Ca’ Foscari Students in the CFA Research Challenge

The CFA Investment Research Challenge has just drawn to an end. The competition that involves universities and students from all over the world to win the title of the best team of future financial analysts. This year the Ca’ Foscari team were positioned among the top finalists on a national level.
Leading the Italian stage is the CFA Society Italy, affiliated to the CFA Institute - the global association that brings together portfolio managers, analysts, financial consultants, lecturers and other professionals in the financial sector - in collaboration with FactSet, Fidelity International and PwC.

This year the focus for financial analysis was Moncler, the Italian company operating in the global fashion luxury market through the proposal of high-end clothing garments among which their well-known duvets stand out. The challenge consists of determining the target price of the company through a careful and rigorous economic-financial analysis that took into account the Group’s previous history, the reference market, the competitive arena and the expected developments of the business object of study. Access to portals such as Bloomberg and FactSet, the analysis of consolidated financial statements and the direct meeting with Moncler’s Investor Relator, Paola Durante, at their Milan office, showed the main tools that the team has learned to use with skill experimenting in the practical feedback of many academic sources.

Despite being a small team compared to previous years, the 3 Ca’ Foscari students Giacomo Salvadego, Francesco Ratto and Glenda Sims were able to successfully compete with the 10 most prestigious universities in Italy, with a total of 47 participants, winning a place in the national final held in Milan at the PWC headquarters on 12th March.

“In many ways a learning curve and highly professional,” says Giacomo Salvadego, a member of the Ca’ Foscari team. “Nowadays it is not enough to follow the established l academic courses, we must learn to seize every opportunity that the university provides such as the CFA Investment Research Challenge. Of course it isn’t easy to balance lectures and exams alongside extra-curricular projects, but I am convinced that commitment and sacrifice will always be recognised.”

The team is supported by the professors Monica Billio, Elisa Cavezzali, Gloria Gardenal and mentor Lorenzo Rigamonti, to whom the team dedicates special thanks for having made their skills available and giving up their time for the competition.