Factor
Academy
A Masterclass on Factors for the Fundamental Investor
Equip yourself with the knowledge & toolkits you need to navigate the new world of factor-risk models and factor-driven markets.
Enroll in Factor Academy
20+ hours of self-paced
core content
30+ hours of supplemental
guest speaker sessions
Guided hands-on
Factor Labs
Fully self-paced with
12 months of access
Program Structure
Factor frameworks move markets and drive institutional capital flows. However, developing an exhaustive understanding of factor frameworks can be a challenging process for the fundamental investor with a non-quantitative background.
Factor Academy is designed to help non-quant investors develop frameworks for making strategic decisions around three key aspects of factors:
Factor-Based Investing
Understand how factors influence changes in stock price
- What is a factor?
- Major equity style factors
- Factors for the non-quant
- Common factor-investing approaches
Factor Risk Management
Identify factor exposures that may impact stock performance
- How factor risk models work
- Separating idiosyncratic and systematic risk
- Predicting your book's volatility
- Calculating return attribution
Managing a Factor-Aware Portfolio
Construct a portfolio around factor loadings and themes
- Factor-constrained portfolios
- Hedging unwanted exposure
- Crowding and positioning
- Expressing themes without introducing unintended bets
The majority of daily stock price movement is due to factors.
Learn about the missing layer in portfolio construction.
The Missing Layer in Portfolio Construction
Why even rigorous theses can underperform without factor awareness.
Instructors
Factor Academy is designed and delivered by a team of instructors with decades of experience on the buyside.
You'll be learning from instructors that were PMs and analysts at multi-managers, single managers, and long-only firms.
Brett Caughran
Founder and Head Instructor
Brett brings 13 years of hedge fund experience at Maverick, D.E. Shaw, Citadel, Two Sigma & Schonfeld. Brett founded Fundamental Edge in 2022 to help improve training on the buyside. Brett has led over 750 buyside analysts through Analyst Academy and has designed and delivered numerous custom analyst training programs.
Rich Falk-Wallace
Quant Instructor
Rich brings 8 years on the buyside at Silver Point, Viking Global & Citadel as a Portfolio Manager. Rich is currently Co-Founder & CEO of Arcana, an equity-factor risk model focused on risk & performance. Arcana enables institutional investors to understand portfolio risk, decompose single-stock and book performance, and isolate idiosyncratic differentiation.
Rocky Cahan
Quant Instructor
Rocky is a Portfolio Strategist at Empirical Research Partners, focusing on research from stock selection to macroeconomic analysis since 2013. Previously, he led Deutsche Bank's top-ranked U.S. Quantitative Strategy team and held roles at Macquarie Bank and Citigroup, with published work in prominent finance journals.
Student Testimonial
“This isn't a bunch of research papers and theory. This is applicable day one. If you don't take it, you're already behind."
How it Works
Download the SyllabusEnroll and Start Learning
As soon as you enroll, you get immediate access to the entire library of prerecorded core content: 20+ hours covering factor-based investing, factor risk management, and factor-aware portfolio management, taught by practitioners who have managed capital at some of the largest funds in the world.
Apply and Go Deeper
On demand access to 30+ hours of guest speaker sessions that bring in voices from across the market, including risk-model builders, quant strategists, and multi-manager veterans. Guided Factor Labs then give you hands-on reps applying the frameworks to real portfolios.
Stay Connected
Once you sign up, you get a full 12 months of access to all the content. This means whether you want to finish the course in 12 days or 12 months, you can work at your own pace and still go back to reference the material for a full year.
Enroll NowStudent Testimonial
“Invaluable resource on the complex topic
of factors, which is becoming increasingly
important. I wish I would have had this
course 5 buyside years ago.”
Guest
Speakers
Giuseppe Paleologo
Head of Quant Research at Balyasny, former Risk Management, Millennium, Citadel, Hudson River
Adam Parker
Founder, Trivariate Research, Former Eminence & Morgan Stanley
Mark Carver
Global Head of Equity Factors & Equity Portfolio Management, MSCI
Sandeep Varma
Co-founder & CEO, Equity Data Science, Former Bridger & Herring Creek
Wes Sapp
Research Analyst, Empirical Research Partners
Melissa Brown
Global Head of Investment Decision Research, SimCorp (Axioma)
Chad Myrhe
Managing Director, Alfred L. Dupont Charitable Trust
Omer Cedar
Co-Founder & CEO, Omega Point, Former Two Sigma
Meb Faber
Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Cambria Investment Management
Wes Gray
CEO, Alpha Architect
Jared Kubin
Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Issachar Technologies
Marc Greenberg
Founder, Greener Pastures
Rob Arnott
Founder and Chairman, Research Affiliates
Mahmood Noorani
CEO, Quant Insight
Program Content
Module 1
Factors for the Fundamental Investor
Module Outline
- What is a Factor? And Why Should I Care?
