Students Investment Analysis on Sovran Self Storage Wins 2015 CFA Institute Research Challenge

Sovran Self Storage Inc., a real estate investment trust that operates the Uncle Bob's Self Storage brand, was the subject of the winning entry in the 2015 Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge, an annual competition that gives business students hands-on mentoring and training in financial analysis and tests their analytical, valuation and presentation skills. The winning team was from Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., where Sovran is headquartered.

The Research Challenge is hosted by CFA Institute, a global association of investment professionals, and the Atlanta Society of Finance and Investment Professionals, one of the institute’s member societies that specializes in advanced studies and information on new developments in investments and financial management. Through the competition, college students receive mentoring from a professional research analyst as they analyze a publicly traded company, write a professional research report, and present their research results and recommendations to a panel of experts. Points are awarded to teams on the basis of their investment case, poise and ability to answer judges’ questions, according to a press release.

More than 4,000 students from 865 universities in 70 countries participated in this year’s ninth-annual competition. The Canisius team competed in the Americas Regional in Atlanta on April 15-16 before advancing to the Global Final on April 17, also in Atlanta. International regional competitions were held in the Netherlands and Philippines. In the finals, the five-student Canisius team beat competitors from Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, Kyiv National Economic University in Ukraine, and the University of Florida.

“The students at Canisius College have shown a strong commitment to the best practices in equity research, and throughout the competition they have demonstrated the diligence and dedication that will help them to succeed as they move on to careers in finance,” said Paul Smith, president and CEO of the CFA Institute.

Members of the Canisius team were Matthew Coad, Carl Larsson, Stephen Miller, Kevin Monheim and Ryan Zimmer.

The CFA Institute champions ethical behavior in investment markets and is an information resource for the global financial community. The organization has more than 129,000 members in 147 countries and territories and 144 member societies.

Sovran operates more than 500 self-storage facilities in 25 states. The company ranked No. 5 on the Inside Self-Storage 2014 Top-Operators List, which ranks the industry’s top 100 operators by net rentable square feet. Sovran’s portfolio comprises more than 34 million square feet in more than 305,000 units.