Beat the Street: Leaders Take the Long View

TheStreet.com's Beat the Street contest, started its latest week rewarding the longs, as the top two leaders had all long portfolios. Cam1971 took the day 1 lead, building the $250,000 starting portfolio to $272,519. MyDiya stands in second with $269,929, riding another all-long portfolio.

The top five rounds out with contestants using more balanced portfolios of longs and shorts. Third-place contestant VikramBhanot notched $269,834, fourth-place contestants Portfolio sits on $267,598 and fifth-place holder Goelarun has $267,425.

Under the rules of the weekly contest, players will be able to switch one of their five stocks between Tuesday's market close and Wednesday's market open.

Contestants looking to research their changes should take a look at Patrick Schultz's weekly Power Stock Rankings, which includes his take on VisaV, GoogleGOOG, AppleAAPL, CitigroupC, First SolarFSLR and PotashPOT.

Players should also consult Stockpickr's Beat the Street forum, Fast Money's Pops and Drops, and 'Mad Money Lightning Round'.

A look at the top 15 players shows that each made at least $10,000 in profits on the first day. Shortly after 10:00 am EDT Wednesday morning, participants will be able to see the final picks of all the competitors and gauge their chances for the week. And remember, the next Beat the Street game will be held next week, so if you missed this week, you can register now to get in on next week's game.

Readers should also consult Jim Cramer's take on what investors can learn from the game.