Tom picks the winnersBy ANTHONY BLACK25jul04TOM Clarke is the...

Tom picks the winners
By ANTHONY BLACK
25jul04

TOM Clarke is the clear winner of the Sunday Herald Sun's first sharemarket game.

The Year 11 Brighton Grammar student beat a university professor, nurse, handyman and a clairvoyant in the weekly "battle of the tipsters".
The game started in November when each tipster was allocated $10,000 with which to buy $2000 worth of shares in five companies. They could hold their portfolio or buy and sell two stocks each week.

Tom, 17, turned $10,000 into $13,447, a 34.47 per cent return on his investment.

Clairvoyant Judy-Ann Steed, who confessed to knowing nothing about shares at the start, finished second with $11,798. Ms Steed was followed by Helen Elsworth, a nurse and keen sharemarket investor, on $11,132. Economics professor Neville Norman, of Melbourne University, finished fourth on $10,506. Handyman Peter Huggins was never in the race and recorded a loss. His initial $10,000 was worth $8165. at Friday's market close.









Tom was behind in early weeks, but was never headed from time he bought technology company Redflex Holdings on December 7. His $1944 bought 2090 shares at 93c each. He kept Redflex and turned $1944 into $5852 at Friday's close.

Redflex installs red light traffic cameras and its share price soared after winning a series of contracts, particularly in the US, according to investment analyst Michael Heffernan.

Mr Heffernan, of F.W. Holst, said investors bought the stock on the company's potential to significantly increase profitability.

Tom said a friend suggested Redflex and he bought it because the stock offered a lot of upside from 93c a share.

He said his strategy was to identify speculative stock because upward price movements would rapidly boost his total. For example, a speculative stock that went from 40c to 80c was better than a blue chip going from $12 to $13.

"I didn't want to be conservative," he said. "I was chasing capital growth."

Tom, who plays football and cricket for his school, said it was a satisfying win, considering the competition.

"I didn't expect to win, given I was up against Professor Norman and Helen, who, in her profile at the start of the game, was said to be a keen sharemarket investor," he said.

"I read newspapers and listened to advice. The game was challenging, offered something I could research and it was a lot of fun. I put quite a few hours each week into studying stocks. The game increased my interest in the sharemarket.

"Kids in Year 5 and 6 asked if it was me in the paper. I didn't know that kids that young read the finance pages. Teachers came up and asked me for advice - possibly in jest."

Tom said he hoped to do a law-commerce degree at university when he finished school next year.

"I'm interested in business and I definitely want to invest in the sharemarket when I make my own living," he said.

Clairvoyant Ms Steed said the game introduced her to shares and generated an interest in finance.

"I had no idea about stocks when the game started," she said. "I selected most stocks from the top 100. If I had a good vibe about a stock, I would buy it. And if I felt the chief executive of a company had integrity, I went with it."

Nurse Helen Elsworth said she was satisfied with her performance given the value of her portfolio gained more than 10 per cent.

Ms Elsworth said she considered sharemarket investing a long-term venture and was confident her stocks would continue to rise.

"The longer you're in the market, the more you can make," she said.

Professor Neville Norman, of Melbourne University, said his performance suffered because he lost money on several speculative stocks.

I never really recovered from that," he said. "But I deliberately chose highly speculative stocks because I wanted to give myself a chance of winning.

"I'll stick to economics, I'm better at that than stock selections."

Handyman Peter Huggins said friends stirred him about his performance, but he "couldn't believe how much interest the game generated". "People I didn't know, stopped me in the street," he said

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,10234824%255E664,00.html