Axe ’Em, Jacks!
The Mast Student Investment Roundtable provides finance students with hands-on experience in managing an equity portfolio. One of only a few such programs in the country available to undergraduates, the program affords SFA business majors the opportunity to obtain real-world experience in the field of investments by managing over $670,000 of real money provided by the SFA Alumni Association and the SFA Foundation. Student Investment Roundtable members analyze and select stocks, make investment decisions, manage the portfolio and present their results according to industry standards.
The Mast Investment Roundtable, led by Director Dr. Todd Brown, is composed of undergraduate and MBA graduate students. The students are selected through a written application process which is open only to upperclassmen who have completed an investments course to help ensure an understanding of financial concepts and modern portfolio theory. See details on how to join and what we do.
Students who participate
The group, comprising 15 SFA students who have demonstrated exemplary performance in specific investment courses, won first place in the competition's growth category at the ENGAGE International Investment Education Symposium held in March.
Students representing the Mast Student Investment Roundtable included Neel Warren, a senior finance major from Palestine; Steven Hawkins, a senior economics and finance major from Longview; Blake Moore, a senior finance major from Lufkin; and Ryan Swor, a senior finance major from Carrollton, who later discussed the team's win on CNBC.
During the nationally televised interview with a panel of financial experts, Swor provided details about the stocks the team selected. "Gilead is a strong biotechnology company," Swor said. "It recently developed a breakthrough hepatitis C treatment drug. We also like Home Depot. More and more people today are opting to make improvements to their homes rather than purchase or build new ones, so that stock is performing well."
Program Goals
Steps to Achieving Goal
The Mast Student Investment Roundtable will utilize two main methods in an attempt to outperform the S&P 500:
- Asset Allocation: Increase assets, compared to the S&P 500, to high performing sectors and decrease assets to low performing sectors.
- Stock Selection: Select the best performing stocks within each sector.
Ancillary Goals
- Enhancing the educational opportunities of the students by providing them with real world portfolio management experience and giving them a distinct advantage in starting their careers in the business world.
- Enhance the visibility of the Rusche College of Business in order to recruit quality students that are interested in gaining valuable experience while receiving their education.
- Fund operational expenses, scholarships, and awards through the annual proceeds from the endowment portion of the Mast Student Investment Roundtable Fund.
- Encourage non-business students to become interested in the financial markets by observing the work of their peers.
- Establishing relationships with the business community through participation and engagement with the Roundtable.
