{"id":2708,"date":"2023-05-01T09:54:46","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T13:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/investing\/can-you-beat-the-market\/"},"modified":"2023-05-01T09:54:47","modified_gmt":"2023-05-01T13:54:47","slug":"can-you-beat-the-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708","title":{"rendered":"Can You Beat The Market?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Think you\u2019re a great stock picker?<\/p>\n

Prove it! Enter my stock-picking contest, Dorfman\u2019s Three-Stock Derby.<\/p>\n

Contestants pick three stocks and the average gain on the three is their score. The winner gets a moment of fame, plus a $100 gift certificate to the restaurant of their choice.<\/p>\n

John Colodny, a hedge-fund manager and semi-retired electrical engineer from Coral Springs, Florida, won my 2022-2023 contest.<\/p>\n

First Place<\/h2>\n

Last May, Colodny picked three exchange-traded funds issued by ProShares<\/strong>, each of which bet on energy prices to decline. The funds use leverage to increase their gains (or losses). His most successful bet was that the price of natural gas would decline.<\/p>\n

<\/fbs-ad><\/p>\n

That bet achieved a 174% profit. His other two picks had a 3% gain and a 34% loss. Overall, he had a 47% gain.<\/p>\n

What led Colodny to believe that natural-gas prices would decline? \u201cIt was a combination of chart reading and climate issues,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Colodny\u2019s hedge fund is still in incubation: The only investors so far are his partner and himself. Colodny is the administrative officer. His partner, Geoff Liddy, does the stock picking. The fund does short-term trading. Its typical time horizon is \u201cminutes, not hours or days,\u201d Colodny said.<\/p>\n

He thinks the stock market will be stuck in a trading range between 3,800 and 4,200 on the Standard & Poor\u2019s 500 Index for most of this year. (The index stood at 4,169 as of April 28.) But he thinks it will \u201cbreak through 4,200 by the end of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

His favorite personal investment at the moment is the Vanguard S&P 500 Growth Index Fund<\/strong> (
\n VOOG
\n <\/fbs-ticker>). Its biggest holdings are Apple
\n AAPL
\n <\/fbs-ticker> , Microsoft
\n MSFT
\n <\/fbs-ticker> , Nvidia (NVDA) and Alphabet
\n GOOGL
\n <\/fbs-ticker> .<\/p>\n

He sees the national debt as the market\u2019s biggest problem. He thinks major stock-market gains aren\u2019t likely \u201cuntil we get a handle on the deficit and federal spending.\u201d<\/p>\n

Second Place<\/h2>\n

Ken Hagen, a dentist and real-estate developer in Omaha, Nebraska, grabbed second place with a 35% gain. He picked three Chinese stocks that trade in the U.S.\u2014Didi Global<\/strong> (DIDI), UP Fintech Holding Ltd.<\/strong> (TIGR) and DADA Nexus Ltd. <\/strong>(DADA).<\/p>\n

Two of the three had losses, but Didi Global rose 130%, giving Hagen a 35% gain overall. Didi is China\u2019s leading ride-hailing company.<\/p>\n

Hagen says he doesn\u2019t focus on the overall market, but looks for opportunities in individual stocks or exchange-traded funds. He is sweet on the semiconductor industry now.<\/p>\n

Third Place<\/h2>\n

Taking the bronze medal was Gordon Faison, a flooring wholesaler from Virginia Beach, Virginia. His 28% return came mostly from Netflix<\/strong>
\n NFLX
\n <\/fbs-ticker> , which surged 76% in the contest period. His other two picks, Moderna <\/strong>(MRNA) and Skyworks Solutions<\/strong>
\n SWKS
\n <\/fbs-ticker> , had small gains.<\/p>\n

Faison expects the market to be \u201cdead flat until 2024.\u201d He dislikes the Biden administration, and is \u201cworried\u201d that Congress may be unable to compromise on the federal debt and spending.<\/p>\n

His favorite stocks are Pioneer Natural Resource<\/strong>s
\n PXD
\n <\/fbs-ticker> and Devon Energy<\/strong>
\n DVN
\n <\/fbs-ticker>.<\/p>\n

Tough Year<\/h2>\n

This year 37 contestants joined the Derby. Nineteen finished with losses, and 18 had gains. The average loss was about 1%. The Standard & Poor\u2019s 500 Index rose 7.6% during the contest period, including dividends.<\/p>\n

You Can Play<\/h2>\n

To enter Dorfman\u2019s Three-Stock Derby, send me the six items below.<\/p>\n

1. Your name<\/p>\n

2. Address<\/p>\n

3. Occupation<\/p>\n

4. Email address<\/p>\n

5. Phone numbers for work and home.<\/p>\n

6. The three stocks you choose. You don\u2019t have to give your rationale but I like it if you do.<\/p>\n

Email me your entry at jdorfman@dorfmanvalue.com. Or mail it to John Dorfman, Dorfman Value Investments, 101 Federal Street, Suite 1900, Boston MA 02110.<\/p>\n

