Lundy-Fetterman School of Business students Phillip Simpson, Tyler Anshaw, Taylor Newman and Mary Alice Whitaker were named the top three winning teams in the fall 2018 Stock Market Game (SMG) competition in their regional college division, beating losses at the major indices.
These one- and two-student teams got this hands-on practice in their ECON 448-International Finance and ECON 453-Money & Banking classes, where they were asked to develop a successful investment portfolio by investing a virtual $100,000 in real world stocks, bonds, IPOs, and mutual funds traded on NYSE and NASDAQ exchanges.
Each team was required to trade (buy and sell including short sell and short cover transactions) on at least five different trading dates during a 10-week period. They used class lectures, textbook materials, and a broad range of print and online sources to prepare bi-weekly investment reports submitted with their portfolio holdings and transaction history.
Phillip and Tyler placed first in North Carolina among 22 College Division teams by beating S&P 500 Growth Index by 9.35%. Their top two most profitable long holdings were Tesla and Walt Disney. Phillip, a senior majoring in Business Administration, said, “I had a rollercoaster of an experience in playing the stock market game. It taught me how to keep up with the financial news and constantly search for new investment opportunities. It was an eye-opener to have the success that we had. Overall a great experience that I can apply after college.”
His SMG partner Tyler, also a senior Business Administration major, added: “I learned how to make short sells and covers to make quick money on falling and then rising stocks. Tesla made us a whopping $8,000 profit. This game really taught me about stocks and when to buy and when to sell.”
In second place, Taylor displayed a perfect sense of market timing! Her net equity gain of 5.26% was the result of shorting Apple, Ligand Pharma, Netflix, and Cisco and going long in Trip Advisor (TRIP). A senior International Business major, she said, “I didn’t know much about the stock market when I began playing The Stock Market Game. It taught me that the stock market can be very complex and unpredictable!”
And Mary Alice’s long positions in Amazon, Ford, and Coca-Cola more than covered her losses in short transactions and buying on margin trades. She finished third with total equity of $115,064. The senior Finance major said, “Playing the Stock Market Game was a great learning experience. When I first started the game I didn’t know much about stocks, but learned how interesting investing can be. I enjoyed investing in large companies like Apple, amazon, and Netflix. I look forward to keeping up with stocks in the future.”
Professor of Business Shahriar Mostashari, PhD., introduced SMG to his Money and Banking class in the 1980s, so he is able to say that two generations of Campbell Business students have had a taste of it. “It has been a joy to ride the market’s swings – the ups and downs, booms and busts – with them,” he said, “sharing their agonies and celebrating their victories.”
According to SMG Sponsor Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) Foundation, “More than 600,000 students take part every school year across all 50 states. The Stock Market Game has reached 17 million students since its inception in 1977.”