BIG CHALLENGE.

BIGGER OPPORTUNITY.
Thank You to Our Sponsors

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CFA Society Orange County is Pleased to Bring You
the CFA Institute Research Challenge

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CFA Institute Research Challenge

• Worldwide intercollegiate competition between

teams of students
• Unique educational opportunity to apply what you
have learned in the classroom to real-world
practice in equity research
• Organized by local CFA Society volunteers
• Winners from the local competitions advance to
one of the three regional competitions,
culminating in a global final

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 How it Works

1. Local CFA Society volunteers work in conjunction with

participating local universities to assemble teams of 3–5
business and finance students

2. Each team works directly with a mentor to research and prepare

an equity research report on a publicly traded company

3. Team findings are locally evaluated by high-profile panels of

heads of research, portfolio managers, and chief investment
officers from some of the world’s top firms

4. Local champions advance to regional competitions in the

Americas, Asia Pacific, and EMEA, and then to the global final

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Benefits

• Real-life learning experience as an Equity Analyst

• Get in-depth training in company analysis and
presentation skills
• Develop your resume/CV
• Get hands-on mentoring
• Network with professionals and peers to make
inroads within the industry
• Travel to regional and global competitions, if you
advance

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Global network of the world’s top
business and finance students

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 2018 Research Challenge Recap

5,700+ 4,000+ 150+

Students Volunteers CFA Societies

1,100+ 112 85
Universities Local Challenges Countries

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 2018 Research Challenge Results

5 Regional Champions 2018 Global Champions

Sunway University,
Malaysia

University of Lausanne,
Switzerland

112 BI Norwegian Business

School, Norway
Local Challenges
Jacksonville University,
United States

University of Minnesota
University of Lausanne
Duluth, United States
Representing
CFA Society Switzerland

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 2019 Regional and Global Competitions
Winners from the local competitions this year will advance to one of three regional competitions hosted in New
York, Sydney or Switzerland, culminating in a global final in New York City.

Americas Regional Asia Pacific Regional EMEA Regional

and Global Final 28-29 March 2019 10-11 April 2019
23-25 April 2019 Sydney, Australia Zurich, Switzerland
New York, USA

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 PARTICIPATING TEAMS
University Faculty Advisor
California Polytechnic, Pomona Majed Muhtaseb, CFA

California State University, Fullerton Michael Milligan

California State University, Long Beach Peter Ammermann, PhD

Chapman University Fadel Lawandy

University of California, Irvine Todd Richey, CFA

University of California, Riverside Jean Helwege

Azusa Pacific University Kevin Kurimoto, CFA

California Baptist University Adele Harrison, PhD

La Verne University William Hippler, PhD

University of Redlands Renee Hall

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 COMPETITION TIMELINE

Today Kick-Off
Next 10 days Preliminary Research
November 9, 2018 Register with CFA Institute
TBD Company Presentation
TBD 1st Draft Due to Mentor
February 8, 2019 Final Report Due
Interim Report Grading
March 1, 2019 Local Final Presentations
April 23-24, 2019 Regional Final
April 25, 2019 Global Final

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 Rules Overview
• Each team consists of 3-5 students
(undergraduate or graduate)
• Universities may form up to two teams
each, depending on Local Host rules
• Students must be enrolled in the
university they represent and registered
for at least a part-time course load at the
time of the kickoff meeting
• Reports and presentations must be the
students’ original work
• Students may not have contact with the
subject company outside of organized
events
• Students may not enlist the help of any
professionals other than the mentor or
faculty advisor
• Mentors and faculty may NOT contact the
company
• Mentors, faculty, and subject company may
NOT provide material non-public information
• Written reports must conform to the
guidelines set forth by CFA Institute and
include the cover and back pages provided
by CFA Institute
• Teams may not use props in their oral
presentations
• Students, mentors, and faculty must all
agree to abide by the CFA Institute Code of
Ethics and Standards of Professional
Conduct
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 Advisor and Mentor Involvement
Faculty Advisor
• Insight and guidance on
research methods and tools as
taught in academia
• 10 hours maximum of
productive time
• Access to faculty for other
projects unrelated to the
Research Challenge is
permitted
• All work must be the original
work of the students
Industry Mentor
• Insight and guidance on industry
practice
• 6 hours maximum of productive
time
• Face to face or virtual
• Company management
question development
• Review first draft of research
report
• Presentation development
assistance
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 Ethics Resources

• Ethical Standards for Investment

Professionals: An Interactive
Case-Based Course
• Ethics Course Module 2:
Standard II—Integrity of Capital
Markets
• Ethics Course Module 3:
Standard III—Duties to Clients
• Ethics Course Module 6:
Standard VI—Conflicts of Interest
• Ethics Course Module 7:
Standard VII—Responsibilities as
a CFA Institute Member or CFA
Candidate

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Sample Report

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 Report Scoring
Maximum
Section Points Comments

Business Description 5

Industry Overview &

Competitive Positioning 15

Investment Summary 20

Valuation 20

Financial Analysis 20

Investment Risks 15

Corporate Governance 5
Total 100

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Sample Presentation

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 Presentation Scoring
Criteria Maximum Notes
Financial Analysis Financial Analysis
Points

• How thorough was their analysis of the How thorough was their
analysis of the industry, 25
industry, company, and competitors? company, and competitors?

Valuation Valuation
Were the valuation
• Were the valuation methodologies methodologies appropriate
25

appropriate and detailed? and detailed?

Presentation
Presentation How effective/convincing
was their presentation? Was
• How effective/convincing was their it logical and did the facts 20
support the
presentation? Was it logical and did the recommendation?
facts support the recommendation?
Question & Answer
Question & Answer Were they able to answer
the questions effectively and 20
• Were they able to answer the questions with confidence?

effectively and with confidence?

Team Involvement
Team Involvement Team involvement in the
5
presentation/questions and
• Team involvement in the answers
presentation/questions and answers
Materials
5
Materials Quality of slides

• Quality of slides Total 100

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 Subject Company

Cubic Corporation (NYSE: CUB) is a market-leading, technology provider Interacting with Cubic
of integrated solutions that increase situational understanding for
transportation, C4ISR and training customers worldwide to decrease urban • Designated officers ONLY
congestion and improve the militaries’ effectiveness and operational • Organized communications ONLY
readiness. Cubic Transportation Systems is a leading integrator of payment
and information technology and services to create intelligent travel solutions • Industry mentor or faculty advisor
for transportation authorities and operators. Cubic Mission Solutions must be present for all student-
provides networked Command, Control, Communications, Computers, subject company interactions
Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities for
defense, intelligence, security and commercial missions. Cubic Global • Students may contact and survey
Defense is a leading provider of live, virtual, constructive and game-based company suppliers, customers,
(LVC-G) training solutions for the U.S. and allied forces. vendors, etc.

Website: https://www.cubic.com/
Founded: 1951
Fulltime Employees: Nearly 5,500
CEO: Brad Feldmann

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 Up for the Challenge?
1. Visit the CFA Institute Research Challenge
website: www.cfainstitute.org/researchchallenge

2. Register for the competition

• Students │ Faculty/Mentors
• Peruse educational materials selected
specifically for participants
• Watch videos of past presentations
• Americas 2018 │ Global 2018
• View past reports from winning teams

3. To be eligible to travel to the Regional

Challenge students MUST register on the CFA
Institute website using the registration
information above.

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Opportunity Starts Here

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Questions?