CFA Institute Research Challenge

Five Queen’s School of Business scholars triumphed at the annual CFA Society Toronto and Ottawa Local final of the CFA Institute Research Challenge in Toronto last week. The student team – Robert Kaptyn, Yiliu (Joyce) Kang, Raghav Khanna, Aria Samarzadeh-Vajdehfar and Jakub Sulimierski – was awarded the title of Local Research Challenge champion after facing off against student teams from Sprott School of Business/Carleton University, University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University.

The winning team members each received a prize of one thousand dollars and went on to compete against teams from throughout the Western Hemisphere at the Americas Regional final of the Research Challenge, in Denver, Colorado in March 2014. The winner of the Regional level will then progressed to the Global Final in April where the University of the Philippines, Diliman, were named CFA Institute Research Challenge Global Champions!

“CFA Society Toronto and CFA Society Ottawa represent students and professionals who hold themselves to the highest standard. After meeting our competition in the Scotia Tower, we knew it would be a tough decision for the distinguished panel of charterholders. In the end we are thrilled we executed a great presentation and our hard work was recognized.” said Team Captain Jakub Sulimierski.

The local level of the Research Challenge provides students with the unique opportunity to develop and present an equity research report, this year on Canadian retailer Loblaw Companies Limited, and compete on a global basis. Students learn from leading industry experts and their peers from the world’s top business schools. Competing universities assemble teams of three to five students who interact with Loblaw Companies Limited in researching and preparing a company analysis. Queen’s School of Business students competed against 10 other Ontario universities to earn this prestigious honour. All five students are currently enrolled in Queen’s Master of Finance – Toronto program, a 12-month program offered in Toronto aimed at working professionals.

“The CFA Institute Research Challenge is always such a high calibre and competitive event, with top-notch teams from quality schools. It is a real tribute to the efforts our students put in that they were able to come out on top. As always, it is a great experiential learning opportunity for the students, providing them with the chance to conduct real-world company analysis.” said Queen’s School of Business Team Faculty Advisor, Sean Cleary, CFA.

Student teams from the following universities will present their research and analysis of the subject company, Loblaw Companies Limited, to a panel of financial industry professionals in Toronto on February 10, 2014.

2014 Canadian Investment Research Award

CFA Society Toronto and Hillsdale Investment Management are pleased to present the 2014 Canadian Investment Research Award to Bull and Bear Markets in Commodity Prices and Commodity Stocks: Is There a Relation? The award winning paper was submitted by Christos Ntantamis, Department of Economics, Mount Allison University and Jun Zhou, Rowe School of Business, Dalhousie University.

The research paper was selected by a panel of judges from among 11 submissions. CFA Society Toronto and Hillsdale Investment Management will award a $10,000 cash prize to the winners on February 10, 2014 at CFA Society Toronto’s Annual Award Reception.

“The motivation for the paper came after observing significant buzz in the main stream media that questioned the performance of commodity stocks in view of increasing commodity prices. When we checked the academic literature to find results on how prices of commodities such as oil and gold affect stock prices of firms engaged in their production, we found mixed results. We thought that instead of focusing on the direct relation between prices, we could investigate the relation between the bull and bear markets of commodity prices and commodity stocks.” said Ntantamis and Zhou.

2014 Fellowship Award

CFA Society Toronto is honoured to reveal this year’s recipient of the CFA Society Toronto Fellowship Award. Our 2014 recipient from University of Toronto, Ding Ding, was awarded for her thesis, “Essays on Market Conditions and Corporate Investment Decision”.

“I am thrilled to win this award and am grateful for CFA Society Toronto’s encouragement for advances in financial research through this award. I thank my dissertation committee members for their guidance and my parents for their unqualified support. My research in corporate investment and financial regulations has benefited from my industry experience and I will continue to pursue an agenda that addresses challenges in both academics and practice.” said Ding who summarized key findings at CFA Society Toronto’s Annual Award Reception on February 10, 2014.

The annual award is open to doctoral candidates whose dissertation proposals have been approved by participating Canadian universities with doctoral programs in the field of finance or economics but whose final dissertation has not been approved. Dissertation proposals are judged on their potential to add to the body of knowledge about Canadian debt, equity or derivatives and other markets, with particular emphasis on regulation, accounting, corporate governance, taxation, applied securities valuation, portfolio management and performance attribution. The winning research paper was selected by a panel of industry judges and received a $5,000 cash prize.

Ding’s paper investigates how market conditions alongside investor beliefs about equity valuation, business cycles, and financial regulations affect corporate investment and performance. So far her research has determined that when there is a high level of disagreement among investors about potential returns from a firm’s investments, the firm responds by shifting a greater share of total investment into riskier projects. One explanation for this shift is to enable the manager and current shareholders the ability to sell their stakes in the firm to more optimistic outside investors and at higher prices.

Congratulations
to our 2014 Undergraduate Finance and Economics Scholarship Winners

FIRST PLACE David Marello
SECOND PLACE Nicole Dee
THIRD PLACE Mitchell Schinbein

This award recognizes students in their third year of study in a commerce or economics program at an Ontario university.