SINGAPORE: A team from Singapore Management University (SMU) has emerged as this year’s winner at the NUS-SGX Stock Pitch Challenge finals, held at Singapore Exchange (SGX).[the_ad id=”31605″]The NUS-SGX Stock Pitch Challenge is an initiative to connect the corporate and academic worlds of equity research and investment management, while getting the younger generation to start thinking about investing earlier. Now into its sixth year, the annual two-day competition provides a platform for students to pit against each other by pitching their stock recommendations to a panel of judges, comprising academic, equity research analysts and finance professionals.

The competition encourages young retail investors to use equity research to support their investment decisions. In the process, they will be able to better understand the role of equity analysts, which can in turn pique their interest in becoming research professionals in future. This initiative is also aligned with the objectives of MAS’ Research Talent Development and Research Initiative Grant to strengthen the pool of research talent in Singapore.

As part of the competition, participating teams were given five days to submit a research report with a recommendation on a single stock. Eight teams were subsequently shortlisted as finalists and given a short window of 48 hours to prepare the final presentation, emulating the high-paced, high-intensity real-world environment where finance professionals like investment analysts and asset managers work in. The judging criteria included the depth and rigor of analysis, presentation skills and responses at the question and answer session.

A record 117 teams from 11 pre-tertiary and tertiary institutions participated in this year’s competition. They are from National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, NUS High School, Anglo Chinese School (Independent), Raffles Junior College, Singapore Institute of Management, Singapore Management University, Singapore University of Technology and Design, University of London, Yale-NUS College and York University.

Chan Kum Kong, Senior Vice President, Head of Research and Products, SGX, said, “The annual NUS-SGX Stock Pitch Challenge provides the students with the experience of pitching stocks in a competitive environment and learning key investing concepts and techniques from industry professionals. We are delighted to support NUS Investment Society once again, and we look forward to reaching out to a wider group of students to support their aspirations to become research professionals. Students can sign up for research training programmes at the SGX Academy.”