D.A. Davidson & Co. today announced that a student team from Washington State University (WSU) has been named the winner of the annual Fred Dickson Memorial Award, the top award in the firm’s Student Investment Program (SIP). In addition, WSU completed the year with the best-performing portfolio out of 21 schools, delivering a total return of 52.8 percent for the program year that ended Aug. 31, 2024. Go Cougs!
For the same 1-year period, two key U.S. indices that serve as standard stock market benchmarks, the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, had total returns of 27.14 percent and 22.06 percent, respectively. In all, seven of the 21 SIP schools outperformed the S&P 500 for the program year. WSU was also the top-performing school for the prior program year that ended Aug. 31, 2023, in which they generated a total return of 44.55 percent for their portfolio.
Rusty Schatz, Senior Vice President and Financial Advisor, serves as the D.A. Davidson advisor to the WSU team along with WSU clinical professor in the Department of Finance and Management Science, Mario Reyes, PhD.
“It has been such an honor to participate with WSU in their achievement as the highest performing university for two consecutive years along with winning the Fred Dickson Award this year,” said Schatz. “It has been a great journey to see Dr. Reyes teach his students the fundamentals of analyzing companies and then see them apply their knowledge to make decisions on what to own within the portfolio. As teams, they research, analyze, and choose companies to own within the portfolio. The Student Investment Program has been a great tool to help the students become familiar with researching and owning actual investments. On a personal note, Dr. Reyes was one of my finance professors when I attended college, so the WSU students winning the Fred Dickson Award under his tutelage brings me a bit of additional pride.”
The Fred Dickson Memorial Award honors one team annually that is considered the most outstanding participant in D.A. Davidson’s Student Investment Program. In selecting the winning program, roughly two-thirds of the award criteria is investment performance based on 1-year total returns and 3-year and 5-year risk-adjusted returns, while one-third of the criteria is based on qualitative factors including how well programs stick to their stated investment processes and the overall level of student engagement.
As winners of the 10th annual award, WSU will receive a $2,000 check and an invitation to an upcoming D.A. Davidson event.
As part of the SIP, D.A. Davidson provides student teams from senior-level investment courses at 21 Western and Midwestern colleges and universities with $50,000 to invest in the stock market, for a total commitment of $1.05 million annually. Each team makes investment decisions with the guidance of a local D.A. Davidson financial advisor and manages the portfolio for one year, starting Sept. 1. The program is designed to provide hands-on experience in finance, stock research, portfolio management, and investment topics.
Top-performing teams can earn a check for their college, earning half of any portfolio gains above 5 percent. D.A. Davidson absorbs any losses. For the just completed program year, 20 schools earned profit share checks totaling a combined $110,642.
In the 30 years since D.A. Davidson began sharing program profits, the company has donated $1,004,877 to participating institutions. The SIP launched in 1985 at Montana State University in Bozeman and has gradually expanded to colleges throughout the West and the Midwest since that time. James Ragan, Director of Wealth Management Research, and Eli Sanders, Senior Research Analyst, serve as co-directors of the program.
About D.A. Davidson Companies
D.A. Davidson Companies is an employee-owned financial services firm offering a range of financial services and advice to individuals, corporations, institutions, and municipalities nationwide. Founded in 1935 and headquartered in Montana, with corporate offices in Denver, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle, the company has approximately 1,600 employees and offices in 30 states.
Subsidiaries include: D.A. Davidson & Co., a full-service investment firm providing wealth management, investment banking, equity and fixed income capital markets services and advice; Davidson Investment Advisors, a professional asset management firm; and D.A. Davidson Trust Company, a trust and wealth management company.