Teaching

• Marsico Fund (FIN 4710)
  Over the past twelve years, I created and refined the curriculum for our student-managed investment fund classes, which are viewed as capstone courses for students pursuing careers in investments. I am currently the professor for the graduate student class (Marsico Fund class). This class manages a $3M equity fund that is part of DU’s endowment. The course emphasizes experiential learning, where students make real investment decisions based on advanced portfolio management techniques.

• Equity Analysis (FIN 4320)
  I teach this graduate-level course on fundamental equity analysis, valuation techniques, and portfolio management strategies. Students learn to analyze financial statements, assess company performance, and make informed investment decisions.

• Online MBA Program
  I am the course developer and lead instructor for the Equity Analysis course in DU’s online MBA program. This role involves adapting traditional teaching methods to an online format, ensuring that students receive a comprehensive education in equity analysis regardless of their location.

Leadership

• Marsico Investment Center (since 2017):
  Leading the finance lab and guiding student-managed investment funds, including a $3 million equity fund that is part of DU’s endowment.

• Pioneer Venture Group Faculty Advisor (since 2021-2024):
  Mentor students in conducting due diligence and valuation for the university’s venture capital fund investing in early-stage startups across the Rocky Mountain region.

Teaching Awards

In 2021, I received the Innovative Teaching Award from the Daniels College of Business for his work developing experiential learning opportunities for students.

Published Research on Teaching

In managing student investment funds, I published several articles on effective strategies for enhancing student learning and portfolio performance:

• Benchmark and Sector Selection in Student-Managed Funds
  Hughen, J. Christopher, Strauss, Jack, & Tremblay, J.P. (2019). Practical Applications of Adding Value in Student-Managed Funds: Benchmark and Sector Selection. Practical Applications: Institutional Portfolio Research, 6(4), 1-6. BibTex Citation

  We propose a low-risk approach for portfolio management that offers significant opportunities for alpha generation. They focus on midcap stocks and propose a formal sector allocation strategy to identify mispriced sectors. The authors recommend using the ratio of enterprise value (EV) to EBITDA to determine which sectors to over- and underweight in portfolio allocation.

• Risk Management in Student-Managed Funds: Earnings Announcements and the Collar Strategy
  Hughen, J. Christopher, & Lung, Peter (2019). Risk Management in Student-Managed Funds. Managerial Finance, 46(5), 692–702. BibTex Citation

  Student-managed investment funds typically pursue “plain vanilla” objectives. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the value of adding option strategies to reduce the risk of equity positions around earnings announcements. The collar strategy is one such technique with the advantages of a low net cost and limited potential losses. Risk management strategies can enhance the pedagogical value of student-managed investment funds. The authors document how students have successfully utilized the collar strategy to immunize risk. The proper implementation of these strategies requires students to learn the complex mechanisms associated with corporate earnings dissemination and analyst coverage. This also provides an opportunity to study earnings drift, which is a persistent and economically significant financial anomaly.

• Adding Value in Student-Managed Funds: Benchmark and Sector Selection
  Hughen, J. Christopher, Tremblay, J.P., & Strauss, Jack (2018). Adding Value in Student-Managed Funds: Benchmark and Sector Selection. The Journal of Trading, 13(1), 27–34. BibTex Citation

  Student-managed portfolios offer a practical learning environment but often miss opportunities for outperformance. The authors provide several recommendations for structuring fund trades to enhance the pedagogical experience for the students in addition to generating alpha. A strategy that targets midcap stocks offers favorable risk–return characteristics and focuses on a market capitalization category that receives relatively less attention from professional money managers. Furthermore, a formal sector allocation strategy provides an additional source of portfolio outperformance when using a metric that is robust to differences in companies across sectors. The authors document the high relative return dispersion among sectors in midcap stocks and show that enterprise value/EBITDA is a consistently effective ratio in identifying both undervalued and overvalued stocks.

• Portfolio Allocations Using Profitability Measures
  Hughen, J. Christopher, & Strauss, Jack (2017). Portfolio Allocations Using Fundamental Ratios: Are Profitability Measures Effective in Selecting Firms and Sectors? Journal of Portfolio Management, 43(3), 87–101. BibTex Citation

  Our study assesses the performance of portfolios formed using out-of-sample sector forecasts and past firm fundamental ratios. Portfolio allocations based on profitability measures—gross profit, operating profit, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA)—generate substantially better performance than the benchmark. Long/short portfolio allocations using these fundamentals possess alphas over 14% and increase Sharpe ratios by over 60%. A composite variable provides the highest payoff for firm allocations, whereas EBITDA produces the most profitable out-of-sample sector allocations. Profitability metrics are superior indicators of sustainable economic performance because these ratios are more strongly linked to future returns and cash flows than net income.