UWaterloo student winners of the Equity Research Challenge opens TSX Market

Thursday, April 10, 2014

SAF students take a selfie at the TSX market openThe top student team of the 2014 Equity Research Challenge (ERC) joined competition judges, and School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) faculty at the TMX opening ceremonies for the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday morning, April 10th, with the winning students ringing the opening market bell.

A senior level competition for students in the 4th year Accounting and Finance Equity Investments course, the ERC is designed to challenge students to aspire to industry-level thoroughness in the analysis of their assigned company. Patterned after the CFA Institute’s international Investment Research Challenge, the ERC is the final evaluation of the course taught by Prof. Craig Geoffrey.  

"The Equity Research Challenge was an exciting opportunity for us to practically apply what we learned in our Equity Investments class. Being able to present in front of a panel of experienced industry professionals was a nerve racking, exciting, and valuable experience for all of us. We would like to thank all of the judges and professors who graciously took time out of their day to be part of this competition, along with our fellow competitors who ensured the level of competitiveness was extremely high." states Courtland Livesley-James, the designated spokesperson for the team.

Students toast to their successCourtland, an Accounting and Financial Management (AFM) student, along with Hyung Kim (Computing and Financial Management - CFM), Chia Cheng Boon, David McDonald and Jeff Chen (Actuarial Science) also took home $2000 in prize money as the winning team.

A total of 88 students participated in the 2014 ERC from a mixture of University of Waterloo programs within accounting, finance, math, actuarial science, and economics. Each team presented to a panel of 9 judges from industry and within the University of Waterloo. At stake was a cash prize of $2000 and an experiential prize at the TSX Market Open. A $1000 cash prize went to the first runner-up team. The cash prizes were generously donated by Xerox and media coverage was donated by CNW Group.Group shot