IBSS Student Success at S&P Global Corporate Valuation Challenge

A team of IBSS students won a third prize at the Corporate Valuation Challenge, held by S&P Global Market Intelligence, competing against other teams from top universities in China.

S&P Global Market Intelligence is a financial market and economic data provider for banks and asset management firms, research companies, and academic institutions. The Valuation Challenges is the first to be organised by S&P Global Market Intelligence for student teams attending universities within China.

By using sophisticated analytical tools provided by S&P Capital IQ, teams of students from different universities competed head-on. Six students from BSc Economics and Finance at IBSS demonstrated their comprehensive valuation analysis of the target company, Microsoft.

Their research objective of the data analysis was to provide a financial forecast and valuation estimate for the company and identify potential risk factors through detailed analysis of the company and its competitive environment. Judges from the Challenge Organizers commented on their work: “This team had a very clear, concise upfront recommendation. The group’s Company overview and SWOT analysis was strong, and the risks to valuation were well thought out.”

The students representing IBSS were Xiaozhen Qiu, Jiayi Ren, Jing’an Cao, Yumeng Liu, Siyu Zhang and Junyao Gu. The team was supervised by Dr Jie Zhang, Lecturer in Finance and Dr Xiangyun Lu, Lecturer in Accounting from International Business School Suzhou (IBSS).

After receiving the winning result, student Jing’an Cao said: “We didn’t think we would do that well. After all, this is our first professional competition and we are not Accounting majors so the financial statement analysis was very challenging for us. However, we succeeded with the help of our supervisors and great team spirit.”

Dr Jie Zhang, one of the supervisors also highly appreciated the team’s great spirit. She said: “They know how to make good use of their talents in dividing and sharing the tasks. Close collaboration and hard work are the key to their success. They applied the instructive guidance we gave them well and submitted a professional final report.”

Professor Jorg Bley, Dean of IBSS, congratulated the team. He said: “We are proud of our students. The experience they gained from overcoming difficulties, cooperating with others, studying independently, and improving research skills is as significant as winning the award, if not more.”

S&P Corporate Valuation Challenge set three prizes. Teams from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and Southwestern University of Finance and Economics won the first and second prizes and with teams from IBSS at XJTLU and Nankai University tied for the third prize.