Carson College of Business students win investment pitch competition

Washington State University Carson College of Business students in finance Professor Mario Reyes's senior-level investment analysis class recently earned the Fred Dickson Memorial Award in an investment pitch competition.

The award recognizes the most outstanding participating school in the D.A. Davidson student management investment program that allows students at 21 Pacific Northwest colleges and universities to compete and provides them with $50,000 to invest in the stock market.

The WSU team earned a $2,000 cash award and an exclusive future event between WSU participants and D.A. Davidson's wealth management research team.

WSU has been the top performing school for two consecutive years.

During the 2023-2024 competition year, the WSU portfolio generated more than 52.8%, the highest return of all competitors. WSU was also the top-performing school for the prior program year, in which they generated a total return of more than 44.55% for their portfolio.

Former student gives back by coadvising the investment team

"It has been such an honor to participate with WSU in their achievement as the highest performing university for two consecutive years along with winning the Fred Dickson Award this year," said Rusty Schatz, D.A. Davidson senior vice president and financial advisor. "It has been a great journey to see Dr. Reyes teach his students the fundamentals of analyzing companies and then see them apply their knowledge to make decisions on what to own within the portfolio."

Schatz, a former student of Reyes, coadvises the WSU team as students research, analyze, and choose companies to own within the portfolio. He said the program has been a great tool to help them become familiar with researching and owning actual investments.

"The knowledge you gain from the practical experience offered by the D.A. Davidson competition is unequaled to what you gain from lectures alone," said Lainey Slish, who aims to become a certified financial analyst after graduation. "A substantial amount of information I learned from this experience is discussed heavily in the CFA level 1 exam textbooks, providing me with great assistance in my exam preparation."

Investing experience prepares students for life and careers

Reyes builds the stock pitch project into his curriculum, which focuses on investment objectives, modern portfolio theory, valuation, equilibrium, market efficiency, and types of assets. Students develop their grasp of these concepts through a combination of lectures, Bloomberg financial and economic data, and their own research on companies, such as Apple, Samsung, and Micron, that develop semiconductor devices like transistors and integrated circuits.

A benefit of the learning is gaining an understanding of the industry, risks that come with it, and how companies combat those risks.

"The most challenging aspect was to come up with our valuation of the stock. Valuing a stock is something that is both subjective and subject to data analysis. We analyze data and information available to us to be able to value the company, but it is up to us to determine how optimistic we are about the company's potential," said Matthew Torgeson, who is majoring in finance and accounting. "We were able to overcome this because of how well Apple has done historically and how much of a hold they have on the market."

For finance major Aaron James, the most challenging part of the competition was accurately forecasting the price of the stick pitches with high volatility in the markets during election season.

"The most valuable experience I got from the experience was the ability to do my own stock evaluation so I can invest throughout my life," he said.

According to Brenna Pederson, a finance and accounting major, it can be easy to move through college, get passing grades, walk at graduation, and call yourself a "finance major."

"This competition allowed me to understand investing," she said. "But instead of simply understanding course material, I had to physically apply my skills to develop a viable stock pitch. Being proud of what you have created is an amazing feeling."

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