Ithaca College

Ten students from the School of Business have teamed up to manage a mock portfolio in The Adirondack Cup and have recently moved into first place. 

The Adirondack Cup, sponsored by the Adirondack Research & Management, Inc., advisor to the Adirondack Small Cap Mutual Fund (ADKSX), is a new initiative through which college and graduate students from participating schools throughout New York and New England create their own hypothetical small cap portfolio for six months. At the end of this time, the portfolio with the best return will win The Adirondack Cup. 

The competition began on October 17, 2011, and Ithaca College is currently in first place with a 20.91% return (as of 1/6/12). During The Adirondack Cup, teams will create a hypothetical $1 million portfolio invested in five small cap stocks traded on one of the two major U.S. exchanges. Each stock selected must be from a different sector (technology, healthcare, consumer goods, conglomerates, industrial goods, basic materials, services, financial or utilities).

According to Steve Gonick ’85, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at ARMI, “ the goal of the Cup Competition is two-fold; to give the students experience in the stock market and also to network with some of our clients and contacts, who are alumni of IC and are following the contest closely.”

“Many of our clients need interns and have expressed an interest in reconnecting with their schools,” Gonick said. “So we offer our clients an opportunity to 'hook up' with their old school and their team, perhaps offering advice from their vantage point in the financial world and, hopefully, opening up their contact lists to the students as well.” 

Students get practical experience and a significant head start interacting with Adirondack’s network of financial clients and college alumni. 

"I'm delighted that our IC student team has consistently done so well in this competition. It is a testament to the excellent education in financial theory and application that the students have received, including hands on experience in our world class Trading Room, and an example of the great motivation and hard work of our business students. We greatly appreciate this wonderful initiative that IC alum Steve Gonick and his firm have created---it is clearly very beneficial to all the students." said Dean Mary Ellen Zuckerman.

The Adirondack Cup concludes after the market closes on April 5th. On April 19th, a networking and celebration reception will be held in Albany, N.Y. for all team members and the Adirondack Cup will be awarded based on the highest return on the initial investment. The winning team will be invited to join portfolio co-managers Greg Roeder and Matt Reiner for an exclusive luncheon prior to the reception and will have a chance to present their investment thesis.

Steve Kane ’87, founding partner of Heritage Financial Services, LLC, has kept a close eye on The Adirondack Cup and adds, “what a terrific experience it is for the students to be able to get exposure to real life investing in a very hard investment environment.   Any employer would be thrilled to know the student has been exposed to the dynamics, and has some real life experiences to back up their textbook studying. This can set them apart when interviewing for internships in that they will be able to speak the lingo, and the training involved in the student being able to add value that much quicker is huge to any employer looking to add help to his/her staff!”

“The Adirondack Small Cap Fund (Symbol:ADKSX) was recently awarded the prestigious Lipper Award as the best mutual fund in the United States for what we do, invest in small undervalued companies.” Gonick said. “The Adirondack Cup Competition is set up with various rules to simulate the experience of running a real mutual fund, just like our managers at our firm.”

IC School of Business students managing the portfolio include; Michael Severo (Student Leader), Aaron Heltsley, Alex Gifford, Alex Pelzar, Alyssa Ross, Jared Finke, Jesse Held, Quingqing Jiang, Spencer Grossman, and Will Shuttleworth.

For information on The Adirondack Cup and standings, click here.

The following colleges and universities are participating in the 2011/2012 challenge; Binghamton University, Clarkson University, Hofstra University, Ithaca College, Siena College, Simon Graduate School of Business, University of Rochester, Skidmore College, St. John Fisher College, St. Lawrence University, State University of New York at Geneseo, State University of New York at Plattsburgh, Stony Brook University, The College at Brockport, State University of New York, Union Graduate College, University at Albany, State University of New York, University at Buffalo, University at Buffalo School of Management, Wesleyan University.