Bryn Mawr College Takes Third Place in
Third Adirondack Cup Competition
18 Colleges and Universities Participated in Unique Stock Picking Event
Guilderland, N.Y. – A team of seven Bryn Mawr College students has earned third place in the 2014 Adirondack Cup, a competition during which college teams competed against each other over six months to build and grow a small cap portfolio of stocks, just like the pros at Adirondack Small Cap Mutual Fund (ADKSX). The competition is sponsored by the advisor to the Guilderland-based mutual fund, an owner-managed fund recognized in 2011 and 2013 by Lipper Inc. as the best small cap value mutual fund in the U.S. The St. Lawrence University team took first place in the competition, followed by Ithaca College in second place.
Students from 18 colleges and universities across the Northeast participated in the competition, managing a hypothetical small cap portfolio of stocks valued at $1 million.The goals of the competition, which is in its third year, are to teach students the difference between trading stocks and thinking through their investment decisions for the long term and to help them make appropriate connections in the financial services sector as they prepare to enter the job market.
According to Adirondack Principal and Chief Marketing Officer Steve Gonick, “The students have grown their network of contacts in the industry as a result of participating in the Adirondack Cup because many of our clients have been actively following the competition, often rooting for the students from the school they graduated from. This will be extremely helpful as they start their careers.”
The St. Lawrence portfolio had a 27.54 percent return, resoundingly beating the Russell 2000 Index, which measures the performance of small cap stocks in the U.S.; the index had a return of 3.15 percent for the period. The 2012 Adirondack Cup winner, Ithaca, had a return of 15.33 percent. Bryn Mawr College had a return of 14.01 percent. Rounding out the top five, Saunders College of Business at Rochester Institute of Technology had a return of 7.79 percent and the State University of New York at Geneseohad a return of 7.03 percent.
The other colleges participating in the competition were Binghamton University;Buffalo State; Clarkson University; The College at Brockport, State University of New York; The College of Saint Rose; Hofstra University; Macalester College; Siena College (the 2013Adirondack Cup winner); St. John Fisher College; State University of New York at Plattsburgh; Union College; University at Albany; and Wesleyan University.
At the start of the competition in October 2013, students were expected to do their research, create a thesis on their stock picks and determine investments and allocation. Each portfolio had to include a hypothetical $1 million invested in five small cap stocks (defined as companies with market caps between $50 million and $3 billion). Each of the five stock picks had to be from a different industry and each holding had to be at least five percent but no more than 50 percent of the portfolio. Teams were allowed to make changes to their portfolio only twice during the contest period.
The Adirondack Small Cap Fund was launched in April 2005 and has enjoyed strong growth. It has seen tremendous growth in the past year and today has $306 million in assets under management.