UWF business students pitch stock recommendations for Argo Growth Fund, discuss future of artificial intelligence – University of West Florida Newsroom

“This is the first time our students partnered with AI to pitch stocks and that one of our students debated AI,” said Dr. K.C. Ma, Mary Ball Washington and Switzer Brothers endowed professor of finance in UWF’s Lewis Bear Jr. College of Business. “Our students embraced using the technology for informative and entertaining presentations.”

The Argo Growth Fund is part of UWF’s Argo Investments program. Established in 2019, the program gives College of Business finance students real-world fiduciary experiences. In 2020, the UWF Foundation Board approved the use of real money for the program’s students to manage under the guidance of Ma.

A presentation on the Trump Index was delivered by Jean-Marc Trouillot and an AI GPT-15 named “Cal.” The stocks were Palantir, Kaiser and Schlumberberger. Harris Index stocks were presented by Messai Cain and “Cal.” The stocks were First Solar, Bluebird and Louisiana Pacific. A presentation on the Weight Loss Index was delivered by Rhema Volny and “Cal” and included stocks Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Hims and Hers. Six AI Supply Chain Stocks were presented by Lorenzo Pereira Weber and “Cal.” The stocks included Lam Research, ASML, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Palantir. 

Following the presentations, a debate titled “Has the AI Bubble Already Burst?” was held between Alexander Francis and an AI named “Margaret Hatcher.” 

“My research took a look at how AI is currently being used and how much it is likely to be used in the future,” Francis said. “I cannot say enough great things about Dr. Ma and this course. I’m grateful for everything I learned. Developing my debate also gave me the opportunity to be involved in production management for the first time.”

A panel of student trustees in Ma’s Securities Analysis and Portfolio Management course selected Volny’s recommendation on three weight loss drug stocks and Weber’s recommendation on six AI supply chain stocks to each receive $60,000 per stock in funding from the student-managed Argo Growth Fund.

For more information about UWF’s Lewis Bear Jr. College of Business, visit uwf.edu/lbjcob.