72 Percent Gain Keeps Contest Leader in First Place
By Gary T. Pakulski, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio
May 4–A 24-year-old commercial insurance agent from Toledo’s Point Place area hung on to first place last month in The Blade’s Stock Market Game.
Since the start of the yearlong contest Jan. 1, Kym Opfermann’s portfolio has shot up 72 percent to $68,722, largely on the strength of alternative energy stocks. The latest standings were released yesterday.
Ms. Opfermann held a narrow lead over Richard Woodruff, a retired IBM computer programer who lives in Monclova Township. His portfolio increased 71 percent to $68,324 as of April 30.
Seven of the top contestants hold solar power stocks.
“Solar is still the driver behind the leaders,” said Shane Ewbank, a financial adviser in the Toledo office of brokerage Smith Barney, a contest co-sponsor, which is tabulating results.
Among the 900 contestants, portfolios of 73 percent are in the black.
That is partly a reflection of the stock market’s overall strong performance, Mr. Ewbank said. The Dow Jones industrial average had its best month in four years in April, rising nearly 6 percent, he noted.
Under contest rules, each entrant was required to divide an imaginary $40,000 evenly among four stocks trading for at least $5 a share; entries were due Dec. 31.
The winner will be the portfolio with the biggest gains at the end of the year. among four stocks trading for at least $5 a share; entries were due Dec. 31.
The winner will be the portfolio with the biggest gains at the end of the year.
First place receives $100 and an air trip for two to Chicago, Toronto, or Tampa. Second place gets $300; third place, $100.
As of April 30, two new contestants jumped into the top 10.
Portfolios of both include solar-panel producer First Solar Inc., for which the stock price has more than doubled since the beginning of the contest.
April’s contest leader has First Solar, but her biggest gainer is another alternative-energy play: Trina Solar Ltd., a Chinese manufacturer of solar electric power modules.
The stock, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange, is up 183 percent. Ms. Opfermann also owns The Andersons Inc., of Maumee, up 10 percent, and Bentley Pharmaceuticals Inc., down 6 percent.
Among three “challenge” portfolios that are not eligible for prizes, that of Toledoan Terry Carey, an investment club president, was in the lead. The portfolio is up 12 percent to $44,656.
The Blade’s dartboard picks, chosen at random, are down 16 percent to $33,787.
The other April contest leaders and their portfolio values:
Thomas Monaghan, Lambertville, $65,273; Paul Dymarkowski, Toledo, $60,829; Brian Walker, Bowling Green, $60,475; Rex Crist, Adrian, $60,255; Amy Eppard, Toledo, $59,526; Betty Dierzak, Perrysburg, $58,168; Robert Lee, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, $57,678; and Dan Nester, Temperance, $56,594.
Contact Gary Pakulski at: gpakulski@theblade.com or 419-724-6082.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio
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