Boston College 'Goes Long' the Stock Market

Monday Night Finance

The B.C. Investment Club members are divided into analyst teams covering different industries so as to systematically review the portfolio and come up with new ideas. These teams research stocks throughout the week. Then on Monday nights they meet to present (or "pitch") their best investment recommendations.

The buy/sell pitches last about 15 to 20 minutes and are followed by a question-and-answer session. After each meeting, the club members have 24 hours to vote on each pitch. Via an online poll set up through freepolls.com, members decide whether they want to buy, sell or pursue further information.

Monday 7 p.m., November 5.

Lured by the pizza and soda, paid for by the $15 annual student dues, about 125 members attended Monday, Nov. 5's club meeting. Club President Scott Atha got the ball rolling by reviewing the previous week's investment performance.

Unfortunately, it was "a rough week," with a loss of $10,255 (or 2.86%), compared to a 1.5% loss for the S&P 500. The best performers were Microsoft, Hugoton Royalty Trust HGT and Automatic Data Processing ADP. The biggest losers were China Mobile CHL, Goldman Sachs GS and KB Homes KBH.

Atha soon tossed out the idea of selling China Mobile, which was initially pitched as a "short-term trade" and was purchased at $97.10 on Oct. 28, but has lost nearly 10 points since then. Given the anti-long view of the stock in the first place, there seemed to be general agreement among the club members to sell it.