Final Winner of CFA Institute Research Challenge Korea
- Sogang University team advances to Eastern Asia Challenge as Korea’s representatives -
▲ (From top left) Lee Sang-jun (Political Science, ‘15), Jang Han-gil (Economy, ‘15), Oh Seong-hyuk (Economy, ‘16),
Han Tae-young (Business, ‘16), Lee Yoo-jeong (Business, ‘18)
Students Lee Sang-jun, Jang Han-gil, Oh Seong-hyuk, Han Tae-young, and Lee Yoo-jeong, all of whom are enrolled at Sogang University, won the championship at the CFA Institute Research Challenge Korea (hereinafter referred to as the Korea Final), hosted by CFA Society Korea. The award ceremony was held at the Conrad Hotel in Yeouido on February 26, and along with a trophy awarded to the winning group, every team member will receive a scholarship of $850 from the CFA program (exempting the association registration fee and CFA exam fee) and will be given an opportunity to post for internships and job searches on the CFA Society Korea website.
The CFA Institute Research Challenge, for which the entire challenge is conducted in English, is a corporate investment analysis presentation competition that provides practical mentoring and intensive education on financial analysis and professional ethics to undergraduate and graduate students around the world. The students can gain practical experience by taking part in tests on report writing and presentation skills.
The competition is held in the order of ‘National (e.g. Korea Final) - Regional (e.g. Eastern Asia) - Global (Global Final),’ and the Sogang team was selected for first place in the Korea Final, meaning it will go on to represent the nation at the next level, the Eastern Asia Challenge. In the Korea Final, 15 teams (six more teams than the previous year’s challenge) applied for the challenge and displayed fierce competition. In the first round, six teams were selected through evaluations of the reports, presentations, and senior analyst assessments for applying participants via the public application channel. Following this initial round, one winning team and two runners-up with high scores were selected after the final presentation round.
The Sogang University team, the eventual winners, analyzed Samsung Biologics, a Korean company that is running the leading domestic CDMO (antibody biopharmaceutical consignment production) and biosimilar business. Through a report titled ‘Living in a Bubble,’ the team revealed that factors such as COVID treatments, vaccines, and expansion of the 4th plant were judged as elements that created an excessive bubble for the company’s stock price, and that, based on the lack of momentum in the future, investment in COVID treatments or new plant expansions could prove to become a bubble in the long run.
Student Lee Yoo-jeong said, “We tried to reflect the information from the market as much as possible in our report and worked on the delivery power of the presentation, which, we believe, helped us in securing this award. By enhancing the company analysis and valuation skills honed through the school’s academic activities, we feel like we have grown further.”
