Tight at the top as we enter final month of challenge

WEDNESDAY, APR. 11: The KPMG Stock Challenge is really hotting up now as the teams enter the final month.

MSA’s Limitless have moved from fourth to first and hold around a $1,500 advantage over their nearest rival Saltus’ Goldfingers who slipped into second place.

Warwick’s Horan’s Hunters are catching the eye jumping from ninth to third with a $5,000 plus profit this month.

Currently lying in eighth and ninth place respectively are the two CedarBridge teams Dream Team (DT) Investors and Phenomenal Women Investors.

The DT Investors explained to the Bermuda Sun that their strategy so far has been to look at stocks that move quite a lot —trying to buy them when they are low and waiting for them to go up and then sell them.

As the team admitted: “We have not been successful in selling them before they go down again. That is probably our major downfall.”

When choosing these well-known companies the DT team monitored current news bulletins.

“We picked Boeing because they did a deal with China worth 10 billion dollars to make approx 2,000 aircarft —so we invested in those stocks.”

In fact Boeing was the team’s best earning stock, with an approximate $2,000 profit.

Although DT Investors are in a respectable position they have decided with only a month to go that now is the time to take risks.

“We’ve decide to make some very risky moves”, said Ethan Rogers.

 “We want to sell all of our Boeing shares so we can invest in cheaper stocks, hoping they will go up and so we can make a lot of money.”

“We decided that if we are to improve our position we need to do something drastic  — we will either make it or lose it.

The all-female team Phenomenal Women Investors, according to teacher Dean Foggo, picked the stocks of companies familiar to them at first.

“They were trying to buy stocks that appealed to the female shopper and tried to capitalize on the retail market.”

In the KPMG rankings only two teams are not showing a profit at this time: BHS’s IB Investors and Berkeley’s Risktakers.

Overall, this has been an impressive performance by the investment teams in this stock challenge with 12 out of the 14 showing a profit. Many readers with pension schemes will look with envy on the performance of the stocks chosen by these students who are, in the main, looking at the stockmarket for the first time.

KPMG Stock Challenge as at March 30