When we launched the 2020 Stock Picking Challenge late last year, it’s fair to say that nobody was predicting the kind of drama we’ve witnessed in the first quarter.

Coronavirus is causing misery for many people. And from an investment standpoint, the sudden and severe economic impact has plunged markets into turmoil.

Earnings are unknown, forecasts mean nothing, valuations are difficult to gauge. It’s hard enough to predict what will happen next week, let alone how equities might move over the coming months.

But of course not all stocks have been beaten back; there have been some winners. In fact, the winning stock selection in the Stock Picking Challenge in the first quarter of the year managed a stunning return of 161.8%.

That portfolio was entered by Rich The Newbie, and we’ve chatted to him about what he did to achieve it. He’ll very shortly be taking delivery of a collection of our favourite investment books. But before we look closer at Rich’s winning portfolio and some of the other highs and lows of Q1, here’s a reminder of what the Stock Picking Challenge is all about...

Your top stock picks for 2020

Last December we launched a competition for investors everywhere to give us their top five stock picks for 2020. For the holder of the best performing selection over the year, a trip to New York City awaits. In the meantime, we’re keeping a close eye on the performances and reporting back every three months on what we see.

In all, there were 2,153 entrants to the challenge…

  • Given that everyone picked five stocks each, that’s 10,765 stock picks in total
  • Overall, 2,446 different stocks were picked...
  • 1,123 were UK shares
  • 1,323 were international shares
  • 62% of entrants were Stockopedia subscribers and 38% were non-subscribers

Market trends

In the early days of the contest it was clear that the kinds of sharp percentage gains and losses you get in small, illiquid shares was having a big influence on the best and worst performing portfolios. This was something that Ed predicted might happen in his challenge webinar, which you can see here.

Triple (and even quadruple) digit gains in individual shares were catapulting some selections to the top of the board. Often these would unwind quickly, which meant there was quite a lot of churn at the top of the leaderboard - which you can find here.

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