The University of New Mexico Anderson School of Management announced on May 6 that its student team placed first overall in the 2025-2026 Chicago Quantitative Alliance (CQA) Investment Challenge. Students David Dávila and Samuel Landis competed over six months against international institutions, earning $3,000 in prize money for their performance.
The achievement highlights the university’s commitment to providing practical experience for students interested in investment management. The CQA Investment Challenge offers participants exposure to stock selection, portfolio construction, and risk management through a simulation platform.
Dávila and Landis formed the Alpha Strategies team and are president and vice president of the Lobo Investment Club. They used a momentum-based strategy developed with Python code, relying on academic research. “I ran the model, which was a momentum-based strategy. We calculated returns over the prior 12 months, excluding the most recent month, then ranked the stocks. We went long the top 50 names and short the bottom 50,” said Dávila. “We also applied liquidity and tradability filters, such as minimum average volume and shortability, to ensure the portfolio could actually be implemented.”
Landis described their approach as highly active: “It was a lot of fun, but it was also very active. We were trading almost every week. Over the past six months, I probably checked the portfolio 300 or 400 times,” he said. “We constantly monitored for mergers, corporate actions and anything else that could affect our positions. Overall, it was a great experience and a lot of fun to work on together.” At competition’s end, Alpha Strategies produced an approximate return of 29.06% with zero compliance violations; their compounded annual growth rate reached 84.4% per year with a Sharpe ratio of 2.35.
The students were mentored by Professor Subramanian Iyer from Anderson’s Department of Finance and Innovation who is also an advisor to their club.
Dávila is double majoring in finance and applied mathematics while Landis majors in computer science; both plan to graduate in May 2027.
The University of New Mexico boasts more than 200,000 alumni worldwide—including fellows of national academies—and serves as a cultural resource through libraries, museums, galleries, performance spaces while promoting diversity according to its official website.
