CBA teams go for oil and big name firms

Two teams at CedarBridge Academy are battling for the $10,000 prize in the KPMG Challenge.

Core Investments and Crunch Time Investors are busy trading their stocks in hopes of being the top teams.

Core Investors is made up of JD Symonds and Ethan Rogers, both 16.

They have primarily invested in oil.

JD explained: “This year we are trying to go towards a theme.”

He said last year, investments would change based on the season.

“We could have invested in toy companies for Christmas, but we wanted to keep it to one theme.”

“Our mentors said what we did last year wasn’t as risky like holding on to money that was sitting there.

Ethan added: “Last year, we bought when stuff was high. That was kind of stupid so now we buy stuff when it’s low and sell it when it’s high.”

Ethan said their oil strategy works well in all seasons.

“Around the winter, you tend to use a lot energy more because it’s cold and we need to heat the house.”

Some of the companies they have invested in include Kodiak Oil, BP and Suburban Propane.

Asked how the investing is going, JD said: “It’s doing good right now.”

JD said the last time the team checked, they were at $56,000.

They are barely more than $100 ahead of second place team BHS Investalads for the period ending January 25.

The local company they have invested in Butterfield Bank.

Ethan explained the decision.

“I guess you can’t really go wrong with a bank because banks have money.”

The team keeps up with the stocks with Google Finance.

Crunch Time Investors have spread their money around in a variety of companies including Time Warner Cable, Boeing and Oppenheimer.

The team is made of Marquis Caines, Matthias Lawrence and Jumoke Stovell.

Jumoke explained their choices.

“Basically, we decided to focus on big name companies.”

Matthias added: “I was looking at the market on Google and I saw Oppenheimer and I looked at it and it was doing pretty good so I decided to invest in it.”

Jumoke said: “We also looked at oil as well because oil or fuel doesn’t really go down.”

Matthias said they’ve also invested in social media companies including Facebook and Apple.

Their local company is Butterfield Bank as well.

Marquis said: “It was cheap and affordable.”

Matthias keeps track of their progress with Google Finance about three times a week.

Jumoke checks it daily.

Both Jumoke and Matthias have done the challenge before and are hoping to win.

This is Marquis’s first time.

“Mr Foggo asked me if I wanted to do it and I thought it would look good on my transcripts. I always wanted to invest in stocks on my own.

Overall, Crunch Time is in seventh place with a portfolio of $53,871.

After a fourth period of trading the CedarBridge Academy Core Investments are in the lead of the KPMG Investment Challenge with a portfolio value of $56,363. This compares to their ending value last month of $51,172; a 10.14 per cent appreciation.

BHS Investalads are in second with a portfolio value of $56,262 and Berkeley Money Savers are third with a portfolio of $54,113.

Teams maintain their investment portfolios primarily in the United States. As of January 25, 76.9 per cent of investments held are in American-based companies.

Investments in Bermuda make up 5.8 per cent of the entire group’s investments. Each team is required to invest in one company on the Bermuda Stock Exchange.

The teams have chosen to invest primarily in actively traded US common stocks with other minimal investments in ADRs (American Depository Receipts), GDRs (Global Depository Receipts), ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds), REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts), Closed-End Funds and MLP (Master Limited Partnerships).

Across industry sectors, the portfolios are well diversified with the consumer products, communications, technology and energy sectors continuing to lead the way. Minor investments are held in other sectors such as industrial, financial, basic materials, funds and utilities.