Research Challenge

CFA Institute Research Challenge

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that connects university students with investment professionals from within the CFA Society^® network. The competition provides students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis and ethics and tests participants' analytical, valuation, reporting writing, and presentation skills.

Members of our society, along with a faculty advisor and an industry mentor, work with teams of students to value a stock, write a research report, and present their recommendations. Teams then compete with peers from other schools at local-level competitions organized and judged by CFA Society members and volunteers. The winning university team(s) from each local competition then advances to see who will become the sub-regional, regional, and global champions.

Learn more and read FAQs See the schedule and get involved

CFA Institute Research Challenge hosted by CFA Society Minnesota

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual, global competition that provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis. Students work in teams to research and analyze a publicly-traded company and then write a research report on their assigned company with a buy, sell, or hold recommendation.

Each Research Challenge season leverages the efforts of over 150+ CFA member societies, 3,500+ member volunteers, and more than 5,000 students from over 1,000 universities.

The Challenge gathers students, investment industry professionals, publicly traded companies, and corporate sponsors together locally, regionally, and globally for a real-world competition. Additionally, all participants are introduced to and held to the standards of the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct.

RSVP to the Local Finals

2025-2026 Participating Universities:

Bethel University
College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University
Concordia College
Minnesota State University Mankato
North Dakota State University
South Dakota State University
St Cloud State University
University of Minnesota Duluth
University of MN Twin Cities
University of North Dakota
University of Wisconsin - River Falls

2025-2026 Subject Company:

Life Time (LTH)

Life Time

Past CFA Society MN Subject Companies & Winners

2010/2011 – Donaldson (University of Minnesota)

2011/2012 – Lawson Software, Inc. (University of Minnesota)

2012/2013 – Polaris Industries, Inc. (University of Minnesota)

2013/2014 – Stratasys Ltd. (University of Minnesota)

2014/2015 – Graco (UMD)

2015/2016 – MTS Systems (NDSU)

2016/2017 – Vascular Solutions (UMD)

2017/2018 – Fastenal (UMD)

2018/2019 – Bio-Techne (UMD)

2019/2020 – Tennant Company (NDSU)

2020/2021 – Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (UMD)

2021/2022 – Ecolab (UMD)

2022/2023 – General Mills (UMD)

2023/2024 – Polaris Industries, Inc. (UMD)

2024/2025 – Sun Country Airlines (University of Wisconsin-River Falls)

Resources & Examples

Past Winning Papers

Schedule of Events

September
University Teams Form

September 15, 2025, 10:00 AM
Virtual Kick-off Meeting

November 20, 2025, 2:00 PM
Subject Company Analyst Day

January 15, 2026, 12:00 PM
Written Reports Due

February 03, 2026
Advancing Teams Announced

February 26, 2026
Local Finals - CLA Connection Center, Eagan, MN

March 2026
Teams Submit Sub-Regional Presentations

April 2026
Regional Semi-Finals

May 2026
Regional & Global Finals (Hong Kong)

2025 Official Rules

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