Belmont University finance students swept a stock-trading doubleheader at the second annual Fifth Third Bank Stock Market Challenge at Loews Vanderbilt Hotel sponsored by Junior Achievement.
In the first competition, Belmont teams placed first and second in the collegiate competition, ahead of teams from Lipscomb, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, Union and Cumberland Universities. Students invested a $500,000 fictitious portfolio of stocks over a period of 60 trading sessions (“days”) that lasted 60 seconds each. Belmont University’s winning team increased the value of their portfolio to $4.2 million for a return of over 700 percent. Belmont’s victory earned them a sponsorship for the evening competition against local professional firms.
In the evening competition Belmont’s two teams competed against 23 local firms in the stock-trading competition. Belmont, sponsored by the Nashville Predators, increased the value of their $500,000 portfolio to more than $10.9 million and the total return for the Belmont team exceeded 2,000 percent. Belmont’s success against the local firms was enough to give them the victory in the evening competition.
“The students were armed with the skills they have gained in our state-of-the-art financial information center located on Belmont’s campus,” Dr. Pat Raines, Dean of the College of Business Administration, said.
The winning teams from Belmont University consisted of students Kenny Hoang, Brett Galli, Loren Lipsey, Patrick Kelly, William Peeples, Dan Oliver, Price Rainer and Vanessa King were presented with the Challenge Trophy, which will be on display at Belmont. The top three teams in the university challenge were presented with crystal trophies and tickets to a Predators game.
