SMU’s Team MDRMS Partners has emerged tops at the national CFA Institute Research Challenge and will be representing Singapore at the Asia-Pacific Championships later this month in Sydney, Australia.
The team, comprising Han Yuding (BSc(Econ), 2nd major in Finance), Joash Lim Kai Perng (BAcc, 2nd major in Finance), Lee Jia Lin (BAcc, 2nd major in Finance), Tay Pu Qian (BBM) and Timothy Lim Fang Zhi (BSc(Econ)) had beaten eight other teams in Singapore to earn this honour.
The competition this year required the teams to analyse one of two companies - Domino’s Pizza Enterprises (ASX: DMP) and Raffles Medical Group (SGX: BSL), and make an investment recommendation to a panel of judges comprising senior professionals from leading global asset management institutions. Despite industry tailwinds from an ageing population and rising medical prices, the SMU team initiated a controversial sell call, noting Raffles Medical’s poor competitive positioning in the local market, unreasonable expectations despite a challenging venture into China, and corporate governance that was prone to risks.
Although all members of the team had to juggle between their studies, the competition as well as their part-time or full-time jobs commitments, the team remained committed, fuelled by their passion for equity research. On top of conducting a deep dive into the healthcare landscape, the team also conducted their own ground research and proprietary analysis, which contributed to their winning investment pitch.
On their win, Yuding said, "We are immensely grateful to have made it this far, and are especially fortunate to have the support of our faculty advisor, Prof John Sequeira and our industry mentor, Mr David Leow. Their insight helped sharpen our arguments and elevate the quality of our pitch."
Despite their recent victory, the team believes they still have a long way to go. "We definitely need to work on our delivery - improve the flow of the presentation, and be more succinct in our Q&A," said Pu Qian. "The upcoming Asia-Pacific round has traditionally been one of the toughest round, with 24 local teams vying for the title of Asia Pacific Regional Champions. We will be giving it our best, and really hope to do our country and SMU proud," he added.
Being an annual global competition offering students the unique opportunity to learn from leading industry experts and compete with their peers from the world’s top finance programmes, the CFA Institute Research Challenge has always been highly competitive among university undergraduates. It promotes best practices in equity research among the next generation of analysts through hands-on mentoring and intensive training in company analysis and presentation skills.
Under the mentorship of Mr David Leow and Associate Professor John Sequeira, the team will be training hard in the coming weeks. They will have to win the Asia Pacific round, in order to qualify for the Global Final, which will be held in New York, USA, in April 2019. Let’s wish them all the best!
[Featured photo: (L-R) Timothy Lim Fang Zhi, Han Yuding, Tay Pu Qian, Joash Lim Kai Perng, Lee Jia Lin.]
