It has been a fascination 9 weeks, and just like in our first run of the UCU Investment Challenge, UCU2 has had lots of drama, ups and downs, and portfolios moving in and out of the top three positions, making for plenty of action!
Although it ended up in more work on our side, we were pleased to see more portfolios taking advantage of the trade day, which occurred on February 17th. In total 18 portfolios made position switches, some wholescale while others just tweaking. One of the portfolio leaders at that time dumped their equity holdings and put everything into fixed income to lock in gains. Others, put more risk on, and in the immediate weeks following had realized substantial gains from those positions.
At the end of the day, roughly $8,500 separated the 5th place position from the 1st place position, or only 6.6% of the closing value of the 1st place portfolio. That is close!
And The Winner's Are .....
Where it was really very close, was between the 1st and 2nd place finishers, and the 3rd and 4th place finishers. Let's go down the list of the top 5 portfolios:
1st Place, and the $1,000 investment account prize, goes to ...... Volodymyr V. Volodymyr's portfolio had been a strong one right from the start, where his position in the National Bank of Greece paid off handsomely in the first 4 weeks of the contest. At the halfway mark, where we allowed for position trades to take place, Volodia sold all his equity holdings and replaced them with fixed income holdings - Canada and US Tbills, as well as a small position in Greek government bonds. The quick asset allocation adjustment allowed Volodymyr to lock in gains and hold his portfolio value. Initially, other portfolios gained on him, and his portfolio even dropped out of the Winner's Circle for a week or two, but in the end some of the other high flying portfolios lost altitude, and Volodia was able to come out on top. Over the nine weeks, Volodia's portfolio gained 29%, finishing at an impressive $129,083! Congratulations!
2nd Place and the $750 investment account prize goes to ..... Alexandra F. Alexandra's rise into the Winner's Circle didn't get off to a great start, as her portfolio lost 15% of its value after the first week of contest! However, from that time, it was a steady rise upwards, with Alexandra holding onto the No. 1 spot at the halfway mark. Complete Genomics, Netflix and TiVo were the three positions that carried Alexandra to top of the lot by Week 5, and she made some adjustments to her holdings to lock-in some of the huge gains she had made. Her 80% position in GNOM was scaled back, and the Netflix and TiVo were switched for Bed Bath & Beyond, Essex Property Trust and Air Canada. At the end of it, Alexandra was only behind by $606, or 0.47% from first spot! Alexandra's portfolio closed with a $128,477 value! A great showing!
3rd Place and the $500 investment account prize goes to ... Oksana P. This was the first time Oksana's portfolio made it into the Winner's Circle, and that's great! Oksana also did not take advantage of the opportunity to make trades, and left her portfolio intact throughout the contest. Further still, Oksana's portfolio was made up of very straightforward US blue chip stocks in equal weighting - McDonald's, The Gap and Apple. Keeping it simple sometimes is an excellent strategy! Oksana's portfolio returned over 21% and closed with a value of $121,649! Fantastic work!
We will be contacting the winners over the next couple of weeks so they can claim their prizes!
Honourable Mentions ....
We must comment on our 4th Place finisher, Marisa M., whose portfolio finished a mere $394 out of the prize money, which is tough but very admirable. Marisa's portfolio finished in the top 5 only once, and right at the end of the contest! Slow and steady, that's the best way to describe Marisa's performance. Marisa's portfolio finished with a value of $121,256 - great work! 5th Place went to Oleh F., whose portfolio had been in the top 5 on other occasions. Oleh's portfolio closed with a value of $120,426.
Finally, we have to provide commentary on Matthew R., whose portfolio put on a spectacular performance immediately after our trade day. Matthew, whose portfolio was doing well up to that point, pulled out all the stops and added a high reward/high risk trade on. He sold his leveraged ETF positions that were riding high from the strong start to equity markets, especially in the US, and rolled it into a concentrated position in a penny stock (literally a penny and a half - Warnex) and in a small cap and a mid cap stocks. Initially, Warnex jumped a penny, driving Matthew's portfolio to a peak of $179,728 at the end of Week 7. However, all those gains were given back by Week 9, while the other two positions slipped a bit, causing Matthew to miss out on a payoff. However, his portfolio did provide high drama for our contest, and his risk taking skills looked quite impressive! Matthew's portfolio ended in 8th Place, with a value of $116,083 - still a very strong return for 9 weeks!
That's A Wrap ...
We thank all of our participants in the UCU Investment Challenge 2 - we hope you had as much fun participating as we did running the contest. Overall, we hope you all learned a lot from the contest, gaining experience in building and managing a portfolio of securities for a short duration play.
We will take a little bit of breather now, leaving the stock picking games for next autumn. We wish everyone a wonderful Spring and Summer, and Best of Luck with your investments.
Remember, if you are looking for a chance to speak about your investments, are looking for a second opinion on your holdings, or are interested in starting up an investment account, we at Ukrainian Credit Union are ready and capable to help you work towards your investment goals.
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