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A team from National University Singapore (NUS) has won the NUS-SGX Stock Pitch Challenge 2021, which returned this year for its seventh edition and saw a record 122 teams from 19 pre-tertiary and tertiary institutions competing.
The NUS-SGX Stock Pitch Challenge is an initiative that connects the academic and corporate worlds of equity research and investment management, and aims to encourage the younger generation to consider investing early. As a platform for students to showcase their research skills, the challenge involves students pitching their stock recommendations to a panel of judges, comprising academics, equity research analysts and finance professionals, over a period of two weeks.
Despite the competition being held largely virtually following a hiatus last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it continued to emulate the high-paced, high-intensity real-world scenarios that professionals work in. Eight teams were shortlisted and given 48 hours to prepare a final pitch to judges, following an initial round of submissions from all competing teams over 10 days. Winners were judged on the depth and rigour of analysis, presentation skills and responses at a question-and-answer session.
Chan Kum Kong, Senior Vice President, Head of Research, Singapore Exchange (SGX), said, “As retail interest in stock investing continues to grow, the importance of fundamental analysis as the backbone of sound investing cannot be emphasised enough. We are glad to resume our long-running stock pitch challenge this year, providing students with opportunities to hone their research skills and gain better understanding of risks and opportunities in ever-changing markets. We hope that this will kickstart their investing journey, and to prepare them as finance professionals of tomorrow.”
Details of the winner and runners-up are as follows:
The judges included Mr. Ian Douglas-Pennant, Executive Director, Head of ASEAN Research at UBS; Professor Lee Hon Sing, Senior Lecturer and Deputy Head of Finance Department at NUS Business School; Mr. Nicolas Van Broekhoven, Managing Director at Olija Holdings, Independent Insight Provider at SmartKarma; and Mr. Niraj Athavle, Managing Director, Head of Currencies and Emerging Markets Sales Singapore at J.P. Morgan Chase.