- The Building Blocks of Factor Analysis
- Factor Attribution & Return Decomposition
- Factor-Based Investing
- Factor-Based Risk Models
- Fundamental Investing in a Factor-Focused World
Instructors
Brett Caughran, Rich Falk-Wallace
Guest Speakers
Chad Myhre (The Allocator Perspective), Mark Carver (MSCI), Melissa Brown (Axioma)
Factor Lab
Case Study — Consider Optimal Factor Hedge
Module 2
Factor-Based Investing
Module Outline
- Frameworks for Factor-Based Investing
- Identifying Alpha with Factor Frameworks
- A Deep Dive Into Common Factors
- Applied Factor Investing
- Frameworks for Factor Timing
- “Quantamental” Factor Investing Approaches
Instructors
Brett Caughran, Rocky Cahan
Guest Speakers
Meb Faber (Factor-Based Investing), Wes Gray (Factor-Based Investing), Adam Parker (Trivariate)
Factor Lab
Case Study — Construct “Quantamental” Portfolio
Module 3
Factor-Based Risk Management
Module Outline
- “Alpha Machine” & the Rise of Factor Risk Models
- Statistics & Math for the Non-Quant
- How Factor Models Work
- Risk Decomposition & Volatility Prediction
- Performance Attribution
- Expanding Factor Libraries
Instructors
Brett Caughran, Rich Falk-Wallace
Guest Speakers
Giuseppe Paleologo (Risk 201), Sandeep Varma (Managing a Portfolio with a Factor Risk Model)
Factor Lab
Case Study — Optimize Idio on a Native Portfolio
Module 4
Factor-Aware Portfolio Management
Module Outline
- PM Toolkit for Factor-Constrained Investing
- Factors, Positioning & Crowding
- Themes, Baskets & Factor-Constrained Investing
- Factor-Aware Hedging Approaches
- Lessons Learned (the Hard Way)
- Portfolio Management in a Factor-Focused World
Instructors
Brett Caughran, Rich Falk-Wallace
Guest Speakers
Jared Kubin, Omer Cedar
Factor Lab
Case Study — Express Theme, Factor-Constrained
Who is this
course for?
Not sure if Factor Academy
is right for you?
Schedule a call with Fundamental
Edge to discuss your needs.
Investors at Multi-Managers
Investors operating in a beta-neutral, factor-constrained risk model
Investors at Single Managers
Investors who operate in a factor-aware environment
Portfolio Managers
PMs who are managing capital in a factor-constrained risk model
Allocators
Allocators who are seeking to better understand factor vs. idio in the evaluation process
Investors at Long Onlys
Investors who are evaluated with a factor-attribution framework
Junior Buyside Analysts
Juniors seeking to broadly understand the language and frameworks of factor attribution and risk
What you’ll walk away with
Speak the Language
of Factors
Build the baseline factor fluency that factor-constrained and factor-aware seats now expect, so you can hold your own in “factor vs. idio” conversations.
Decompose Your Returns
Break your P&L into its factor and idiosyncratic components, so you can see how much of your performance came from idio alpha versus the exposures you were carrying.
Identify Unintended Bets
Identify unknown exposures, understand your book’s volatility, and know where your systematic risk is coming from.
Manage Your
Systematic Risk
Understand where your book’s factor risk comes from and how to hedge the exposures you don’t want.
Construct a Factor-Aware
Portfolio
Manage your book at the portfolio level: analyze positioning and crowding, weigh factor timing, and structure hedges so your aggregate exposures reflect the bets you actually want.
Learn the Quant
Toolkit
Get plain-English grounding in the statistics, models, and quant tools fundamental investors are increasingly measured against, built for a non-quantitative background.
Pricing
Individual Access
$2,650
Full cohort access for one seat.
- Self-paced pre-recorded content
- Pre-recorded guest speaker curriculum from top experts
- Factor Lab & Office Hours
- Supplemental readings & trials
Team Access
Custom
Everything in Individual Access.
- Group pricing and consolidated billing
- Enterprise/team level implementation plan
- Optional tailored sessions for your team
Without vs. With Factor Academy
Without Factor Awareness...
- You don't know where your returns are coming from
- You don't know how quants operate or how they make decisions
- You don't understand why some good ideas get flagged by the factor risk model
- You don't understand how individual stocks interact within a portfolio
- You take factor bets you never intended to make
- You don't know when a factor is a headwind or a tailwind
With Factor Academy...
- You can separate idio alpha from factor exposure
- You know how all players at the table operate
- You can see how risk models may flag a stock due to factor exposure
- You understand how your positions combine into your book's factor exposures
- You can identify when a stock has exposure to a certain factor
- You can weigh factor timing and market regime in your decisions
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a factor model subscription for this?
You do not need a model subscription. However, we do offer free data vendor trials for institutional investors only. We will provide contact information to these vendors upon enrollment.
Do I get access to the content as soon as I enroll?
Yes, once enrolled, you will get immediate access to the content.
Is this cohort based?
This course is now a rolling enrollment, meaning you can enroll at any time without waiting until the cohort starts.
Can my firm pay for this?
Yes. Many of our students are firm-sponsored. Your firm may have a training budget for exactly this type of expense. Factor Academy also accepts soft dollars. Email info@fundamentedge.com for details.
Ready to navigate a factor-driven
market with confidence and fluency?
Equip yourself with the frameworks fundamental investors need to navigate factor-risk models and factor-driven markets.
Enroll TodayTestimonial
“Really helped me bridge the gap from a traditional long-only perspective to a modern hedge fund mindset!”