A team of Clarkson University business undergraduate students placed third out of 27 teams in the Adirondack Cup, a stock-picking contest for students interested in the investment field. The competition is sponsored by Adirondack Research & Management, Inc. based in Guilderland, NY. In total, more than 200 students participated in the competition.
“The goal of this competition is to give real-life experience for economics and finance students interested in pursuing a career in financial services,” states the Adirondack Funds website. The competition ran from October 2018 to April 2019.
The members of the Clarkson team included business majors Devin Brosseau ‘19, Greg Moro ‘20, Aaron Thow ‘19, Alex Lavigne ‘19, and Caleb Adams ‘19. The team with their faculty advisor, Professor Allan Zebedee, designed a diversified small-cap portfolio focused on the cannabis industry. By selecting securities related to the cannabis industry the team was able to generate a return of 40 percent. The team’s performance outpaced the Russell 2000, an index used to measure the overall performance of small cap stocks in the U.S, by over 35 percent.
Mathew Reiner, a principal from Adirondack Research & Managementand the co-portfolio manager of the Adirondack Small Cap Fund, a no-load mutual fund established in 2005, visited Clarkson University last week. In addition to presenting the students with a trophy acknowledging their third-place finish; Mr. Reiner conducted a round-table discussion about the investment industry with students.
