RWTH Team Through to Competition Final with a Financial Analysis of Hapag-Lloyd AG

The students took part in the global competition CFA Institute Research Challenge.

 

RWTH students Maximilian Drüppel, Nicolas Klein, Jesco Melzer, Tobias Saalmann and Samuel Stux took part in the global CFA Institute Research Challenge competition and progressed to the final round. The CFA Institute is the global professional association for investment managers, financial analysts and professional investors. In the Research Challenge, students take on the role of an analyst and prepare an equity report for a publicly traded company.

The Aachen students qualified with their report on buying, selling or holding the company shares of Hapag-Lloyd AG. This company is a corporate partner for the final of this year's competition. In this final round, two more teams competed online before a jury of investment experts.

The suggestion for student participation came from the RWTH Chair of Business Administration, in particular Business Finance. The team was assembled there and was supported by PD Dr. Astrid Salzmann. Jan-Philipp Matthewes from the circle of German CFA Chartholders was on hand to provide advice.

"The current logistics bottlenecks made the task of analyzing a transport and logistics company very exciting. Our forecast came true during the competition. It was a challenge to convince the jury, but we were happy to be able to do so," says Jesco Melzer. The 24-year-old is enrolled in a master's degree program in economics.

His fellow student Samuel Stux describes the general conditions: "Due to the pandemic, we were only able to exchange information online. However, everyone was able to work effectively on the report and the presentation." Stux, 25, is studying for a master's degree in industrial engineering with a specialization in sustainability and corporation.