How it Works
The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis. Students gain real-world experience as they assume the role of a research analyst and are tested on their ability to value a stock, write an initiation-of-coverage report, and present their recommendations.
How it Works
CFA Institute member societies and volunteers (referred to as Local Hosts) make this annual competition possible.
At the local level, hosts are responsible for
securing subject companies,
recruiting volunteers (such as mentors), and
inviting universities in their geographic region to participate.
Levels of Competition
Students work in teams to research and analyze a publicly traded stock — sometimes even meeting face-to-face with company management. Each team produces an initiation-of-coverage report on their assigned stock with a buy, sell, or hold recommendation and may be asked to present and defend their thesis to a panel of industry veterans.
The winner from each local competition advances to one of the three regional competitions hosted by CFA Institute: in the Americas; the Asia Pacific; and the Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions.
The winner from each regional competition will advance to the Global Final, where one team will emerge as global champion of the CFA Institute Research Challenge.