Challenge comes to life as teams show a profit

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 8: The KPMG Investment Challenge burst into life this month with most teams entering positive territory.

The results played havoc with the leader board with the Mount Saint Agnes Limitless team moving from fourth to first place, posting a portfolio value of $56,711 — a rise of $8,751.

The Saltus team Gold-fingers  lived up to their name gaining $11,019 to move them from ninth to second place.

But the biggest movers were  Bermuda Institute’s Tradewins with a whopping increase of $14,248 which catapulted them from second last to third place.

As it stand only around $1,500 separates the top three, but then the gap to the bottom two is expanding to the $12,000 mark.

It is going to take something special from Bermuda High School’s IB Investors and Berkeley’s Risktakers to get them back in the hunt.

Warwick Academy’s  Action Jacksons led the pack in December but are now in fourth place, despite a $3,381 gain.

The team told the Bermuda Sun that their’s was a conservative strategy and that they had done well with commodities gold and silver, which represents 20 per cent of their portfolio.

They also targeted companies launching new products over the Christmas period, in particular mobile phones, investing in companies like Samsung and Nokia, hoping this would result in an increase in their share prices.

They thought Apple shares were too expensive and have missed out on a significant rise in their share price.

The team did not report any major disappointments stating that their Montpelier Re shares, which they did not have high hopes for, did reasonably well.

Business teacher Sara Jackson told the Sun that Warwick Academy now has four business classes owing to a huge influx of business students this year and that this was the first time her class has been involved in the Challenge.

 She explained that the team keep around $5,000 in cash, a safety measure which reflects their conservative approach.

Horan’s Hunters, the other team from Warwick and the more experienced, found out the hard way that there are some things you just cannot legislate for when investing.

They included Carnival Cruises in their portfolio, and saw their investment spiral downwards after the tragedy of the Costa Concordia cruise ship foundering off the coast of Italy.

Horan’s Hunters said they divide their investments into $5,000 lots with Carnival Cruises shares costing the team around $2,000 and is responsible for them being in tenth place.

They hold Apple shares, which have done well lately as a result of the new model iPhone 4S taking off.

A recurring feature in the strategy of teams —  Horan’s Hunter’s is no exception — is to look at well established companies that have taken a hit, and gamble they will come back pretty soon.

Both Warwick teams feel the weight of expectation as teams from the school have been previous winners of the KPMG Challenge.

The trading results of the teams in the stock challenge reflects the current positive performance of US and international markets across the board.