Who doesn’t like a little friendly and free competition between people you interact with daily? I know I do, so I am excited to be entering into a stock picking competition with a few other bloggers I know (and the list seems to be growing which makes it even more fun). Before we talk about my 3 picks, here is a little bit about the competition:
- PICK 3 STOCKS you think will perform the best in 2012
- SIGN-UP on the Money Pros Index Fund Challenge registration form – before the first trading day of 2012!
- FOLLOW your progress, and see if you can make the leaderboard
It is literally that simple.
My Picks for the 2012 Stock Picking Contest
First and foremost, nothing I say should be considered investment advice. I don’t know you, your risk tolerance, and in the end I AM SIMPLY MAKING A FEW GUESSES.
This type of contest doesn’t really work well with my current investing style, as I am mainly interested in my mature dividend paying portfolio based on the Dividend Champion List. This type of contest doesn’t take into account dividends but rather pure growth so I had to do some research for this contest.
- Sirius (SIRI) – This company is turning a profit but it seems that investors have been burned one too many times on the SIRI train to jump back in yet. Also, since it has such a low stock price I think it will move relatively easy against pressure to a higher stock price.
- Aflac (AFL) – This company has lost one-third of its value since it hit its 52 week high. I believe that once things calm down in Europe this stock will explode upward.
- Sprint (S) – This company hasn’t just lost one-third of its value, it has one-third its market cap since hitting its 52 week high. The company seems to be in a better position than it was one year ago (if we were to look at the metrics), however, even with the addition of the iPhone the company hasn’t seemed to get back to a normal stride. I think once investors see that it can sell both the iPhone and handle the traffic that comes with the iPhone the company will shoot up.
Currently, I own a few shares in SIRI and I have been buying AFL off and on as part of my dividend investment portfolio. I do not own any shares of Sprint as of the writing of this post. Again, there is nothing here that should be taken as investment advice, these are just three guesses for the sake of a free stock picking challenge.
What do you think of my picks?
I always find these sorts of contests annoying. Assuming I’m going to trade stocks on a long horizon like that, I’m not going to just purchase on Jan 1 and sell on Dec 31. Frequently there are only small windows of opportunity where a stock is really underpriced, and they’re usually related to crisis situations. The chance that such a situation will be occuring on Jan 1 is low.
Plus 3 stocks is way to small a sample to be meaningful. Just pick incredibly volatile junk, and there’s a 1 in 8 chance it’ll all move your way and you’ll look like a genius.
I completely understand your sentiments. I really do, but this is for fun with a bunch of bloggers I read daily.
I am with you for the long term! But I am not sure where I fall on the efficient market hypothesis.
Solid picks. Good Luck! I’ve entered too. Seems like a lot of folks are entering this friendly competition!
I know! Who knew there was this kind of gap in the community?