Investment research competition | If successful, the team will compete for the global title Thursday

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University of New Brunswick students could make their mark on New York City and the world this week.

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TEAM UNB: Some members of the UNB team competing in New York City this week are, from left, Ian McAvity, Brian Bagnell and Dustin Besaw.

Depending on their success at the annual Global Investment Research Challenge taking place today and tomorrow in New York City, business administration students Dustin Besaw, Jason Misener, Jack Ma and Brian Bagnell could garner some world attention.

Students Nathan Ough and Ian McAvity of Saint John will attend as observers.

If the UNB team places in the top two, it will compete for the global title Thursday. The winning team will have the honour of closing the NASDAQ, one of the biggest stock exchanges in the United States.

"Regardless of what happens, our students have won," said Glenn Cleland, founding director of UNB's Centre for Financial Studies.

The students have already recorded a remarkable achievement by winning the Atlantic division in the competition and is the only Canadian school in the world competition.

"This is the highest achievement our students have achieved," Cleland said. "They are competing against the best the world has to offer

"This will give them the opportunity to have their analysis and presentation skills critiqued by professionals from some of the industry's most prestigious investment firms.

That makes it a stellar learning experience and will be invaluable to them as they prepare for careers in the investment industry or elsewhere."

The professor explained students have 10 minutes to make a stock presentation to panelists and respond during a 10-minute question and answer period.

Fourth-year bachelor of business administration student and participant Dustin Besaw said he's excited to be part of the competition scheduled for the Reuters Building on Times Square.

"We plan to present a valuation for TD Financial Group," he said. "TD is in a good position because it is undervalued and it has had no financial write-downs during this sub-prime crisis

"If we make the top two finalists we become eligible to compete at the global level."

The Global Investment Research Challenge gives students from the world's top business schools the opportunity to compete with their peers by presenting their equity investment recommendations in front of industry experts.

This year's panelists include the head of Global Equity Strategy, managing directors and the chief investment strategist from UBS, Neuberger Berman, Strategas Research Partners and the CFA Institute.

UNB won the right to compete by winning the Atlantic Canada Chartered Financial Analyst Society's valuation competition last November. UNB is the first Canadian university to achieve this honour.

The students are also members of the Student Investment Fund program at UNB's faculty of business administration. It allows students to invest real money in the capital markets.

The initial $1 million to implement the fund was provided in 1998 by the New Brunswick Investment Management Corp.

By the end of 2007, the student fund had grown to a value of approximately $2.2 million.