Entries must be postmarked or time stamped by midnight May 21, 2023. The contest will run from May 21, 2023 to the market close on April 20, 2024.<\/p>\n

If you finish in the top three, I will want to interview you on short notice and possibly on a weekend, so the phone numbers are vital.<\/p>\n

You do not need to own the stocks you select, but it\u2019s fine if you do. Stocks must be traded in the U.S., but need not necessarily be U.S. companies. Short sales are permitted but not encouraged, since I have a separate short-selling contest. Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are permitted.<\/p>\n

There is no fee to enter. The winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to the restaurant of her or his choice.<\/p>\n

Disclosure: I own Apple, Alphabet and Pioneer Natural Resources personally and for most of my clients. I own Moderna personally and for some clients. My wife, a portfolio manager at my firm, owns Microsoft and Nvidia personally and for clients. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Think you\u2019re a great stock picker? Prove it! Enter my stock-picking contest, Dorfman\u2019s Three-Stock Derby. Contestants pick three stocks and the average gain on the three is their score. The winner gets a moment of fame, plus a $100 gift certificate to the restaurant of their choice. John Colodny, a hedge-fund manager and semi-retired electrical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[239],"tags":[83],"class_list":["post-2708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\nCan You Beat The Market? | iFintechWorld<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Think you\u2019re a great stock picker? Prove it! Enter my stock-picking contest, Dorfman\u2019s Three-Stock Derby. Contestants pick three stocks and the average\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can You Beat The Market? | iFintechWorld\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Think you\u2019re a great stock picker? Prove it! Enter my stock-picking contest, Dorfman\u2019s Three-Stock Derby. Contestants pick three stocks and the average\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"iFintechWorld\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-01T13:54:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-01T13:54:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1682949286_0x0.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"827\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"News Room\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"News Room\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"News Room\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6224724fd4116361255b179dc5c70b61\"},\"headline\":\"Can You Beat The Market?\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-01T13:54:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-01T13:54:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708\"},\"wordCount\":756,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Featured\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Investing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708\",\"name\":\"Can You Beat The Market? | iFintechWorld\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-01T13:54:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-01T13:54:47+00:00\",\"description\":\"Think you\u2019re a great stock picker? Prove it! Enter my stock-picking contest, Dorfman\u2019s Three-Stock Derby. Contestants pick three stocks and the average\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Can You Beat The Market?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/\",\"name\":\"Repay Down\",\"description\":\"Latest Personal Finance News, Tips and Updates\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Repay Down\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/rep-logo-dark.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/rep-logo-dark.png\",\"width\":558,\"height\":90,\"caption\":\"Repay Down\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6224724fd4116361255b179dc5c70b61\",\"name\":\"News Room\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/avatar_user_1_1682606986-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/avatar_user_1_1682606986-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"News Room\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Can You Beat The Market? | iFintechWorld","description":"Think you\u2019re a great stock picker? Prove it! Enter my stock-picking contest, Dorfman\u2019s Three-Stock Derby. Contestants pick three stocks and the average","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Can You Beat The Market? | iFintechWorld","og_description":"Think you\u2019re a great stock picker? Prove it! Enter my stock-picking contest, Dorfman\u2019s Three-Stock Derby. Contestants pick three stocks and the average","og_url":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708","og_site_name":"iFintechWorld","article_published_time":"2023-05-01T13:54:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-01T13:54:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":827,"url":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1682949286_0x0.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"News Room","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"News Room","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708"},"author":{"name":"News Room","@id":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6224724fd4116361255b179dc5c70b61"},"headline":"Can You Beat The Market?","datePublished":"2023-05-01T13:54:46+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-01T13:54:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708"},"wordCount":756,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["Featured"],"articleSection":["Investing"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708","url":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708","name":"Can You Beat The Market? | iFintechWorld","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-05-01T13:54:46+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-01T13:54:47+00:00","description":"Think you\u2019re a great stock picker? Prove it! Enter my stock-picking contest, Dorfman\u2019s Three-Stock Derby. Contestants pick three stocks and the average","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=2708#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Can You Beat The Market?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/","name":"Repay Down","description":"Latest Personal Finance News, Tips and Updates","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/#organization","name":"Repay Down","url":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/rep-logo-dark.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/rep-logo-dark.png","width":558,"height":90,"caption":"Repay Down"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6224724fd4116361255b179dc5c70b61","name":"News Room","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/avatar_user_1_1682606986-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/avatar_user_1_1682606986-96x96.png","caption":"News Room"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/ifintechworld.com"],"url":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?author=1"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2708"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2710,"href":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2708\/revisions\/2710"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}