2010 Stock Picks Contest – Q3 Review

Now that we’re three quarters of a year through our friendly 2010 Stock Picks Contest among a few respected financial bloggers I’ve slipped a notch, but still am hanging in the top half of the group.  Or, as I like to view it, I am in first place of those who are not making a profit yet.  The rankings from third to fifth are barely split and I’m right in the middle of that.

I haven’t done anything spectacular with these picks I decided on at the end of December 2009, but as the rules go, there is no changing once the picks are made and printed.  What’s interesting to me is that my best performing pick (DVY) is one I just opened a position on in my real account for the first time this week.  Looks like I should’ve jumped on it sooner.  At least I’m in on it now and will keep it as a core holding for a while most likely.

Here’s how my picks are doing so far:

UUP – Closed 12/31/09 at $23.08.  Closed 3/31/10 at $23.79.  Closed 6/30/10 at $25.06.  Closed 9/30 at $22.84.

DVY – Closed 12/31/09 at $43.91.  Closed 3/31/10 at $46.02.  Closed 6/30/10 at $42.43.  Closed 9/30 at $46.84.

UCO – Closed 12/31/09 at $12.68.  Closed 3/31/10 at $13.06.  Closed 6/30/10 at $9.53.  Closed 9/30 at $10.09.

SSO – Closed 12/31/09 at $38.24.  Closed 3/31/10 at $42.01.  Closed 6/30/10 at $32.21.  Closed 9/30 at $39.37.

These are the rankings for all nine of us:

Rank		Blog	Performance	Top Pick
1		Dividend Growth Investor	+21.34%	Realty Income (O US)
2		The Wild Investor	+8.35%	Caterpillar (CAT US)
3		Zach Stocks	+0.84%	Silver ETF (SLV US)
4		My Traders Journal	-1.31%	iShares Dividend ETF (DVY US)
5		WheredoesallmyMoneygo	-2.90%	Cedar Fair (FUN US)
6		IntelligentSpeculator	-7.86%	Nickel ETF (JJN US)
7		Million Dollar Journey	-10.46%	QLT (QLT CT)
8		The Financial Blogger	-15.24%	Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF (VWO)
9		Four Pillars	-27.07%	PowerShares DB Gold Short (DGZ US)