NEW YORK, May 22, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SumZero, Inc. announces the launch of the FactSet Top Idea Tournament, a full-year contest open exclusively to research professionals working at hedge funds, mutual funds, and private equity funds. SumZero is pleased to partner with FactSet (NYSE: FDS ) (Nasdaq: FDS ), a leading provider of financial data and analytics to investment professionals worldwide, in hosting this large-scale research challenge.
Winners of the FactSet Top Idea Tournament will receive cash prizes worth $160,000, speaking slots and tickets to premier investor conferences, appearances on CNBC, and access to FactSet products. The top cash prize available to a single idea is $56,000. Individuals can enter multiple ideas and can capture multiple prizes. One individual can take home the entire $160,000 cash purse.
"FactSet is committed to helping the world's best investment professionals outperform," says Meredith Binder, SVP, Director of Global Marketing at FactSet. "Our partnership with SumZero on the FactSet Top Idea Tournament lets us publicly recognize and reward the industry's most innovative thinkers who create high-value investment research."
The FactSet Top Idea Tournament is the first contest designed to offer prizes based on research quality as well as the performance of the underlying recommendation. "Creating truly great research comes down to three parts: identifying a differentiated idea, presenting that idea in a compelling manner, and finally having the thesis materialize," said SumZero CEO Divya Narendra. "This is a new class of research competition that rewards those ideas and the people that can complete the full cycle."
The FactSet Top Idea Tournament consists of quarterly thematic research contests, the first of which, a "Best International (Ex-US)" contest, opens on June 9th. A new themed contest will launch every three months. Contest themes include: Best Short idea, Best Credit/Fixed Income idea, and Best Mid-Cap/Large-Cap idea.
Winners of each contest will be determined by simple vote via a panel of senior fund managers and asset allocators hand-selected for each theme. The panels include respected fund managers like Mohnish Pabrai (Pabrai Investment Funds), James Montier (GMO), Glenn Tongue (Deerhaven Capital Management), Guy Spier (Aquamarine Fund), Zeke Ashton (Centaur Capital Partners), as well as senior professionals from asset allocation firms like the Virginia Tech Foundation, the MIT Investment Company, the Cook Children's Health Care System, and the UCLA Investment Company.
"We were eager to establish a judges panel that included both respected fund managers, as well as high quality institutional fund investors that spend a good amount of their day-to-day reviewing pitches from prospective managers," said Mr. Narendra.
To learn more about the FactSet Top Idea Tournament, entry process, and prizes, visit http://www.factset.com/tournament .
About SumZero
SumZero is the world's largest community of investment professionals working at hedge funds, mutual funds, and private equity funds. With more than 10,000 pre-screened professionals collaborating on a fully-transparent platform, SumZero fosters the sharing of many thousands of proprietary investment reports every year and offers several ancillary services in support of that effort. These free services include capital introduction services, buyside career placement services, media placement, and more. SumZero's membership base is represented by analysts and PMs at nearly all of the world's largest and most prominent investment funds.
Learn more at sumzero.com .
About FactSet
FactSet, a leading provider of financial information and analytics, helps the world's best investment professionals outperform. More than 50,000 users stay ahead of global market trends, access extensive company and industry intelligence, and monitor performance with FactSet's desktop analytics, mobile applications, and comprehensive data feeds. The Company has been included in FORTUNE's Top 100 Best Companies to Work For, the United Kingdom's Great Places to Work and France's Best Workplaces. FactSet is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ (NYSE: FDS ) (Nasdaq: FDS ). To learn more, visit www.factset.com or follow FactSet on Twitter: www.twitter.com/factset .
Nicholas Kapur COO, SumZero
