FSB team takes top spot in CRC Intercollegiate Stock Pitch Competition
Cleveland Research Company holds event at Miami University for 16th year
FSB team takes top spot in CRC Intercollegiate Stock Pitch Competition
Cleveland Research Company holds event at Miami University for 16th year
A team of Farmer School of Business students took first place in the 16th annual Cleveland Research Company Intercollegiate Stock Pitch Competition last Friday.
The competition involves teams of two to four students who pitch a long or short equity position on a company with a 3 to 12 month horizon. Presentations are judged on the quality of the investment pick and rationale, the quality of the presentation, and the team’s ability to field questions.
The team of Alex Nahigian, Courson Kauffman, Jack Mercer, and Dhritik Manchaiah won against an Ohio University team in a final pitch-off between the top two teams. A team from the University of Minnesota-Duluth earned third place.
The pitch-off, held in front of all the competing teams, was a part of the competition introduced for the first time during last year’s event.
“I think that it really highlights things for students to see what a great pitch looks like and see how to handle Q and A. I think the students benefit a lot watching what works and what doesn't work in other presentations,” Vince Ciepiel ‘11, partner and senior research analyst at CRC, said.
This was the third competition since the event, originally only for Miami students, was opened to all colleges. More than 200 teams submitted proposals this year – a new record, Ciepiel said. The top 16 teams from more than a dozen universities were invited to Oxford for the finals.
“Students are looking for experiences when they're in school. There's what you can learn in the classroom and what you can learn out of the classroom and applying some of those things you learn in the classroom in extracurricular competitions like this is something I think students around the country are hungry for,” Ciepiel said.
The competition also included a midday symposium where Ciepiel interviewed several of the competition’s judges about their careers and experiences.
“There's a lot of things students can be doing these days. It's pretty cool to see the passion and ambition level. Some of them do this for class, but this takes a lot of time, time that could have been doing something else,” he said. “We just love to see that fiery spirit and that determination to tackle a very complex problem, and not an easy problem to solve. I love to see the students try to tackle it.”
