Student managed portfolio beats expectations

During fall semester, seven undergraduate students managed a long-only equity portfolio valued at $380,000. The BGSU Student Managed Fund operated as part of FINANCE 4360 – Portfolio Management. According to finance professor, Dr. Stephen Rush, who teaches the course, “The goal of the class is to beat the S&P 500 index (a benchmark widely used in the investment management industry) on a risk-adjusted basis.” He adds, “The positive relationship between risk and return means that increasing the level of risk may increase total return but also increases the threshold for risk-adjusted returns.”

This semester, the BGSU Student Managed Fund beat the S&P 500 index by nearly 3% and also delivered positive risk-adjusted returns. Dr. Rush states, “The portfolio’s performance was helped by the timing of the Federal Reserve’s September meeting, but market timing does not fully explain the performance. The students also outperformed the index in industry allocation and individual stock selection.”

The Portfolio Management course will resume in the fall semester of 2017 with a new group of aspiring financiers.