Student beats odds, profits from stock market

MANILA, Philippines - Had De La Salle University graduate student Kimberly Pedrena actually invested in the Philippine Stock Exchange from November 2008 to February 2009 and not just a virtual simulation of it, she would have been wealthier by P344,164.11 after only four months.

The top winner in the 3rd PSE-CitisecOnline MBA Stock Market Investment Challenge, Pedrena illustrated that opportunities in the stock market abound even during a bear market for investors with minimal to zero investment experience like herself.   By using readily-available information on stocks from sources like Bloomberg and CitisecOnline, she applied a simple strategy of buying undervalued stocks and selling them at her determined target price.

The 20-year old student recalls that she invested in stocks such as Energy Development Corp., Petron, Megaworld and BDO. She believes her success in investing was because she was very disciplined. She bought stocks online in anticipation of upward movements and sold them once she reached her targets. She received the first prize of a trading account with a beginning balance of P25,000 from CitisecOnline, the leading online stockbrokerage firm,

Like other participants, the De La Salle University student began the game in November when the market was at its lowest in years with virtual credit of P1 million. After 60 trading days, she grew her investment portfolio by 34 percent by virtually trading online. Her ending portfolio value was worth P1,344,164.11.

Jose Arceo and Aries Mendez, both from the master’s in business administration program of Ateneo School of Business garnered the second and third top spots. They won CitisecOnline trading accounts worth P10,000 and P5,000 respectively. Both Arceo and Mendez posted significant gains of 18 percent and 17 percent, respectively.

Conrado Bate, CitisecOnline president, said the competition which is open to all MBA students has succeeded in honing their interest in the stock market and showing that anyone can learn to profit from the stock market. There were 43 participants in the 3rd PSE-CitisecOnline MBA Stock Market Investment Challenge — majority of them residing outside Metro Manila — from eight graduate schools that participated in the game.

Bate emphasizes that compared to fixed-income instruments, the stock market has historically posted the highest levels of return over the long-term. Studies show that the longer one holds on to the stocks, the more manageable the risks become. With the availability of online stock trading, investors throughout the Philippines are slowly realizing that they too can profit from stocks and that information and investor education is readily available to even first-time investors.

“We are confident that as more students and first-time investors become aware of the opportunities offered by online trading, the stock market will experience greater growth,” he said. “Online trading has leveled the playing field for investors throughout the country and we will continue advocating for its development.”

CitisecOnline regularly offers free basic courses in stock market investing. For more details, call 6-333-777 or log on to www.citiseconline.com.