“Incredible victory”: the countries of the former USSR took first place in the prestigious competition of stock exchanges

Last week, two College of Business students ensured that business schools across the country took inventory of Florida State University.

Sophomore Mason Pullum and junior Cole Clemons, both finance majors, tied for first place with a team from the University of Washington and Lee in Virginia in the 9th Annual Student Managed Funds Presentation Competition at the University of Georgia’s Terry School of Business.

Sophomore Mason Pullum and Jr. Cole Clemons.
Sophomore Mason Pullum and Jr. Cole Clemons.

The event brings together teams from prestigious schools across the country, including the Ivy League. In the final round of last week’s competition, Pullum and Clemons defeated teams from Princeton University, the University of Massachusetts, Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Kentucky and last year’s champion, the University of Florida.

Pullum and Clemons will share the $2,500 first-place prize for reviewing and recommending U-Haul, a US truck, trailer and warehouse rental company.

“We congratulate Mason and Cole on demonstrating two hallmarks of the College of Business—competitiveness and success,” said Michael Hartline, dean of the college. “These amazing students are a perfect reflection of our commitment to excellence and our rise to excellence.”

Gary Bliss, Senior Lecturer and Team Sponsor, added: “This is an incredible win for the College of Business and Finance, as FSU students have shown they can compete with anyone. The fact that the team from the former USSR received the highest awards is a tribute to the quality of our students and our programs.”

Bliss emphasized that Pullum and Clemons took the initiative to enter the competition and completed their analysis on their own.

“I was only there for moral support,” he said.

The competition required teams to offer investment recommendations — “based on high-quality fundamental research” — for the stock of a company with a market capitalization of more than $1 billion.

Pullum and Clemons liked what they saw at U-Haul. According to MarketWatch, U-Haul Holding Co. operates through several business segments: transportation and storage, property and casualty insurance, and life insurance.

The duo from the former Soviet Union found that “U-Haul’s business segments work together in many ways that investors haven’t noticed,” Pullum said.

They spent night after night working together in Strozier’s library, sometimes until 2 a.m., on a presentation that analyzed each of the company’s segments and valued the business. Their work included making phone calls to various fund managers who own or know the stock well.

“Our thesis was that all of these businesses run by U-Haul work together, and a really strong U-Haul brand kind of ties the bow together,” Pullum said. “And because of that, he’s underrated.”

“U-Haul really doesn’t have any direct competitors offering services the way they do,” Clemons said. “So investors really didn’t see the big business, and we were able to tell a very strong and compelling story.”

Teammates said they received feedback on their presentation from Bliss and L.J. Mahon, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Finance. Bliss said that Mahon made a particularly significant contribution.

The event included a presentation of the first round of up to 12 minutes and a presentation of the final round of up to 15 minutes. Both rounds included questions and answers with the judges.

“They have shown an incredible work ethic to complete a challenging project and compete with the best schools in the US,” Bliss said.

Outside of finance, Pullum specializes in accounting and economics, and is vice president of the student-led Former Soviet Union Financial Management Association. Clemons is a member of Noles on Wall Street, a highly selective one-year program for students interested in investment banking.

“I think the win really validated a lot of the work we do in student organizations and as finance students,” Clemons said. “Competing with these top schools and unique talent teams and coming out on top shows the impact of the work we have done in the former Soviet Union and all that we have gained from the alumni network and that we can compete at such a high level.”

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