Finance students in the Lucas College and Graduate School of Business have proven their financial skills, securing first place in the prestigious CFA Institute’s Investment Research Challenge for the Northern California Region. This achievement, awarded by the CFA Society San Francisco, highlighted the team’s success against 14 other competitors, including strong contenders such as UC Berkeley and Chico State, in a rigorous competition that tests real-world financial analysis skills.
The CFA Institute’s Investment Research Challenge is a globally recognized annual event that provides aspiring financial analysts with intensive training in financial analysis and professional ethics. Students take on the role of a research analyst. The challenge tests students’ ability to value a stock, write an initiation-of-coverage report, and present their recommendations to a panel of senior industry professionals.
The winning team was guided by faculty advisor and mentor, Stoyu Ivanov, professor of finance and Gloria and Michael Chiang Investment Fellow, and was composed of current finance students: Ocean Arya, CEO of the Forest Systems Student Managed Investment Fund, president of the Banking and Investment Association (BIA), and board member of the Silicon Valley Aggressive Growth Fund; Shruthi Nagapuri, VP of communications of BIA and junior analyst of the Forest Systems Student Managed Investment Fund; Christopher Soto, CFO of the Forest Systems Student Managed Investment Fund, VP of marketing of BIA and board member of the Silicon Valley Aggressive Growth Fund; and Sarah Saiyed, a fall 2024 finance graduate.
“[The competition] gave me the opportunity to assume the role of a financial/research analyst which is one of my dream career roles, so it was an overall challenging and insightful experience,” shared Saiyed.
Mentorship
“It was a great opportunity to meet and learn from professionals in the industry, and we are grateful for all the help we received from Professor Ivanov, our advisor, and Lucas Wear, our mentor,” shared Shruthi Nagapuri, ’25 Finance.
TriNet’s Executive Director of Treasury, Lucas Wear, CFA, has been advising and providing valuable feedback to the SJSU CFA teams for more than seven years.
“He is incredibly smart and definitely helped us win the competition,” said Ocean Arya, ’25 Finance.
Professor Ivanov is very proud of the accomplishments of his students, sharing that they “went above and beyond their curriculum expectations by participating in this global competition.”
“By winning the competition they supercharged their knowledge in the field of finance and valuation, and positioned themselves better in their job search and career progression.”
Head start in finance courses
Christopher Soto, a fourth-year Finance major who will graduate in Spring 2025, said that he prepared for the challenge by studying reference materials from past winners’ reports and presentations. He added that his finance classes also helped him get ready for the competition.
Christopher Soto, ’25 Finance, poses with the team trophy.
“The finance classes that I’ve taken so far have given me a great foundation to begin analyzing company financial data, how to create concise presentations and how to consider external factors like macroeconomics or competitive advantages.”
The experiential learning from the CFA competition allowed him to build upon his current knowledge by learning from experienced industry professionals and mentors.
“Now that I’ve gone through the first round, it has given me a head start in my corporate valuations class as there is considerable overlap of material.”
Soto emphasized the significant time commitment required for the challenge but stressed the immense rewards in terms of knowledge and networking.
“For students interested in the CFA challenge, it was a big time commitment for a lifetime reward of knowledge and networking,” Soto said. “I believe that I’ve already gained much more than I put in, and that’s the best type of investment.”
The team will move on to the Western Region Competition which will kickoff on March 4, 2025.
Excellent results, thanks to excellent training, and excellent students. Such “dry runs” are immensely helpful before entering real-world financial analyses. That our students achieved first place in a fiercely competitive environment speaks well for the value of their education at our Business School.