UALR business students advance in global financial competition

BusinessFinance

by Talk Business & Politics staff ([email protected]) March 23, 2017 4:39 pm 256 views 

Business students of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will compete in one of the final stages of a global financial analyst competition after winning a segment of the competition Feb. 25, according to a news release.

On April 7, the team of four students will be in Seattle competing in the CFA Institute Research Challenge. This round of the challenge will include 50 teams from North, Central and South America. The top two teams of this challenge will go on to compete in the final in Prague, Czech Republic, on April 28.

“I’m proud of my team,” said faculty adviser Ashvin Vibhakar, the Joe T. Ford chair of finance for the UALR College of Business. “They’re all still pumped.” When the team won at the Mid-South competition on Feb. 25 in Memphis, it was the furthest it had ever advanced. The following are the team members:

  • Autumn Bauman, finance major from North Little Rock
  • Tanner Whisenhunt, finance major from Maumelle
  • Andrew Fielder, Master of Business Administration student from Little Rock
  • Bryan Sparks, graduate of the UA Little Rock Master of Business Administration program from Little Rock

To prepare for the competition, the team studied a publicly-traded company for about two months, looking at its earnings, management and risk. Also, the students participated in an earnings call, allowing them the opportunity to speak to company leaders. In the competition, the team gave its recommendations — buy, sell or hold — on the company’s stock to the judges who play the investors. For the Memphis competition, the students provided analysis on Mid-America Apartment Communities, a residential real estate investment trust.

For the April 7 competition, the team will update their analysis of the company with feedback from the judges. Along with help from Vibhakar, Barry McCarver, senior vice president of fixed income institutional sales for Little Rock-based Stephens Inc., prepared the team.

“I thought that was a lot of fun,” McCarver said. “They did a great job. I love working with them.