CFA Research Institute Challenge
A team of Providence College School of Business students finished second — missing first place by a single point — in the Hartford regional finals of the CFA Research Institute Challenge.
The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition organized by local CFA Institute Societies. This challenge allows students the opportunity to work together and analyze a publicly traded company. Teams of students then create a research report accompanied by a buy, sell, or hold recommendation for the selected company and must defend their decision before a panel of industry experts.
The competition involves more than 5,700 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 1,000 universities in over 85 countries. At the Hartford competition, PC’s team fell short by one point to an MBA team from the University of Connecticut.
“The students did an outstanding job and represented themselves and PCSB in exemplary fashion,” said Matthew Callahan, practitioner faculty in the Department of Finance.
The students do all the work for the competition as part of a special topics course in finance for seniors with limited feedback from the faculty mentors and industry mentors, said Dr. Edward Szado, associate professor of finance. Team member Dan Centauro ’19 said, “The CFA Research Challenge really enhanced what I have learned during my time at PCSB and exposed me to a real-world scenario where the material I have learned can be applied effectively.”
This is not the first time that a PCSB team has received honors in the CFA challenge. In 2017, one PCSB team placed second in the competition and in 2016, two PCSB teams placed second and third in the competition. In 2015, one team from PC took home first place in Hartford, Conn. and went on to represent Rhode Island and Connecticut at the CFA Americas regional research challenge in Atlanta.
This year’s team members from Providence College are pictured from left to right:
• Daniel Centauro ’19
• Sarah Lewis ’19
• Tessa Bui ’18 ’19G
• Lindsay Blake ’19
• Yanni Anastasiou ’19
