Five Pitt business students win financial analyst challenge

Five University of Pittsburgh business students recently won the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge and advanced to the regional round of the competitions held in Boston.

The annual, global competition challenges students to research an assigned publicly traded company, prepare a written report and present it to the judges. Participating universities work with CFA Institute volunteers, and each team works with a mentor.

More than 5,000 students participated from 81 countries.

“The students representing the University of Pittsburgh were praised for their excellent research report, very strong performance in the Q&A session, and their diversity and knowledge, all of which are hallmarks of Pitt Business Programs,” Akin Sayrak, faculty advisor for the CFA Research Challenge and visiting assistant professor of business administration at the University of Pittsburgh, said.

The team included Taha Ahmed, Jun Jin, Yuguang Li, Ethan McCarthy, and Megan Vogel. The four undergraduates from the College of Business Administration and one graduate student from the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business are all enrolled in the course called Pitt Practicum in Portfolio Management and Security Analysis.

Nick Stone, founder and managing member of Airacobra Capital Management, served as the team’s industry mentor.