20th Anniversary
Growth-Stock Competition

 
$10,000 Winner

For Reinhard Kloiber of Calgary, 2007 was the year that Christmas arrived ahead of schedule. In early December, he won the $10,000 grand prize in ShareOwner’s 2007 Growth-Stock Competition. Added to the 123% return on his initial $1,000 stake, the prize money brought his total return to a very impressive 1,123%, in just 11 months!

Unlike other investment competitions, in which participants make theoretical trades, ShareOwner’s competition provided a ‘reality’ investing experience. With $1,000 on the line, participants honed their investment acumen through real trades, real gains – and real market swoons. “The fact that the competition involved real money and was a real-life situation with tangible risks and benefits is what attracted me,” says Kloiber.

It was very much a family affair. “My wife, Anne-Marie, told me about the competition,” he says. “She’s a ShareOwner member and has got our daughters involved – and me as well.”

Kloiber's winning portfolio included a big chunk in Research in Motion. “Although they’d had patent infringement lawsuits which kept their share price down last year, they’ve got a good product which appears to be in demand around the world, and they’re improving their return on capital. It seemed like a good one, and it turns out that it was". 

Other holdings were Google, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft and TD Bank. Kloiber credits ShareOwner with providing all the tools required. “The information is presented in a way that is easy to follow. They identify the ‘great stocks’ – and it all seems to make a lot of sense.”
 

 
“ShareOwner’s growth stock course gave my engineering economic students a live, low-risk ‘lab’ to try out stock market investing. That should be a plus after graduation when they have larger sums to invest for their futures.”

Gordon Sparks, Professor of Civil Engineering
University of Saskatchewan

"The course provided a hands-on opportunity for students to learn the real-life, practical side of investing in the market. A very good model with little downside risk."

Harold Musson, Associate Professor of Finance
University of Windsor
 

 
Student Winners
Greg Paterson, winner of the University of Saskatchewan internal competition (with a final portfolio value of $1,292) also did well with Adobe Systems, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, 3M and Research In Motion. “I have a friend who works at RIM and knew that he and his friends thought it was a great company. So that’s the one I choose to lead my portfolio. It felt good to have invested in a Canadian company that I was familiar with, and it paid off well for me.”

Pamela Loran, second-place winner in the University of Saskatchewan competition, won with a portfolio containing Garmin, Research In Motion and four exchange-traded funds: S&P/TSX Info Tech Index, Composite Index, Energy Index and the S&P 500 CAD.

Pamela says, “I’ve learned things can change very fast. There was a crash during the contest. I was pretty upset, and wondered if I’d made a mistake in entering. Then (the market) went back up, and I was able to calm down and make better decisions. I feel more confident investing in companies I know have a consistent history of good management.”

“I think everyone should go through something like this to kind of get a taste of the market,” she says.

Aaron Kabucis, a recent graduate of Odette Business School and first-place finisher in the internal University of Windsor competition, agrees. “A professor in one of my finance classes told us about the competition as an interesting way to apply our knowledge and learned skills. When you have simulated competitions, it’s easy to invest in riskier assets in hope of a big pay-off, without due prudence. The fact that it’s $1,000 of your own money, along with the diversification built into the mandate of the competition, discourages a haphazard way of selecting securities.”

The experience also affirmed the importance of resisting emotional responses to market swings. “It’s easy to become derailed by adverse movements in the market.

But when you have a sound process, rebalancing isn’t the best idea a lot of the time. If you try to follow the whims of the market, you’re always going to be a step behind.”

As his success demonstrates, “More often than not, it’s best to hold the course,” says Kabucis. Aaron’s winning portfolio included Enbridge, Johnson & Johnson, Petro-Canada and five exchange-traded funds: S&P/TSX Energy Index, S&P/TSX 60 Index, Materials Sector Index, S&P Latin America Index and the MSCI Japan Index.
 


 
"Our investing team liked the fee-less, low-risk platform for constructing a real stock market portfolio without breaking the bank. As new investors, the potential for prizes was a nice incentive."

Amanda Kaufman, 4th Year Engineering Student
University of Saskatchewan

“I liked building a diversified portfolio with 16 big name stocks that I knew from everyday living and the classroom. Because I can buy fractional shares, I’m going to keep the portfolio growing after the course ends.”

Tanner Witton, Business Grad, Class of 2007
University of Windsor