Sprott Finance students win third place in the Economist’s investment case challenge

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A team of undergraduate Finance students in the Sprott School of Business won third place in the Economist’s worldwide investment case competition.  Kevin Pei, Kyle Stolys and Peter Tewolde, all members of the Sprott Student Investment Fund, were awarded a $3,000 cash prize for well-constructed financial analysis.

In the Kerrisdale Capital Investment Case Study Competition, teams of three students from leading universities around the world were tasked to find a billion dollar company that the team predicted to go bankrupt by 2020.

“When we signed up for the competition we had no idea what kind of case we could expect,” said Kyle Stolys, third-year Bachelor of Commerce Finance student in the co-op stream. “We knew from other case competitions that typically all participants would be given one company or one market event to research and evaluate. This competition was quite different and much more open ended then we were expecting; giving us the freedom to choose practically any large company that we believed could go bankrupt by 2020.”

The competition kicked off in February and attracted 17 teams from universities in Asia, Europe, and the United States. Sprott was the only Canadian team in the competition. Teams were presented the challenge and had two weeks to choose a firm and submit a written report. The team then had one week to prepare a 15-minute video presentation that was webcasted live.

After thorough research and analysis, the Sprott team predicted Sears Holdings Corporation would be bankrupt by 2020. Check out Kevin, Kyle and Peter’s submission.

“Leading up to the results I knew we had a strong submission but had no idea what the judges would conclude,” said Peter Tewolde, fourth-year Bachelor of Commerce Finance student. “My team was strong and we put our hearts into this competition to help give Sprott the exposure it deserved. When I found out the results it felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders.”

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Kevin, Kyle and Peter were encouraged to enter the competition by Professor Howard Nemiroff, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies at Sprott and faculty advisor for the Sprott Student Investment Fund.

“The competition was exciting and unlike anything we’d ever done before,” said Kyle. “We are so used to research and looking at good companies that are in an excellent financial position and have tremendous potential over the long term. But in this competition, we had to completely switch our way of thinking.

“The most difficult part was making a company selection. There was a risk when selecting a company that part way through our research we would realize it wasn’t so bad. So we were very careful in our selection process and in ultimately choosing Sears, and I think we absolutely made the right choice.”

“Sprott is a great school with a passionate group of students,” added Peter. “I hope this win can fuel future ambitions and give the student body the motivation needed to test their limits. I’m happy to have helped bring the win to Sprott and my teammates surely feel the same.”