Seton Hall Team Wins Challenge

In the most competitive year yet, the team from Seton Hall University’s Stillman School of Business won the Fourth Annual NYSSA Investment Research Challenge. The finals were held on April 20 at Bloomberg LP.

The judges agreed that this year’s presentations were the best to date, with Seton Hall achieving top scores for both the written report and the presentation. Seton Hall was followed by the NYU Stern School of Business in second place, Fordham Business School in third place, and Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business grabbing fourth. Gold Sponsors of this year’s Challenge were Bloomberg LP, CFA Institute, and The Dreyfus Corporation.

“I thought the quality of the presentations was the best in my three years as a panelist,” remarked Stephen J. Buell, PhD, director of global equity research at Prudential Equity Group. “This company’s business model was easier to grasp than in past years, and the students were able to delve a bit deeper with their analysis. The Seton Hall report is one of the best I’ve read.”

Each team had 10 minutes to convince Buell and the expert panel of their recommendations on Aqua America, Inc. (NYSE: WTR), the largest U.S.-based, publicly traded water utility. Buell was joined on the panel by chair Martin S. Fridson, CFA, president of FridsonVision LLC and publisher of Leverage World; John J. Apruzzese, CFA, head of equity management at U.S. Trust; Stephen E. Canter, chairman and CEO of The Dreyfus Corporation and vice chairman of Mellon Financial Corporation; Tim Craighead, vice president at Goldman, Sachs & Co.; and Jack Rivkin, executive vice president of Neuberger Berman, LLC.

The Challenge is an eight-month educational initiative in which leading industry professionals teach students from top area business schools best practices in securities research. The Seton Hall students got a taste of life as an analyst when they spent a day with Buell’s equity research team at Prudential on May 9.

To reach the finals, the teams had previously bested students from Columbia Business School; The Lubin School of Business at Pace University; Rutgers Business School—Newark and New Brunswick; The Peter J. Tobin College of Business at St. John’s University; and Yale School of Management.

“I don’t think I have ever been part of a more challenging group assignment than this one,” said Seton Hall student Bradford Muller. “This truly tested both our financial knowledge and our abilities to work as a unit.” His teammate Matthew Walters remarked, “As an undergraduate, I never expected to have the chance to participate in anything like this. Learning about a company intimately enough that I could answer any number of questions about its operations, its environment, and its future, was very rewarding.” According to Yihong Huang, “Equity research is a process of trial and error, and a combination of scientific calculation and personal intuitive feeling. During this process, I gained knowledge, developed skills, earned experience, and widened my horizon.” Mark Stodden expressed a similar sentiment: “The challenge is a great event that affords business students access to financial professionals who would be otherwise out of reach. Through the process I have gained insight into the industry and some real credentials that I can carry forward.” 


Gold Sponsors:

 

 

Silver Sponsors:

 

 

From NYSSA News, June, 2006