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(L to R): Stefan Dilger, Jaime Cahill, Matthew Cheung, Allison Dolan, Marc Henley

After months of research and the submission of a 27-page report, five Dalhousie students were named runners-up in the 2017 local-level Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge, hosted by the CFA Society’s Atlantic Canada chapter.

Jaime Cahill, Matthew Cheung, Allison Dolan and Marc Henley are all finance majors in Dalhousie’s Corporate Residency MBA program. Stefan Dilger majors in accounting in the Commerce program. Coached by faculty advisor Dr. Jun Zhou, the team entered the CFA competition in October, and has been working since then on its submission and presentation. The local competition culminated on March 11 with six Atlantic university teams competing, four of which were chosen to present to a panel of judges.

Begun by the New York Society of Security Analysts in 2002, the Research Challenge has since expanded to over 900 universities in 75 countries. The competition occurs annually and sees student teams analyze and research a publicly traded company; for the recent competition, Dalhousie and other Atlantic teams studied Empire Company Limited. Each team submits a research report recommending a buy, sell or hold status for the company, and the top teams defend their report and recommendation to a panel of finance professionals.

Aside from having Zhou as a faculty advisor, the Rowe students received guidance from an industry mentor, Matthew Towns, vice-president of SeaFort Capital. After a tough competition, Dalhousie’s team was named runner-up, second place among the six Atlantic schools. Saint Mary’s University will advance to the Research Challenge’s Americas regional level, where the team will compete against others from the United States, Canada and Latin America. The winner then advances to the global final, to be held this year in Prague.

Zhou is pleased that her students were able to participate. “The Research Challenge is a unique experiential learning opportunity for our students,” she says. “The knowledge and experience gained through this competition will definitely contribute to their career development in the future.”