It takes some big thinking to survive today’s volatile stock market. Just ask the College of Business Administration students who manage the Ram Fund. Thanks to the portfolio management skills of these talented students, the Ram Fund has consistently outperformed the S&P 500 since the URI Alumni Association made its initial $100,000 investment in 2001.
Thanks to the portfolio management skills of these talented students, the Ram Fund has consistently outperformed the S&P 500 since the URI Alumni Association made its initial $100,000 investment.
Every year, a new crop of students fills the coveted Ram Fund seats with the responsibility for developing and implementing a prudent long-term investment strategy for the Fund. Professor Peter Dadalt, who runs the Ram Fund class, guides his students through the process, but they make their own investment decisions. Last year, when the Ram Fund students presented the results of their work to representatives from Fidelity Investments, Washington Trust Bank, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs, these finance professionals were more than a little impressed to learn the value of the Ram Fund portfolio was $169,979.
Samuel Cox, an equity research analyst at Fidelity Investments, praised the students, noting that level of detail in their research was remarkable, particularly its completion of discounted cash flow analysis, which is an extremely detailed and time-consuming job. Alumnus Joseph M. Confessore ’96, Washington Trust Vice President of Commercial Lending, agreed, adding that the Ram Fund is exactly the kind of experiential learning that opens doors and leads to careers.