SmartMoney Stock Picking Tournament – Our Selections

SmartMoney Market Madness 2008 Stock Picking Tournament debuts tomorrow. A valid email address is required to register and join. The selections have to be in by tomorrow, March 19, 2008, 9AM ET. The rules of the tournament make it highly unlikely that stock-picking talent counts for much on the ultimate winner. Even so, the organizers make it worthwhile, as the grand prize is $10,000. In a nutshell, the player predicts out-performance from a selection of 64 stocks while pitting two stocks against one another for a single day. The predicted stock winning selections advance to the subsequent round and the process continues until the final winning stock remains. There are points weighted to each round and the winner is whoever gets the highest points. There is also a mechanism to break any ties. Following are our selections:

Round	Date	Value	Growth	Income	International
Pool	-	COP, BA, TWX, AMGN, DELL, DD, NOC, S, ETN, PH, DGX, BSC, EDS, HSY, BDK, STZ	AAPL, RIMM, AMZN, NOV, WFR, MA, FSLR, ISRG, GME, FLIR, BEAV, JCG, CROX, UTHR, PRXL, SIGM	GE, T, BAC, MO, PFE, LLY, HD, DOW, KMB, SO, CCL, LNC, HNZ, SLE, HOG, MAT	CHL, HBC, RTP, NOK, TOT, SAP, CAJ, VIP, TEVA, INFY, TKC, WIT, AUO, RYAAY, BIDU, RDS.A
1st Round (1 point)	March 20th	COP, TWX, DELL, S, PH, DGX, EDS, STZ	AAPL, AMZN, MA, FSLR, FLIR, BEAV, CROX, SIGM	GE, BAC, PFE, HD, KMB, LNC, SLE, HOG	HBC, NOK, TOT, CAJ, TEVA, TKC, RYAAY, BIDU
2nd Round (2 points)	March 24th & 25th	COP, S, PH, EDS	AMZN, FSLR, BEAV, SIGM	BAC, HD, KMB, HOG	NOK, CAJ, TKC, RYAAY
3rd Round (5 points)	March 27th & 28th	S, EDS	AMZN, SIGM	BAC, HOG	CAJ, TKC
Quarter Finals (10 points)	March 31st & April 1	S	SIGM	HOG	CAJ
Semifinals (15 points)	April 3rd	None	SIGM	None	CAJ
Finals (25 points)	April 7th	-	SIGM

Predicting the value of Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) on 04/07/2008 is the tie-breaking tactic. Our prediction was 12250. As with most stock contests, the skill involved is minimal if any. The entertainment value is the king.