Kitt Investing and Trading Center Implementation Report August 2019

Kitt Investing and Trading Center

Implementation Report August 2019

Cover Photo: Students using a Bloomberg terminal in the Kitt Investing and Trading Center; 2018

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Kitt Investing and Trading Center Implementation Report August 2019 Overview The Kitt Investing and Trading Center, located in the Business Library, serves as the centerpiece and focal point of the business school and is a featured stop on every prospective and new student campus tour. It was dedicated at the Edwin L. Cox School of Business at SMU on September 28, 2011 in the Lower Level Atrium of the School. The Kitt Center was established with a substantial gift to the University from the family of Barry M. and Beth M. Kitt and is inspired by Mr. Kitts’ years in the financial markets. In conjunction with the Ann Rife Cox Undergraduate (~$3.6 million) and Nancy Chambers Underwood Graduate (~$6.4 million) studentmanaged investment portfolios, the 37-seat Kitt Center gives students the opportunity to learn practical finance and investment applications as an integral part of the finance curriculum.

The Implementation Report tells the story of the Kitt Center and how the facility is being used by students, faculty and librarians to enrich and extend the Cox learning experience.

A brief discussion of ways the Kitt Center is serving to showcase the business school and positively impact the finance education of students follows, and the report concludes with future plans and initiatives to continue to expand and improve the programs and resources of the Center.

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The Kitt Investing and Trading Center contains:  136-foot 360-degree LED stock ticker  2 video walls  Interactive market wall  4 world clocks  Podium with video wall control system  10 dual-panel Bloomberg Professional terminals  27 high-end computer workstations  State-of-the-art data feeds and financial software

Facility Use The Kitt Investing & Trading Center received 37,818 students, faculty, staff and visitors during the last year (FY 2019), showing a continuing rise in usage with a 5% increase over FY 2018.

During the regular semesters the Center is open 88 hours per week, with peak usage occurring during February for FY 2019. This year, however, saw an increase in usage during both fall and spring semesters over last year; as opposed to only the fall semester increasing in usage last year versus the previous fiscal year.

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While scheduled events in the Center are important, we strive to ensure regular open access time for research activities remains available to students. A carefully curated collection of events were scheduled for the Center during FY 2019, which emphasizes the robust use being made of this special resource.

Number of Scheduled Events in the Center 200 180 160 140 120

Special Events

100

Library Workshops

80

Library Class Sessions

60

Credit Classes

40 20 0 FY2015

FY2016

FY2017

FY2018

FY2019

The number of scheduled hours is deliberately balanced with the hours available for students to explore Kitt Center databases and fulfill study requirements. Credit classes meet 3 hours weekly during the semester comprising the bulk of the hours booked.

Total Hours Booked for Scheduled Events 900 800 700 600 Special Events

500

Library Workshops

400

Library Class Sessions

300

Credit Classes

200 100 0 FY2015

FY2016

FY2017

FY2018

FY2019

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When the Center is not scheduled for a specific event, it is available for students to conduct research and work on class assignments, achieve Bloomberg Certification and more. During open access times, librarians assist business students in developing research plans, using appropriate databases, and properly citing / formatting their work for presentations.

Research & Instruction Educational activities such as classes, workshops and special events are offered throughout the year in the Center. These offerings bring a wide-range of individuals to this prime location. 

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Credit Classes (6 credit-bearing classes with 10 sections taught in the Center ) Course

Students

Course Name

Instructor

FINA 5132

BBA

Portfolio Management Practicum I

Don Shelly

FINA 5232

BBA

Portfolio Management Practicum II

Don Shelly

FINA 5441

BBA

Alternative Assets II

Bill Maxwell

FINA 6230

MBA

Practicum in Portfolio Management I

Arthur Selender

FINA 6231

MBA

Practicum in Portfolio Management II

Arthur Selender

FINA 6238

MBA/MSF

Financial Modeling

Stacey Jacobsen

Library Research Workshops/Classes o o o o

Bloomberg Basics workshop taught to 494 students (see graph below) Investment Research workshop reached 354 students 16 library research classes customized for a variety of Cox courses Overall, librarians taught 127 workshops with 1,799 attendees Bloomberg Basics Attendance 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY2017 FY2018 FY2019

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Special Events

Professor Don Shelly conducted four advanced Bloomberg and Cap IQ topic-focused workshop sessions that were well received by students wanting to become more familiar with using these financial resources for real-world application.

“Your [Business The Business Librarians conducted seven workshops Library] Bloomberg designed for SMU staff that allowed them to experience the workshop taught me resources that are available to them, such as company and more than the whole investment research. Over 100 were in attendance with the BMC.” He then gave overwhelming feedback being positive. Many staff members two examples: how not expressed a desire for targeted sessions such as these to be to screw up Excel regularly scheduled. (changing formulas to values) and the Back Course Integration Activities (Menu) button for navigating easily.

The Center is integral to course integration for finance students at all levels. These required activities ensure that - Joseph Moyer, BBA students receive hands-on experiences to ensure success in the working world. 

