(Left to Right: Dmitry Shorikov, Yufei (Ethan) Zhang, Rabbi Kazi, Alejandro Fiszman)

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition hosted by the CFA Institute that provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis. The competition starts with local rounds in October, followed by a regional round in April, and ends with a global final in one of the global financial centers. Students work in teams to research and analyze a publicly traded company - sometimes even meeting face-to-face with company executives and conducting conference calls.

In the local first round hosted by CFA Society Toronto, the Telfer School of Management team competed with eleven undergraduate teams from other Canadian universities such as Queen’s, the University of Toronto and Western University. Teams were tasked with the creation of an equity research report on Canadian Tire Corporation’s class A shares and providing a buy/sell/hold recommendation on the shares based on their analysis. Following evaluation and feedback from industry experts and investment professionals, the top four teams would enter the local final to present and defend their recommendations.

Ethan Zhang, Portfolio Manager of the student managed Telfer Capital Fund (TCF), is leading the Telfer Team with Rabbi Kazi (Portfolio Manager, TCF), Alejandro Fiszman (Analyst, TCF) and Dmitry Shorikov (Analyst, TCF). As a part of the challenge, Aaron Sapelak was the designated mentor for the team and Pouya Safi, Finance Lab Manager, the faculty advisor. During a two-month research period from October to December, the team dedicated upwards of a hundred hours to produce a top quality 30-page equity research report and its complementing financial models.

Only in its first participation in the competition, the Telfer team has been selected to be one of the top four finalists qualified to the local final. The team is scheduled to present their investment recommendation on February 25, 2016 in Toronto to a panel of judges. Only one of the four teams will be selected to advance to the Americas regional round on April 13, 2016, taking place in Chicago. Finally, winners from regional rounds will advance to the Global Finals on April 14, 2016, where one team from each region (Asia Pacific; Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA); Americas)  will compete to become the 2016 CFA Institute Research Challenge Champion.

For more information about the CFA Institute Research Challenge, please visit: https://www.cfainstitute.org/community/challenge/Pages/index.aspx