Will drugs or oil prove more valuable?

FRIDAY, JAN. 4: Two teams at Saltus Grammar School are competing in the KPMG Challenge and investing their money very differently.

*Rogue Traders are made up of Peter Cooper, Michaela Ratteray, Zindzi Swan, Yuki Sun and Dylan Scott, all 17.

Goldfingers is made up of Daniel Oatley, Christopher Simmons, Zoe Simmons, Liam Peniston and Nick Pell, all 15.

The Rogue Traders’ plan has been to invest in pharmaceuticals.

Yuki said they decided to go with firms that manufacture drugs because “They seem to have a lot of potential. “They are companies that generally do better nowadays.”

The team’s mentor, Steve Young added the companies they have invested in have some new drugs that are out on the market: “We have a number of them that have FDA approval.

“One is in weight loss. Another one is synthetic blood.”

Peter said: “We are half in medical (companies) and the other half is a range of companies such as BMW, Tesla Motors, Chipotle Mexican Grill.”

The team also has a few technology companies.

Each team is required to invest in one local company and Rogue Traders have gone with KeyTech Limited.

Peter said: “There really aren’t many Bermudian ones so you have to pick the best you can.”

As far as why they chose the companies they did, Yuki said: “Chipotle is expanding rapidly. We kind of avoided the cliché companies like Apple, Microsoft and Coca Cola.”

Yuki added the team checks the news everyday to see how their companies are doing.

Asked why they decided to participate, Michaela said: “I don’t know anything about the economy or anything like that so I thought it would be a god way to get some knowledge and have a fun time.”

Zindzi said: “This is a learning experience for me. Yuki, Peter and Dylan have done this before.

“It’s a way to learn from my peers and friends. I really don’t know much about it at all.”

Yuki added: “I love accounting and finance. I did have shares for a couple of years and then the market was pretty miserable so I got out.”

The team agrees that Yuki is the brains of their operation.

The Goldfingers team has mostly invested in oil including Aurilium Coastal Energy.

Nick said: “We’re looking at oil and there are a few takeover companies — where one company looks to buy out a different company. We’re hoping the companies buy it out.”

Daniel said: “When they have profits, they’re big profits.

“The reason why we were in last was because they can be a bit of a risk.”

Locally, Goldfingers has invested in HSBC. Daniel said: “It’s a safe company. We needed some kind of safe share.”

As for why they chose to invest in oil, Nick said: “We stuck to a market that you know isn’t going down over night.

“The oil industry is huge. It’s pretty stable.”

Christopher explained why he wanted to participate in the challenge.

“I have always been interested in the economy. I didn’t have that much knowledge and I’m still catching up.”

Daniel added: “For me, I was interested in how the stocks worked and how things come together and how you make money.”

* The print version of this story had the Rogue Traders named misspelled. The Bermuda Sun wishes to apologize for this error.