A team of five students of the Faculty of Economics and Administration came runners-up in the regional final of the CFA Institute Research Challenge, a prestigious competition in equity and financial analysis. The students’ work was successful in a competition comprising 36 top teams from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The team reached the regional final, which was held at the end of April in Prague, after they won the Czech-Slovak round.
During the autumn semester, Samuel Zima, Tatiana Kološtová, Markéta Smolková, Michal Šperka, and Matěj Zabadal formed a team of equity analysts who spent their free time analysing the Moneta Money Bank. Each analyst devoted about 250 hours of their time to the competition, which paid off as they won the Czecho-Slovak round and made it through to the regional round.
“In the competition of 36 teams, we managed to advance to the regional final featuring the six best teams. This was already the best ever result for the Czech Republic. In the end, we came second,” says team captain Michal Šperka.
According to the students, it is one of the most demanding student competitions, as success depends on long-term and high-quality work. They spent eight months on the analysis.
In the regional final, which took place at the end of April in Prague, the students presented their equity and financial analysis to 300 people from more than 40 countries from across the world. They only fell a few points short of making it to the world final.
According to the students, it is one of the most demanding student competitions, as success depends on long-term and high-quality work. “We spent eight months on the analysis and our achievement means even more to us because we did it on our home turf in Prague,” adds Šperka.
This year was the seventh year when the Czech Republic participated in the competition. Overall, approximately 1,000 universities and 5,000 students from across the world took part. The Masaryk University team comprised five students from the master’s studies at the Faculty of Economics and Administration, three of which are members of the Investor’s Club.