Shorecrest High Students Make Top Stock Picks

If you’re looking for good stock picks, you might want to consult with a team of students from Shorecrest High School.

Four students in teacher Linda Cobb’s second-period class won the high school division of the Fall Stock Market Game, beating out more than 450 other high school teams and racking up earnings 28 percent higher than the return on the S&P 500.

The Stock Market Game, put on by the Washington Council for Economic and Financial Education, gives fourth- through 12th-grade students the opportunity to build virtual investment portfolios in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and exchange trade funds. They purchase their investments at real world prices, and compete to earn the highest returns. 

The winning Shorecrest team of Aaron Feagin, Matt Drake, Alex Tien and Gavin Draper set their team’s goal as, “Go Big or Go Home.”

According to their teacher, the team followed the following strategy:

“They started the game purchasing Netflix and Toyota. They selected Netflix because it is popular and seemed to be doing well. They purchased 500 shares at $57.03 a share and at the end of the game it closed at almost $86 a share.  

"The price jumped right after they purchased it showing them that sometimes timing can be everything in a short-term situation. When the stock market hit some rough spots and other teams closed in on them they became a bit more anxious. The final week was exciting, especially when Netflix announced they would be streaming Disney movies in the near future and their stock shot up again! We kept their portfolio a secret from the rest of the teams until the last week of the game.”

All teams competing in the Washington Council for Economic and Financial Education’s game, which ran Oct. 1-Dec. 7, are required to hold a diversified portfolio. Shorecrest’s winning portfolio also included holdings in Leggett and Platt, Lowes, and Helmerich Payne.

The winning team will receive prizes and be recognized at an awards luncheon in May. Russell Investments has underwritten the costs of the program, including the awards, team fees to play the game and the provision of teacher trainings, all designed to enhance the financial skills of Washington students. 

The Washington Council for Economic and Financial Education works to create a generation of economically literate and financially capable young people by providing educators with training and programs such as the Stock Market Game.

According to a story last spring in USA Today, there's a lot of work to be done nationally on financial literacy.