The following is a news release courtesy of West Ranch High School.   

For the second year in a row, members of the West Ranch High School Stock Market Club are World Investment Champions, school officials announced Friday.

Find the link here or you can search West Ranch Stock Market on the GoFundMe site.

The competition, which had over 500 teams from all over the world, including entries from Europe, Canada, Mexico, Australia, China and India, was held at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia.

This year’s competition started in December with the finals held on Saturday, April 30. The investment competition’s objectives were for students to act as a financial analyst and compete against other teams for the account of Jack Abraham, a Wharton graduate. They were to design a diversified portfolio of investments for a 30-year time horizon and invest $100,000 in an online trading and investment simulator.  Students also developed an investment strategy and conducted a thorough analysis of both the industries and companies in their portfolio recommendation.

Project objectives were for students to learn teamwork, communication, risk, diversification, company analysis, industry analysis and investing.  Student teams that moved onto the final were to analyze one stock from their portfolio as a case study along key points from their previous report.

Fifteen teams were chosen to present their 10-minute final pitch in a high-tech conference room atop Wharton’s Huntsman Hall to a panel of four industry professionals from Aberdeen Asset Management on April 30. West Ranch was led by team captain Drake Walker with fellow team members Tristan Esquivez, Giann Espino, Sam Hassanzadeh, Gamin Kim, Garam Kim, Eunice Yi, and teacher/advisor Linda Cox.

“I couldn’t have been more proud of my team,” Cox said. “The students definitely brought their ‘A Game’ again this year. They were exceptionally strong on both qualitative, quantitative analysis, articulating their investment strategy, creativity and of course their presentation.”

West Ranch’s case study highlighted the pharmaceutical company Amgen, headquartered in Thousand Oaks.

“This year we were fortunate to have a tour from Sandy London-Gedalje at Amgen,” Cox said. “Students can study the annual reports and research the company, but it all came together when they physically walked the grounds and were able to ask questions.  It gave our team a real competitive advantage.”  

“Our competition would also not have been a success this year if it was not for our mentor help.  I would like to thank Dan Block from NWQ Investments and his team who provided their time, energy and mentorship.  Their assistance was invaluable,” Cox said.

The West Ranch team is still raising funds on GoFundMe for their travel expenses to the competition in Philadelphia.  The students won $1,500 and had raised $370.00 before the competition. Their goal is to raise another $5,000 to cover their debts.  Any donations are much appreciated.

Find the link here or you can search West Ranch Stock Market on the GoFundMe site.

The Wharton School of Business, established in 1881, is the world’s first collegiate business school.  The investment competition was sponsored by Knowledge@Wharton and Aberdeen Asset Management.