University Curriculum Proficiency Requirement

The FINA 4326 Term Project, a collaborative effort between finance faculty and business librarians, was successfully conducted for the sixth year. The in-depth research project required use of the Kitt Center resources and earned the students an Information Literacy (IL)-tag for credit towards graduation. Students must also complete two library workshops: Bloomberg Basics and Investment Research.

The Project is designed to 1) familiarize students with much of the data available to investors for analyzing companies, primarily through the use of the Bloomberg Professional terminal and Value Line; and 2) provide hands-on experience applying investment finance theory and models to real firms. In the process, students are required to:  examine the history of a firm and its industry;  analyze the risk and return of the firm;  conduct a relative value analysis;  analyze insider and institutional ownership; and  analyze a firm’s earning history relative to estimates and analysts’ recommendations.

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A total of 336 students enrolled in FINA 4326 (20% increase over last year) were assigned the Project. Ten highly accomplished MSF students, selected as the 2018-19 Kitt Investing and Trading Center Fellows, served as graders for the IL assignment.

Professor Shelly supervised the fellows and outlined the grading rubric for each section of the assignment. 

Executive MBA (EMBA) Bloomberg Instruction Program

A Bloomberg class is a required part of BA 6323 – Business Finance, taught by Professor Jim Linck. This integration into the initial EMBA finance course familiarizes the students with the Bloomberg terminal and provides a hands-on experience for some of the concepts learned in the course. The class consisted of the Bloomberg Basics workshop taught by librarians, followed by Advanced Topics led

by Professor Shelly. Sixty-four EMBA students attended a Bloomberg class session. A number of them also completed the BMC certification as a result of this experience.

New this year was the addition of a Bloomberg-based experiential learning project in BA 6375 – Applied Corporate Finance, taught by Professor Amar Gande. Students chose either IPOs or Cost of Capital as their topic; researching companies, industries, calculating various values, analyzing data, making hypotheses and preparing a rationale for deviations from expectations in their conclusions. Students were able to build on the skills learned in Professor Linck’s class to gain more expertise in utilizing Bloomberg to understand finance concepts.

Research Resources 

The Kitt Investing and Trading Center Endowment Fund provided funding in whole or part for the following prestigious databases and software for use in financial research and education.         

Academic TRACE Data - FINRA Bloomberg Professional Service Cowan Research Eventus software CRSP Mutual Funds FTS (Financial Trading Simulation software) Morningstar Rise Vision technology /data S&P Capital IQ Refinitiv (Thomson Reuters)  SDC Platinum  13f Mutual Fund Ownership 8

   

IBES Academic Global & US Detail Compustat RepRisk Premium

Certifications - Students can earn certifications in certain financial databases, such as Bloomberg, Morningstar Direct, and Thomson One. The most popular certification is the Bloomberg Market Concepts (BMC). This is an excellent addition to any business student’s resume, and we strongly encourage everyone to complete the program. In the 2018/2019 academic year, we had 180 students register for BMC with 139 completing the certification program.

BMC Certification 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 2016/2017

2017/2018 Completions

2018/2019

Registrants

Future Plans & Conclusion An opportunity exists to add FactSet, integrated software and data solutions for investment professionals, to the suite of research resources available in the Kitt Center. Heavily used in the industry, students will be well-served to gain expertise in using the database during their coursework at Cox. Plans are to initiate a subscription to launch for the upcoming fall semester. On-site training sessions by FactSet representatives will be held for students, faculty and staff to introduce them to the new database.

Business librarians are modifying the Investment Research Workshop to include working hands-on with FactSet to answer financial research questions. The Investment Research Workshop is open enrollment for all Cox graduate and undergraduate students. Also, Advanced FactSet workshops will be co-taught by business librarians and finance faculty to provide more in-depth coverage of the features and uses of FactSet, including Company Overview, Stock Screener, Fixed Income and Introduction to the Excel Add-in. FactSet will 9

also be a key resource for completing required assignments in credit classes such as FINA 4326 - Investment Analysis & Portfolio Management; FINA 4126 - Investment Analysis & Portfolio Management Lab; BBA and MBA Portfolio Practicums; and more.

Upcoming technology plans include upgrading the hard drives in the Bloomberg stations to improve performance. Faculty feedback is being gathered for future podium/lectern design and improvements that could enhance teaching in the Kitt Center.

The Kitt Investing and Trading Center provides unique resources and learning opportunities to SMU students that help prepare them to be competitive and competent candidates when they enter the job market upon graduation and as they progress throughout their career. We look forward to another productive year engaging our students in finance research projects requiring creative problem-solving and critical thinking skills.

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Business Library Cox School of Business PO Box 750333 Dallas, TX 72725-0333 Front Desk: 214-768-4107 Reference: 214-768-4496 Fax: 214-768-1884 https://www.smu.edu/businesslibrary

The Kitt Investing and Trading Center Implementation Report - August 2019 Prepared by: Sandy Miller, Library Director With contributions by the Business Library staff: Karen Leeseberg Tracey Rinehart

Melissa Johnson Janet Bickel-Burton