News Releases

KU Business portfolio wins in national competition

A student-led stock portfolio won first place in the Hybrid category of the R.I.S.E. competition.

Friday, May 4, 2007

LAWRENCE — For pulling down a nearly 30% return on their 2006 stock portfolio, students at the University of Kansas School of Business earned a first place award in the Redefining Investment Strategy Education (R.I.S.E.) portfolio competition, outperforming teams from more than 40 universities across the United States.

The KU students won in the Hybrid Category of the competition conducted earlier in April at the University of Dayton. The Hybrid Category is defined as portfolios that include short securities and/or invest in derivative securities, such as options. The Applied Portfolio Management class placed first in the Hybrid Category two years ago, as well.

The APM class was represented by Doug Goehl, Sydney Hayes and Jonathan Horne at the competition.

The student-led portfolio is part of the Applied Portfolio Management (APM) class offered by the School of Business and taught by Catherine Shenoy, assistant professor and director of APM. The class manages a real investment portfolio, currently valued at $2.4 million.

"This was a well-earned award for the students in the APM class," Shenoy insisted. "They spent countless hours researching companies in our portfolio, meeting with executives and drafting research reports. It's great to see their hard work pay off in such a big way."

Stocks with the biggest gains in the students' 2006 portfolio included a cutting-edge medical device developer, a Chinese provider of low-cost organic fruits and vegetables, a manufacturer and distributor of ceramic tiles, and a designer, manufacturer and distributor of innovative GPS technology.

The KU team was also selected as one of 12 elite teams to present their portfolios to a national panel of senior investment professionals. In their feedback to students, one judge wrote: "[The APM students] find interesting stocks and do thorough analysis and valuation. I like the global focus."

The University of Dayton sponsors R.I.S.E., and the portfolio competition is part of a larger conference that brings leading students, faculty and investment professionals together to discuss significant financial issues. This was the seventh annual R.I.S.E. forum.

KU's APM class was started in 1993 with a $250,000 gift from Kent McCarthy, an alumnus of the School. McCarthy retired from Goldman Sachs in 1994 and currently manages several hedge funds. The returns of the APM portfolio help fund an annual men's basketball scholarship and an annual MBA student scholarship.

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