CSUF Investment Students Win Sixth Consecutive Investment Research Competition | College of Business and Economics at CSUF

_{Titan Capital Management students celebrate their six-time victory in the CFA Institute Challenge Los Angeles local competition.}

Now it’s six years running.

The winning streak of the investment students at Cal State Fullerton’s College of Business and Economics at the annual CFA Institute Research Challenge Los Angeles local competition has continued in 2025, with a group of four finance students and one accounting student led by Dylan Nguyen ’25 taking the top spot. The Business Titan team competed against student teams from Cal State Los Angeles, Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal State Northridge, Claremont Graduate University, and Pepperdine University. CSUF was the only school to send two teams to the Feb. 14 event, with the second Titan cohort coming in third place.

The CFA competition requires participating students to complete in-depth research on a real-world public company. This year, the subject company was PennyMac, a Westlake Village-based residential mortgage company. The CSUF students assumed the role of investment research analysts who have a thorough understanding of the business and factors involved in valuing it. They met the executive team, including the CEO and CFO of the company, last November. Each team member spent hundreds of hours on this competition in addition to their other coursework and employment.

“To have won it six times consecutively is such an honor for our students and our program. This year’s team worked incredibly hard to be worthy of winning and this is their year and their moment irrespective of our past success,” explains Kelly Ko, Equity Director of Titan Capital Management, the program in which finance students manage real-world equity and bond portfolios. “The students’ reports and presentation were unanimously considered the best among seven teams competing this year. Hard work is fundamental, but team collaboration is also a key component for winning this competition. Our team exhibited both, demonstrating the quality and strength of the Titan Capital Management program.”

Dylan Nguyen, who is graduating later this year, looks at his team leadership of the winning cohort as a capstone experience to his college days. “It’s been an honor to lead and collaborate with such a dedicated team,” he says. “Winning the local competition is the culmination of months of dedication, late-night grinds, and constant refinement of our research since May 2024. This experience is just one of the many incredible growth opportunities I’ve had through in the investment program, refining my analysis skills. I’m grateful for these opportunities and am excited to carry this momentum into the upcoming rounds!”

Other members of the winning team were Nirvan Chintis ’25, Luke Knudson ’25, Kishan Patel ’25, and Trisha Troung ’26. Professor Kelly Ko was the faculty advisor, while Derek Derman, partner of Poplar Forest Capital, was the industry mentor.

Chintis joined the Titan Capital Management program in his senior year, after being told that there was an open spot on the CFA Research Challenge team. He found the experience invaluable in his personal development. “Despite joining late, I received a warm welcome by my team members. Over the past few months, I’ve practically applied my skills in financial modeling to a challenging company which further strengthened my accounting knowledge. Winning the LA round was only possible because of our teamwork, dedication, and diligence. I look forward to working with our team to win future rounds and continue to make CSUF proud!”

Back in 2023, the Cal State Fullerton investment student team advanced from the local round of the CFA competition to a global final round, placing among the top six out of more than 1,000 global teams. Will the Business Titans be as successful in 2025? Time will tell, but don’t count out the hard work of our students.

After the sub-regional round in March, regional semifinals will be held on April 8-9, followed by the regional finals on April 10-11, followed by the ultimate destination of the global final in early May in Chicago.

Follow CSUFBusiness on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram or read more CSUF Business News articles to stay abreast of the progress of our students through the course of this spring semester.

For more on Titan Capital Management, read more of our artic l es on investment education at Cal State Fullerton.