Stock Guru: Top four lead by a mile

Tuesday 24th February 2004

The five contestants who chose the tiny retail services company RetailX in their portfolios are again cheering at the end of the Stock Guru Game's second week.

But the majority of the 358 contestants had few reasons to smile - only 90 of their portfolios have made money.

RetailX shares gained a further 2 cents to 24 cents in the week, adding a further $62,140 to the company's market capitalisation, now $745,680, and bringing its gain over the two weeks to 100%. There was no news from the company.

The same four contestants remain the leaders by a country mile. WN, the leading contender, has seen their portfolio gain $2,383.50 while the fourth-placed Helen's has gained $1,646.89. The fifth-placed Jeff trails with a $1,009.40 gain.

The fifth contestant to choose RetailX, BigFish, experienced a remarkable recovery, leaping from 88th place at the end of last week to 10th with their portfolio having gained $730.95. While four of BigFish's stocks are still under water, two of them have recovered significantly, particularly Blis Technologies which went from being down 23.5% last week to being down just 8.8% this week, despite an absence of news

Retailer Briscoe Group continued to prove a disappointment for leading contestant WN, down just over 5% by the end of the second week. Again, there was no news from Brisco during the week.

Those who chose Fletcher Building, including the third-placed Jay, have seen it gain 2% since the game began. This might seem a bit anemic considering the company's announcement midway through the first week that its first-half net profit jumped 34% and its sixth consecutive increase in dividend to 11 cents a share. For the first-half last year, the company paid 9 cents a share.

The 114 contestants who picked New Zealand's largest listed stock, Telecom for their portfolios saw it make further modest gains, now up just over 1% since the game began. The other most favoured stock, The Warehouse Group, is down 12.8% in a continuing fallout from its comment that it profit margins suffered over the crucial Christmas period.

The worst performing portfolio, Ollie's, had the misfortune to include The Warehouse and the other four stocks were also lower. CDL Hotels was down 12.5%, investors evidently disappointed by its flat $17 million annual net profit.

Three of the five worst performing portfolios chose amphibious boats maker Sealegs, which is down 26.5% since the game began but which was unchanged over the second week, and three also chose GDC Communications, down 28%.

Shares in telecoms line maintenance company GDC Communications collapsed following its announcement it had lost its network maintenance contracts with Telecom Corp -- the main source of its revenue.

GDC's shares have plunged from near 80 cents in December to just 18 cents after the company lost Telecom contracts which had accounted for about 75% of its revenue.

FULL GAME RESULTS

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