Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 6, 1991 TAG: 9103060336
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG/ HIGHER EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The Virginia Tech junior invested in the stock market last November and in four months, he more than doubled his $500,000 investment.
Alas, it was only a game.
Goode, 20, was a participant in the AT&T Investment Challenge, a Wall Street contest where college students try their luck (and skill) buying, trading and short selling stocks. The winning schools get glory and a plaque.
"It would have been nice if it were real money," said Goode, who will get a sweatshirt for coming in 34th out of hundreds of students. Local merchants are providing other prizes. "None of my real-life stocks seem to go this way."
Goode has invested his savings in a few mutual funds and stocks since high school - but they were picked by a broker.
"This is the first time I tried it myself," he said.
Phil Steinmeyer of UVa, who finished 16th nationally, also was a paper millionaire with a stock portfolio worth $1,186,335.
There were a total of 50 paper millionaires contest wide, said Lisa Nollet, marketing and public relations director for Wall Street Games, a Boston company running the contest.
"That's the largest number of millionaires we've ever had."
Granted, none of them will be buying Jaguars or jacuzzis. But the winners will belong to a millionaire's club, she said.
Virginia Tech took seventh place out of about 800 colleges that entered the competition; rival UVa took third.
It was a competition that the two schools took seriously.
"Third, hunh?" John Paul, president of Tech's finance club, said when the results were announced. "Argh."
The finance club helped sign up Tech students for the competition. The university had a total of 50 teams.
"That's a big increase over last year," Paul said.
A trend, Nollet said, that is occuring at other schools as well.
The students who fared well during the four months invested in stocks related to computer technology, biotechnology or pharmaceuticals.
"Those are industries that did well during the war and talk of the recession," Nollet said.
Goode and his partner, finance major Steve Rao, invested in small companies, and a few that were listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
"Near the end, we added Continental Airlines, thinking that when the war was over, people would start traveling," Goode said.
Students used different strategies over the four months to choose their stocks. Some followed the news to see what effect events could have on stocks. Others did computer research. A few just guessed.
Professors have said the contest is the best way to learn about the market without the penalties - and losses.
The students agreed.
"There are all sorts of things you don't understand until you do it," said Philip "Flip" Bowry, a fourth-year student in UVa's McIntire School of Commerce. "In class, the teachers tell you `we're ignoring transaction costs' or something like that. This really helped me see what it's like."
Coming in third made it fun, though students at UVa still miss the first-place rank they held earlier in the competition.
"We sort of got on this campaign to push to really win," Bowry said. "But third is nice. And beating Tech - well, that's a bonus, what can I say?"
And, there's always next year.
For Tech, too.
"We hope next year this'll get even bigger," Paul said. "And there's always next year to beat UVa."
by CNB