Harbert team wins first place in global student stock pitch competition

An Auburn University team of students from the Harbert College of Business won top honors in a prestigious competition that involves knowledge and analysis work in dealing with the stock market.

The Harbert team tied for first, along with the host team, in the 10th annual Bianca Caragliano Stock Pitch Competition, hosted by The College of William & Mary in Virginia.

“I’m so proud of our students,” said Tracy Richard, professor of practice in Harbert’s Department of Finance and executive director of the Harbert Investment Center. “The team won first place after being selected as one of just 24 teams from a global applicant pool that submitted pitches for consideration. 

“Competing on campus against outstanding universities including Berkeley, Princeton, MIT, Oxford, Texas, Michigan, SMU, Florida State, Georgia, and Texas A&M, Auburn delivered an exceptional performance,” Richard said. “Even more impressively, the team’s investment thesis played out in real time, with the stock they originally pitched in November appreciating roughly 80 percent by the final round.”

A smart look ahead

The four-member Auburn team included Anna Spencer Lawley, Michael Stonecash, Hamilton Kehoe and Ellie Ashcraft.

“We pitched Chemours, a global chemicals company well positioned to benefit from major shifts in cooling technology,” said Lawley, a senior finance major from Birmingham. “Our strategy focused on its refrigerants business, which is growing significantly as new environmental regulations push companies toward cleaner solutions.”

The team highlighted increasing demand from data centers where more advanced cooling is becoming essential as technology scales, she explained. 

“We applied with this idea to the competition back in November, and since then the stock has rallied almost 90 percent, which reinforces our view that the market is beginning to recognize this opportunity.”

That research, analytical thinking and foresight led the team to a first-place prize of $5,000, which will be evenly split among the four teammates.

“Throughout the process, we each took ownership of different aspects of the company, which allowed us to develop deep expertise in our respective areas while also ensuring that everyone had a well-rounded understanding of our investment thesis,” Lawley said. “What made the experience especially rewarding was how collaborative it was. 

“We constantly challenged each other’s ideas, refined our thesis together, and approached the preparation as a team rather than four individual parts. Because we are also close friends, there was a natural level of trust and chemistry that carried into our presentation.”

Harbert had them ready

Lawley also was quick to credit the Harbert College of Business in preparing the students for such a competitive event involving talented teams from highly respected colleges and universities.

“Opportunities like this are valuable because they allow students to apply what they’ve learned in a classroom to a real-world, competitive setting,” she said. “The Financial Management Association and Auburn Student Investment Fund play a major role in preparing students for these competitions. They provide a strong foundation through a structured curriculum that emphasizes financial modeling, stock-pitching, and real capital allocation. 

“Students also benefit from continuous membership from senior members and industry professionals, which allows teams to perform at a high level.”

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