A hallmark of the Finance and Securities Analysis Center experience is live portfolio management. Students actively manage several portfolios of more than $1.2 million in real money invested in real markets.
UO Investment Group
Since 1998 the student-run University of Oregon Investment Group (UOIG) has provided both MBA and undergraduate students the opportunity to practice securities analysis and portfolio management in a live environment. Managing more than $800,000 spread across three portfolios, UOIG students consist of sector leaders, company analysts, and lead portfolio managers who practice the art and science of portfolio management and securities analysis. UOIG is open to all MBA and undergraduate students via a competitive selection process that takes place twice per year.
Emerging Markets Equity Portfolio Fund
In 2011, MBA students launched a new Emerging Markets Equity Portfolio that is not part of UOIG. The portfolio focuses on nations and economies with social or business activity in the process of rapid growth and industrialization. MBA students enroll in a class each term that manages the fund with faculty oversight. Though it is not part of UOIG's holdings, the Emerging Markets Equity Portfolio builds on the proven successful fund-management model of UOIG. The Emerging Markets Equity Portfolio is currently targeting funding of $1 million.
Watch a video about the Emerging Markets Equity Portfolio
A Positive Alpha
Both groups follow up a bottoms-up selection process to drive their positive alpha. Students work closely with Finance and Securities Analysis Center faculty and the managing director to apply current best practices from industry to their investment process. Students also benefit from the suite of portfolio management tools available through the Finance and Securities Analysis Center, helping to produce a streamlined beginning-to-end investment process featuring all of the essential security analysis, portfolio construction, risk decomposition, style analysis, and performance attribution tools needed for professional-caliber money management.
With outstanding returns and experience behind these portfolios, the Finance and Securities Analysis Center has become a destination of choice for recruiters from the investment field
Portfolio Highlights
The Tall Firs portfolio returned 45.61 percent during the 2009-2010 fiscal year. Despite market volatility over the past two years, the portfolio‘s performance is impressive.
The Svigals portfolio in the 2009-2010 fiscal year returned 38.14 percent, despite being a low-risk portfolio consistent with the strategy of its initial investor.
The DADCO portfolio in FY2010 returned 14.66 percent. This performance rated the portfolio seventh in the country in the annual DA Davidson portfolio competition.
Members of UOIG travel to New York annually to meetings with industry professionals (usually in September) and participate in several events, including in the University Private Equity Summit in Salt Lake and the Redefining Investment Strategy Education (RISE) Forum in Dayton, Ohio.