Repeat Performance

June 13, 2019

Canisius University made a repeat performance at the Global Finals of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge in April. This is the second time in five years that a Canisius team competed on the CFA finals world stage. 

This year’s team, comprised of four finance students, was one of only five to advance to the Global Finals, after securing a first place win against North and South American universities in the Americas Regional. Though Canisius succumbed to Ateneo de Manila University in the Global Finals, that a Jesuit partner school won the world championship softened the blow. 

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides university-sponsored teams with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis. Teams are challenged to research a publicly traded company, write a written report with a buy, sell or hold recommendation, and defend their analysis to a panel of industry professionals who serve as judges. The subject company for this year’s Canisius GGF team was Astronics Corporation, an aerospace and avionics provider headquartered in East Aurora, NY. 

More than 1,100 universities from around the world participated in the Research Challenge, including 485 from the United States. Canisius emerged as the number-one team in the U.S., topping some of the most prestigious universities in the country including the likes of Stanford, Cal Berkley, UCLA, MIT, Ohio State, Dartmouth and Penn State. 

In 2015, Canisius beat teams from 865 universities in 70 countries to take home the World Championship.