Ukrainian Credit Union's 3rd UCU Investment Challenge has just completed its first week, and we have a good contingent of portfolios entered into this round. We couldn't have picked a better time to get started, as capital markets have displayed a heightened level of volatility over the past few weeks, which will bring an interesting dynamic to our contest.
Our contest, although short in duration (9 weeks) is meant to be an investment contest. Some have indicated a preference for more active access to trade their positions. We did not intend to run a trading contest (although that may be something we'll think about for the future), but an investing contest, which requires a different type of approach when building a portfolio. We recognize that there should be an opportunity to adjust a portfolio, and so we do provide one day to trade some, all or none of the portfolio positions. This will occur on November 16th (midnight deadline).
Similar to what we've noticed in the previous two contests we have run, we notice a front runner that has jumped out to a commanding lead right at the get go. The rest of the pack is quite strong, with over 70% of the portfolios entered generating a positive return following the first week!
Let's drill down a little bit and take a look at the top few positions following week one. The
TOP SPOT spot after 5 days of active markets sees
George F. clearly ahead, as his portfolio has
doubled in value. George was quite clever in selecting stocks that were trading at a value of $0.005 per share on October 12th, our pricing day, and all three rose in value to $0.01 per share by the close on October 19th. He holds 3 positions (the minimum required for the contest) focusing on resources (oil and gas extraction and mining). His top position commands an 80% weight in his portfolio.
In
Second Spot we have the portfolio of
Peter Tr., whose portfolio generated a
14% return. Peter has taken a more balanced approach to his portfolio, carrying 5 positions with the largest at a 25% weighting and the smallest at a 10% weighting. Peter is also focused on resources. All of Peter's positions had an starting value above $1.00 per share.
To round out the
top three,
Andrew R.'s portfolio generated just under a
13% return following the first week. Andrew has a 3 position portfolio, with a slightly concentrated top position of 50%, and the other two positions almost equally weighted. Consumer discretionary and info technology count for the bulk of his portfolio.
Please see our website at:
Contestant Portfolios to view more details of each portfolio following the first week of activity, as well as to view the chart ranking each position so far.
