Sprott students win Van Berkom JMSB Small-Cap Case Competition
A team of Sprott Bachelor of Commerce students proved their investment knowledge by winning the Van Berkom JMSB Small-Cap Case Competition, which took place over the weekend at Concordia University in Montreal.
Over the two days of competition, Carlos Cantafio, Chris McClure-Koutsikaloudis, Oleh Reive and Kyle Stolys rose to the top of the nine finalist teams, most of which were comprised of MBA and Master of Finance students. In addition to the winner’s title, the team also received a $3,000 cash prize.
“Witnessing the transformation that these students went through was exciting,” says Howard Nemiroff, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies at Sprott and one of the team’s coaches. “They had to trust each other’s strengths all while trying to wrap their heads around the difficult valuation of a small-cap company. Competing against schools from Canada and the US, and against MBA students as well, they more than rose to the challenge.”
“I think our strength against the competitors was our experience in equity analysis,” says Kyle Stolys, fourth year finance student. “Three of us are on the Sprott Student Investment Fund and have had experience in researching companies for our portfolio. That experience was very synonymous with the competition where we had to analyze and value a company, and make a buy or sell recommendation.”
Kyle adds that the key difference between their experience on the fund and the case competition was the three hour time constraint to perform the valuation and make a decision.
“The old saying ’90 per cent perspiration, 10 per cent inspiration’ really applies to our win,” says Chris McClure-Koutsikaloudis, third year finance student. “Our team had gone through several full simulations of the case competition before we left for Montreal. Our preparation gave us a solid structure and comfort level with the format of the competition.”
For each round in the competition, teams were invited to a simulated analyst call. Sebastien Van Berkom, CEO, and senior associates of Van Berkom & Associates acted as management of the chosen company. Each team was able to ask the management two questions and determining the best questions to ask was a challenge for the Sprott team.
“Additionally, we were given more information on the company than we expected. In the first round we struggle with information overload and had to make a serious adjustment for the second round,” adds Kyle. “Thankfully, we still managed to perform well on both days, but the first day was a struggle.”
Kyle credits the team’s win to the hours the team spent preparing and practicing for the competition and the guidance of Sprott Competes faculty coaches, Emily Gray, Linda Schweitzer and Howard Nemiroff.
“The most meaningful aspect of the competition was the opportunity to hear feedback from top portfolio managers, who served as the judges of our presentations,” says Chris. “When our school name was called as the winner of the competition, I was incredibly surprised and proud of what we had accomplished.”
About Sprott Competes
Sprott Competes is the Sprott School’s case training and competition program. Selected students take part in intense training to prepare for case competitions under the guidance of faculty coaches and industry mentors. To be eligible for a Sprott Competes team, students must have completed or be currently enrolled in BUSI 3800: Business Case Analysis.