Saudi Gazette Report

RIYADH — King Saud University won the 2020 CFA Institute Research Challenge, organized by the CFA Society Saudi Arabia, the local Saudi Arabia member society of CFA Institute, after a fierce competition.

The teams representing with Saudi universities produced a report on the financial performance of Seera Group Holding, and then presented their investment case to a panel of judges consisting of well-known investment professionals. The teams were judged according to the soundness of their analysis and investment rationale.

King Saud University will now compete against other universities in the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Regional Final, which will take place in Jordan on April 1-2, 2020. The winning team of the regional competition will then compete globally in New York on April 22 against numerous top universities from Asia Pacific and Americas regions.

Six teams that participated in this year’s challenge include King Saud University, Prince Sultan University and Dar Al Hekma University.

Ghanem Al Ghanem, President of CFA Society Saudi Arabia: “We have been hosting the research challenge in Saudi Arabia for five years and every year we witness some great projects being developed by creative and motivated students from different universities in the country. We would like to extend our congratulations to King Saud University, as well as all other universities that took part and participated in the challenge. CFA Society Saudi Arabia is proud to participate in grooming the next generation of investment professionals in Saudi Arabia, as the country continues to strengthen its stature as the preeminent financial hub in the region and beyond.”

The CFA Institute Research Challenge, is an annual, global competition in which students work in teams to research and analyze a publicly traded company and then write a research report on their assigned company with a buy, sell, or hold recommendation. The experience involves hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis from their academics at their university, and investment professionals from their local CFA Society. The competition showcases their students' capacity to synthesize large quantities of data, conduct thorough and sharp analysis, and deliver persuasive and polished presentations through effective teamwork.