student successes

30-second challenge

Students think fast and choose stocks

Quick — analyze a hypothetical financial scenario and recommend what stocks to buy and sell, in just 30 seconds.

That was the challenge given to two Marquette M.B.A. students by the CNBC show Fast Money. The weekly series tests students from the top business schools in the country who are then critiqued by judges who “grade the trade.”
Luke LaManna and Semiha Tasdemir represented Marquette’s Graduate School of Management. LaManna is a student in the Applied Investment Management Program that manages $1 million of the university’s
endowment.

First up was LaManna. His scenario centered on a rebound in the housing market. The panelists liked his picks and gave him a B+, stating “Jesuits rule.”

LaManna says his Marquette training helped him handle the pressure. “My involvement in the Applied Investment Management Program has taken my understanding of the financial markets from little to respectable,” he says. “This program along with my other finance courses in the M.B.A. program helped me feel comfortable enough to take on this challenge.”

Tasdemir’s segment aired a few weeks later. Her scenario featured foreign companies buying U.S. companies en masse because of the falling dollar. She also earned a B+ from the television judges and credits her finance classes, especially those related to analyzing financial statements, making investment decisions and doing market analysis.

Fast Money’s “Grade the Trade” segment airs on Fridays. — ADB