Two student investment teams at 野狼社区 University鈥檚 Meinders School of Business outperformed the S&P 500 in what has been one of the most turbulent investment periods in history.
Each team began with $100,000 in October and wrapped up investments April 16. The MBA team posted an 11 percent positive return, beating the benchmark for the S&P 500 by 16 percent. The undergraduate team recorded a 2.67 percent loss, finishing 2.07 percent ahead of the index, which posted a 4.74 percent loss over the same period.
OCU Trustee Herman Meinders provided $200,000 for OCU鈥檚 investments teams, which were developed four years ago. Each year, both teams start the fall with $100,000 each.
OCU Finance Professor Ron Shaw said this year鈥檚 teams learned much more than they would have in a calmer market.
鈥淲e are very proud of our teams for their personal initiative, enthusiasm and accomplishments,鈥� Shaw said.
Shaw and OCU finance professors James Ma and Socorro Quintero served as team advisors.
Shaw said the teams were restricted to long positions in common stock, noting that overall positive stock picks included Apple, Target, First Solar, Genetech, Google, AT&T and IBM.
Undergraduate team leader Long Vu, an accounting major, and MBA team leader Roopam Taneja, an MBA/finance student, said they learned investors need to have a diversified portfolio with industry leaders in the current market. They noted that panic affects everything and said investors need to have patience. Both said they enjoyed gaining practical experience with real investments in the market.
Other undergraduate team members were Alexis Caron, Scotty Roddy, Jose Gonzales and Asahi Hodoyama. Other MBA team members included Ajia Walters, Ajeng Nawangsari, Albert Kurnia, Vishal Bathla, Salvador Larrea Alonso, Ajeng Nawangsari, Francis Pinto and Rohit Nallari.
