosted by the CFA societies of Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma and is a part of the global CFA Institute Research Challenge.
This year, 25 universities in the region participated in the Southwest U.S. competition, including Baylor University, Rice University, Southern Methodist University, Texas A&M University-College Station, Texas Christian University, Texas Tech University, University of Houston, University of Texas-Austin, Louisiana State University, Tulane University and University of Oklahoma.
Each team researched Rackspace (NYSE: RAX), a cloud computing company headquartered in San Antonio, and wrote a research report with stock recommendation. The WTAMU College of Business team was a top-five finalist based on the quality of their research report and advanced to the oral presentation round.
"While Texas State University and Rice University eventually won the right to advance further to the Americas Regional in Toronto, the WTAMU team did an impressive job in front of a panel of leaders in the investment community, who shared excellent comments with the team," Dr. Barbara Wang, assistant professor of finance and faculty adviser, said.
George Cason, CFA, general partner of Cason Capital Management, served as the industry mentor for the students. "His insights into the valuation of a small-cap firm such as Rackspace helped the students focus on the drivers of stock price and profits, which alleviated their research report versus the other teams," Dr. Anne Macy, WTAMU’s Gene Edwards Professor of Finance, said.
Members of the WTAMU team are listed by hometown or country, classification and major.
China
Xuan Li, graduate student in finance/economics graduate student
Vietnam
Y Ngo, graduate student in finance/economics
Huynh Pham, senior finance major
Nigeria
Chisom Ukpaka, graduate student in finance/economics,
Plainview
Kolten Wilder, senior finance major
For information about the CFA Institute Research Challenge-Southwest U.S., please visit cfasociety.org/texas/Pages/Overview.aspx. For information about WTAMU’s master’s in finance/economics program, please visit wtamu.edu/academics/finance-economics-graduate-program.aspx or wtamu.edu/academics/finance-program.aspx for the undergraduate program.
For more information, please contact Wang at 806-651-2506 or Macy at 806-651-2523.
—WTAMU—