From Wall Street to Colorado: Anderson Reports give students unique hands-on experience with financial analysis

When Kurt Gerwitz’s former Anderson College of Business and Computing students interview for jobs in the investment industry, he tells them to always bring a copy of Anderson Reports — a comprehensive report filled with financial analysis of a publicly-traded Colorado company. 

That’s because the report, the product of the finance capstone class at Regis, showcases skills that put the students in league with Wall Street analysts: equity analysis, future stock price predictions, financial models and industry research.

“The whole class is experiential … This is real life,” said Gerwitz, an affiliate faculty member.  “We're trying to predict the future. It's hard. It's fun. If you're smart, and you can do that, you can get wealthy.”

Anderson Reports, started by Gerwitz in 2020 with support from the Innovation Center and Professor Ken Sagendorf, are unique in Colorado because they offer students the chance to interview executives and analyze companies that often don’t receive attention on a larger scale. Individually, the reports are the product of a Master of Business Administration capstone in the program’s finance specialization. The course occasionally accepts undergraduate students, as well.

Throughout the course, Anderson College of Business and Computing students complete major tasks, including interviewing company executives, developing a financial model, understanding the company’s strategy and communicating all they’ve learned to investors. In each case, the companies students analyze have not received similar attention from professional financial analysts, giving them more exposure to potential investors.

Recent Regis graduate Juan Gonzalez, who completed a double major in finance and business administration, follows Gerwitz’s advice when he interviews for positions in the financial industry by bringing his report with him to interviews. Still an undergraduate student when he worked on the report, Gonzalez gained graduate-level skills.

“All the opportunities and all the knowledge and practice I got out of the Anderson Reports were just invaluable,” he said. “Pretty much all the skills that are required for a financial analyst were covered in this class. I feel confident that whenever I get the job, I can just take those skills and put them into the workplace.”

The reports give exposure to companies, too. Kevin McNeill, CFO of Pure Cycle Corporation, which participated in Anderson Reports in 2023, said the course helped get the word out about his company. Anderson students were the first analysts to cover Pure Cycle Corporation, a water resource and land development company.

“I love to help the next generation of finance and accounting folks, and get Pure Cycle’s story out, as well,” McNeill said. “Pure Cycle is probably one of the best secrets in water in Colorado, not necessarily a good thing. We do a tremendous amount of work and the stuff we do is not well understood or received by Wall Street, so the more people we can talk to, and the more people who understand it, really do understand this is the way of the future for development in Colorado. I think getting that story out is helpful to us.”

The courses have given the students the chance to explore a wide range of industries. Previous reports have covered farmland real estate investment trust Farmland Partners; bitcoin company Riot Blockchain, Inc.; and high-speed data and cable television provider WideOpen West, Inc. The course’s most recent report covered the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, which is based in Durango. Students had the opportunity to travel to the factory and meet with company leaders.

No matter the industry, students walk away from the course prepared for careers in finance.

Gerwitz said he started the reports because he was inspired by a similar course he took when he was an MBA student at Tulane University.

“It was a transformative class. I bring in alumni from that class to inspire my students,” Gerwitz said. “A class like this can change your life, because it did mine.” 

Anderson Reports are available to view digitally.