Mildred, the IRS agent, wins with CUBE in her porfolio...
DAILY NEWS STOCK PICKING CONTEST WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Deborah Adamson Daily News Staff Writer
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11/17/97
Los Angeles Daily News
VALLEY
Page B1
(Copyright 1997)
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In August, the Daily News gave five folks this mission: Invest a fictitious $100,000 in the stock market, and in six months try to beat each other and the business section's mascot, Mark T. Maker.
The contestants started out well, with solid stock picks that showed promise. But they began faltering in September and October, blindsided by a major market correction and a turbulent environment for equities.
Their experience midway through the contest is a lesson for all investors who think 20-plus-percent returns are the divine right of the American stock exchanges.
Suddenly, buying and selling stocks doesn't seem quite so easy after all.
"I've got a new respect for mutual fund managers," said contestant Cliff Harwood, a 49-year-old mechanic from Encino.
Harwood was one of the five individuals chosen out of hundreds of applicants to pit their investing prowess against each other and the mascot. The five came from across Daily News country: Encino, Palmdale, Moorpark, Chatsworth and Glendale.
There's a retiree, a homemaker, an administrator, a sales manager and Harwood the mechanic.
Halfway into the contest, the participants said the contest has affected their lives.
After the Daily News started publishing contest results every week, they have received recognition from the most unlikely people - such as a supermarket checker and business people at luncheons. One woman got calls from strangers who wanted her to join their investment clubs.
More importantly, however, the participants said the contest taught them what it was like to risk with fake money what they wouldn't do with their own.
"The contest has really been quite an experience," said Lorraine Sadler, a 63-year-old Air Force administrator from Palmdale. "In hindsight, I guess I wouldn't invest the way I'm doing now. I would have stayed with conservative stocks."
She considers herself a long-term investor, one not concerned with the immediate ups and downs of the market.
But since the contest lasts only six months, Sadler went against her usual investing behavior and chose mainly technology stocks, which are more volatile but also promise greater rewards.
Halfway into the contest, volatility won over potential. Many technology stocks got hammered in the market turmoil, dropping Sadler from third place to fourth.
Jeff Wood, a 31-year-old sales manager from Moorpark, had the same attitude.
He piled his $100,000 into popular tech stocks such as Microsoft and Cisco, when he would be more diversified in his personal holdings.
"I wouldn't put everything in high-tech like I did," he said.
But Michelle Cohn, a Chatsworth homemaker, didn't change her way of investing.
The most frequent trader among all the contestants, the 30-year-old likes risky tech stocks but watches them carefully and sells after a quick profit.
However, it didn't help her when the Asian stock exchanges took hits. Several of her picks had connections to the Asian market.
In fact, in the most painful example of hindsight among the contestants, Cohn would be in first place if she had stuck with her original portfolio.
Instead, after grabbing the lead for a while, Cohn is now in third place.
Mark T. Maker, the fictitious mascot of the Daily News business section, has managed to stay in the middle of the investing pack throughout the contest until he rose to second place last week.
Maker follows a simple investment philosophy: Buy local. His entire portfolio comprises only companies headquartered in the Daily News area.
Solidly in first place so far is retired IRS agent Mildred Chavez.
Most of her portfolio consists of technology stocks, but they've held up.
Ironically, Chavez isn't even online yet. She's bought a computer but hasn't hooked it up yet.
"I have other priorities," said the 76-year-old Glendale resident.
She recently adopted three kittens, who were left by their mother under her porch on a rainy day. Chavez took them to the veterinarian for examination. It cost her almost $100.
"I need to invest in more stock to cover the vet bill," she said.
