One of the most anticipated courses at the College of Business Administration is Finance 463: Security Analysis and Warren Buffett Business Valuation Techniques. The course offers some fortunate business students the opportunity to not only complete projects that attempt to simulate Buffett’s valuation techniques but also to meet and have lunch with the most famous CBA alumnus – Warren Buffett ’50.

Each year students from the undergraduate and graduate classes are selected by merit to go see Buffett at the Berkshire Hathaway headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska, visit his local businesses and dine with him at Piccolo Pete’s.

Students also compete to present Buffett with the class’s thank you gift, an honor for the student who comes up with the most compelling gift idea. This year, Preston Afrank, an MBA student from Lincoln, Nebraska, presented the Oracle of Omaha with a framed stock certificate of the first stock he ever purchased.

“Being able to meet him was a great privilege in itself. What do you get a man who can buy virtually anything? This particular stock certificate carries significant sentimental value as he purchased the Cities Service stock when he was just 11 years old and sold it at a small profit. Though he is quick to point out the value of the stock increased significantly after he sold it,” Afrank said.

Although getting to meet one of the world’s most prominent financiers is certainly a key draw for students to take the course, there are other reasons students clamor to take the class.

“What they really want to know is how he invests, so they can invest on their own. They learn his respected valuation principles in this course,” said Dr. Donna Dudney, associate dean for undergraduate programs and student engagement and associate professor of finance.

Published: June 3, 2015