KPMG Investment Challenge: Bermuda Institute remains in first

The Bermuda Institute’s Profitbulls remains on top in the KPMG Senior School Investment Challenge after the fifth round.

Berkeley Finance is in second, just $4,600 behind the Bermuda Institute team.

The Profitbulls actually increased its lead with a nearly $5,300 gain for the month of February.

But CedarBridge Academy is itching to retain its title in the KPMG Senior School Investment Challenge.

The school’s T&L eKard Investors is nipping at the heels of the two Berkeley squads and is in third place.

CBA’s DT 1 Investors is in fifth and DT 2 Investors is 10th.

Last year’s winners, Ethan Rogers and JD Symonds, have split up and are each leading their own team this year.

T&L’s is the girls’ team and they are new to the competition. The team is made up of Tamia Bademosi, Lakaylah Thompson and Lashuntae Dill-Assing.

They check their stocks daily and even have finance apps on their phones.

Asked what’s been the best part of the challenge so far, Lashuntae said: “Seeing the numbers go up and fluctuate.”

Tamia added: “I would have to say the same thing as Lashuntae — just focusing on the stocks and taking out the ones that are doing bad.”

Lakaylah said that those stocks that are not doing well, they try to change them around to do better.

Asked which companies they have invested in, the girls would only give away a little bit of information and said Netflix and Starbucks.

Tamia said they didn’t want to divulge that information because the other teams could pick up on their hot stocks.

Lakaylah said they choose their stocks through Google Finance.

“I was searching for the ones that were doing good at the time and the ones that were going to do good through April — we followed the trends.”

Lakaylah added her 15-year-old niece is into investing and gave her a few tips.

Tamia said one strategy they employ is “We see how much we’ve gained and we base it off that. Whichever is losing the most in three weeks or so, we sell it.”

Their local stock is BF&M. Tamia said they chose the local insurer because “My mom used to work there so I thought it would be good to invest in.”

Lashuntae said they’ve increased their knowldege quite a bit so far about the markets and investing. “I have learned that in time, we will make money — we just have to be patient.”

Tamia added: “This has helped me with my personal finance class since we are doing the same thing with insurance and your money.”

All three girls say they plan to invest in the future to make a good bit of money.

Tamia said: ‘This is pretty exciting because I saw how the boys did last year and I always wanted to try it but I didn’t know what I had to do.

“Now that I know, it’s really fun.”

The portfolios of all 16 teams are highly concentrated in the United States, Britain, Bermuda and China with minor positions held in various other countries such as Switzerland, Germany, and Canada.

All teams are required to hold at least one Bermudian company traded on the BSX in their portfolios, with most teams opting for well known names such as Bank of N.T. Butterfield, KeyTech Limited, and Ascendant Group Limited.

The teams have chosen to invest primarily in actively traded US common stocks with other minimal investments in ADRs (American depository receipts), MLPs (master limited partnerships), and open-ended Funds.

Across industry sectors, the portfolios are very well diversified with the communications, consumers, Cyclical, Consumer, non-cyclical, and financial sectors leading the way.