FIRST PLACE
NAME:Mildred Chavez
STOCK PORTFOLIO:Apple 500 shares; Cirrus 500 shares; C - Cube 400 shares; Golden State Bancorp 300 shares; Iomega 500 shares; Kmart 700 shares; Quantum 500 shares; AT&T 300 shares; Unisys 1,100 shares and Xoma 1,000 shares
TRANSACTIONS LAST WEEK:None
VALUE THIS MORNING:$111,110.90, cash $331.25
VALUE ON NOV. 7:$113,331.25, cash $331.25
TRADES SINCE AUGUST: Sold Telefonos de Mexico; bought Kmart and more shares of Unisys
VALUE TODAY WITH NO TRADES (INCLUDES SPLITS):$109,550, cash $1,093.75
SECOND PLACE
NAME:Mark T. Maker
STOCK PORTFOLIO:On Assignment 800 shares; Cheesecake Factory 500 shares; Countrywide Credit 375 shares; Four Media 1,500 shares; IHOP 500 shares; MiniMed 277 shares; Semtech 123 shares and Wellpoint Health Network 141 shares
TRANSACTIONS LAST WEEK:Sold 500 shares of Cohr at 11 7/8, bought 123 shares of Semtech at 47 15/16
VALUE THIS MORNING:$99,461.10, cash $144.19
VALUE ON NOV. 7:$99,874.63, cash $203
TRADES SINCE AUGUST: Sold Amgen and Cohr; bought Minimed, Wellpoint Health Network and Semtech
VALUE TODAY WITH NO TRADES (INCLUDES SPLITS):$98,071.88, cash $367.19
THIRD PLACE
NAME:Michele Cohn
STOCK PORTFOLIO:Children's Broadcasting 3,192 shares; Ascend 382 shares; Boston Market 1,412 shares; Biosite 2,640 shares; Cognos 824 shares; Vivus 683 shares; Xylan 633 shares and Tricon Global Restaurants 43 shares
TRANSACTIONS LAST WEEK:None
VALUE THIS MORNING:$98,866.80, cash $20.66
VALUE ON NOV. 7:$103,192.44, cash $20.66
TRADES SINCE AUGUST: Sold Topro, Kollmorgen, Intimate Brands, Syquest, Fore, HBO & Co., Yahoo, Petsmart, Pepsi, Jerry's Deli, Novellus, FX Energy and Diagnostic Health Services; bought Intimate Brands, Pepsi, Corel, Yahoo, Petsmart, FX Energy, HBO & Co., Diagnostic Health Serivces, Biosite Diagnostics, Ascend, Jerry's Deli, Cognos, Novellus, Children's Broadcasting, Xylan, Vivus and Boston Market
VALUE TODAY WITH NO TRADE (INCLUDES SPLITS):$117,128.12, cash $273.44
FOURTH PLACE
NAME:Lorraine Sadler
STOCK PORTFOLIO:American Radio 150 shares; Ascend 200 shares; Centocor 200 shares; Cisco 150 shares; Mylan 1,000 shares; PepsiCo 250 shares; Personnel Group of America 300 shares; Quantum 400 shares; Turbo Chef 300 shares
TRANSACTIONS LAST WEEK:None
VALUE THIS MORNING:$92,280.60, cash $383.38
VALUE ON NOV. 7:$93,456.25, cash $383.38
TRADES SINCE AUGUST: Sold Callaway Golf, Gateway, American Express, Western Digital, Tricon Global (spin off), Intel and Oracle; bought Pepsi, Turbo Chef, American Radio Systems, Personnel Group of America, Centocor and more shares of Pepsi
VALUE TODAY WITH NO TRADES (INCLUDES SPLITS):$92,051.56, cash $703.13
FIFTH PLACE
NAME:Cliff Harwood
STOCK PORTFOLIO:Airborne 135 shares; America Online 141 shares; American Express 120 shares; Caliber Systems 153 shares; Compaq 167.50 shares; Goodyear 153 shares; Immunex 125 shares; Lone Star 120 shares; Pfizer 160 shares and Philips 101 shares
TRANSACTIONS LAST WEEK:None
VALUE THIS MORNING:$86,878.25, cash $167.19
VALUE ON NOV. 7:$90,544.19, cash $167.19
TRADES SINCE AUGUST: Sold Merck, Coca-Cola, AT&T, Sears, Union Carbide, Boeing, Advanced Micro Devices, Andrea Electronics, Allied Signal, Philip Morris and GE; bought AT&T, Pfizer, Advanced Micro Devices, Compaq, Andrea Electronics, Philips Electronics, Lone Star Technologies, AOL, Caliber Systems, Airborne Freight and Immunex
VALUE TODAY WITH NO TRADES (INCLUDES SPLITS):$86,315.06, cash $423.19
SIXTH PLACE
NAME:Jeffrey Wood
STOCK PORTFOLIO:ATC 350 shares; 3Com 150 shares; Formulab 3,200 shares; Golden Phoenix Mineral 3,875 shares; Microsoft 100 shares; Oracle 300 shares; Safeco 425 shares and Sun Microsystems 275 shares.
TRANSACTIONS LAST WEEK:None
VALUE THIS MORNING:$76,628.79, cash $259.44
VALUE ON NOV. 7:$82,031.25, cash $259.44
TRADES SINCE AUGUST: Sold Cisco, Apple and Stac; bought ATC, Golden Phoenix Mineral, Formulab and Safeco
VALUE TODAY WITH NO TRADES (INCLUDES SPLITS):$92,843.75, cash $2,151.56
6 Photos; Caption: Photo: (1--Color) Michele Cohn (2--Color) Mildred Chavez (3--Color) Mark T. Maker (4--Color) Lorraine Sadler (5--Color) Cliff Harwood (6--Color) Jeffrey Wood |
