Beat the Street: Financial Shorts Win

Editor's note: All winning portfolios and players are subject to verification.

An all-short portfolio of financial stocks pushed R. Woody to victory in TheStreet.com's Beat the Street. The financial sector got crushed this week as renewed fears of another down leg in the credit crisis pushed the whole group lower.

Playing under the name "Upside," R. Woody finished with a portfolio value of $293,478.50, a solid 17.4% weekly gain. However, it was not enough to just be short any financial stock, as many traders made similar bets.

To win the cash prize, Upside was able to pick the worst-performing (short-side trades) financial stocks for the week. The winning portfolio boasted bearish short positions in Lehman Brothers(LEH Quote - Cramer on LEH - Stock Picks), Bank of America(BAC Quote - Cramer on BAC - Stock Picks), Merrill Lynch (MER Quote - Cramer on MER - Stock Picks), Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB Quote - Cramer on FITB - Stock Picks), ProShares Ultrashort Financial ETF (SKF Quote - Cramer on SKF - Stock Picks) and MF Global (MF Quote - Cramer on MF - Stock Picks).

Congrats to R. Woody on his ursine instincts and even better stock-picking!

As you get ready for the final week of the game, be sure to review the following articles to help you find the next group to make a big run.

The weekly Rocket Stocks portfolio features stocks that have the potential to move fast to the upside. Keep an eye on these.

Also, be sure to review theMad Money Recap, and Jim Cramer's portfolios of the week.

Need some guidance on how to Beat the Street? James Altucher shared his insights on How to Win Beat the Street, and all competitors should review that.

And if you're bearish on the market, check out How to Beat the Street: Short-Selling.

If you didn't play in the first 11 weeks, one of the features of this contest is that each Tuesday you can make one change to your five stocks. Keep an eye out for the weekly Power Stocks article for ideas on what you should swap in.

And get some ideas on the Beat The Street forum: ask questions, post ideas and share thoughts on stocks with the rest of the community.