Auburn's Investment Club continues in second place behind Alabama, in the Student Investment Fund Competition, sponsored by Stern Agee, a Birmingham-based investment bank.
Auburn, Alabama, Georgia and Ole Miss, were each given $50,000 to buy and trade stocks this past September, by Stern Agee.
The competition will continue until Monday, April 1. The school who earns the most profit, any money more than $50,000 by the end date, will be the winner. The winner will receive 100 percent of their returns back from Stern Agee to donate to their respective college of business, but the losers will still receive half of their returns to donate to their college of business.
So far Alabama is first with just above nine percent, while Auburn remains in second with a little above six percent.
The club splits up its members into seven sectors including technology and communications, energy and utilities, basic materials and metals, financial institutions, services, consumer goods and health care.
At each club meeting, each sector's leader presents companies they think the club should invest in.
"Things can get pretty heated depending on the companies or sectors," said Juan Castano, president of investment club. "Ultimately I make the final decision on whether to invest or not, but I really try to be as democratic as possible. If I see the majority of our club is not for the idea, I wont do it."
The club's biggest competition this year is the University of Alabama.
"One of our goals is actually to beat Alabama, so in order to do that we have to come in first, which is what we all want to do," said Zachary Stevens, vice president of services sector.
The club's progress since September has been a rollercoaster ride, Castano said.
"Right now we are sitting at about six percent, so we're close to making that goal," Castano said. "We were losing money in December, we were actually in the negative. That was a scary time, but we'll be able to recover."
Rigby Coleman, chief operating officer for the investment club, said the whole market had been down-turned in the beginning of the competition, making for a difficult start.
"We've separated ourselves from everyone else," Coleman said. "We've come a long way from when it started out."
Marlin Jenson, adviser for the investment club, said that he does not help much with the competition.
"Stern Agee wanted it to be a student-run organization, so I just answer questions if they have them," Jensen said. "If they want to invest in something they get a coalition from the group that this is something they want to buy or get rid of."
Joseph Ashley, director of the M&A and IPO group, believes that the club has a decent chance of winning.
"We're in competition with mainly Alabama and Georgia," Ashley said. "We're definitely in the position where we can make a run, but who really knows, it's very unpredictable. We're near the top right now, so we definitely have a good chance at winning."
Joining the club and participating in the competition is great experience for any student in a business major, Castano said.
"The opportunity to handle real money, real investments and seeing real returns to help the college of business is invaluable," Castano said.
Being in the club also allows for opportunities that a regular business student would not have, like having access to the Bloomberg Terminal, investment software that allows people to research bonds and stocks
"It can improve your outlook to the industry as a whole because you're exposed to so many names and you're close to people with the same interests," Ashley said.
Castano said there is a strong possibility for Auburn to catch up to Alabama.
"We're definitley hopeful," Castano said. "Personally our goals are to stay profitable, meet our benchmark and beat Alabama."
The club has an open-door policy year-round and meets in Room 0005 in Lowder every Tuesday night. For more information contact Juan Castano at jpc0014.
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