Each year, CFA Institute hosts an equity research competition where thousands of university students from nearly 100 countries worldwide compete for the coveted title of Global Champions.

Working in teams of three to five, students gain real-world experience as equity research analysts initiating coverage on a target company. They are judged by a panel of industry professionals on the quality of their analysis, research report, and presentation.

This year, CFA Society Toronto and CFA Society Ottawa selected Cargojet Inc. as the target company. During the research period, each team had the opportunity to interview Scott Calver, the CFO of Cargojet. Once the written reports were submitted and marked, the top four teams were invited to Toronto for in-person local finals. The winning team then moved on to the sub-regionals level against other Canadian CFA Societies in March 2024, followed by the Americas regional competition in April. The global finals then took place in May 2024 in Warsaw, Poland.

2024 CFA Institute Research Challenge Global Champions from the University of Waterloo after winning their global finals in May, 2024.

Team L–R: Coco Dai, Ryan Trainor, Arnav Sheth, Aryaman Dhillon, Ronis Goel; Faculty Advisor: Steve Balaban, CFA and Industry Mentor: Jeannine LiChong, CFA (not pictured)

I sat down with the University of Waterloo team and their faculty advisor to discuss their experiences in this competition and the winning formula.

How has this competition helped you prepare for your career?

The competition taught us the fundamentals of equity research and how to apply various concepts we learned in school. We learned how to work well together on a long project, which will no doubt be useful in the future. In addition, we had to get creative with some of our research, such as interviewing industry experts to support our analysis.

What did you learn about yourselves during the process?

The Research Challenge reaffirmed our interest in finance, specifically equity research. Performing a detailed analysis of our company and its industry and learning how it operates was fascinating and something we have all become incredibly passionate about. On a personal level, we have all enhanced our financial modelling and public speaking skills and gained important experience responding to difficult questions from the judges.

What did you find to be the most difficult aspect of the challenge?

Some of us were on study terms during the challenge, while others were away on co-op, so we were not all on campus simultaneously. It was challenging at times having to connect virtually or coordinate a time and location to practice in person. However, everyone on the team was fully committed to the process. It was also a challenge to balance schoolwork and preparing for this competition.

In addition, to fully understand the company perspective, we needed to know everything about the company itself: its competitive landscape, revenue stream, cost structure, and industry dynamics. Fully absorbing this information was more challenging than initially expected.

Over the past ten years, Waterloo has won the local finals nine times (including two global champions), and consecutively for the past five years. What’s the secret formula?

From the team’s university advisor, Steve Balaban, CFA: It is simply having students who are motivated. That is it. We created an ecosystem where past students and winners set a model for the current students, who then try to live up to those expectations. The incredible mentorship and community at Waterloo also make it possible. In the end, it is all about being motivated and putting in the effort to secure the win. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.