Thanks a million for doing this additional analysis. And yes I realize that it has been a lot of additional work but I hope we all appreciate that the findings are very useful. I have no idea how others approach this contest but I approach it as a mini replication of my own portfolio - I chose 4 mining stocks (3 with earnings and one speculative junior), 1 oil and gas service stock and 1 technology. And yes my personal portfolio has about 60 % invested in Canadian miners. All of these stocks I owned at the beginning of the contest, fortunately I sold the speculative miner very early for my own account (it had risen sharply before the contest started) but made the mistake of continuing to hold it for the contest. I have thought about taking bigger chances just for the contest (like picking all mining stocks, or picking a group of stocks with high momentum, or only low priced stocks). I have rejected these ideas for two main reasons: (1) what if they did really well compared with my own portfolio, I would be killing myself for not actually investing as I had for the contest and (2) I do not want to be picking stocks or a portfolio of stocks that I would not be endorsing for my own investment purposes. So investing in only one sector or investing in any really speculative stocks I will not do as others might get hurt by following such actions. In the case of SKR.TO, I was the only one who picked it and there was only one other individual (from this board) who had some money in it (and I informed him by private email when I was exiting that stock). We both made money on it.
I would add that anyone who thinks he/she should simply buy the stocks (for their own real portfolio) as picked by Mr Lamb for example should look closely at the picks, if they are all from one sector you had better be comfortable with that sector going forward and if none are household names you better go all in (that is invest in all 6 stocks for it is often one stock that really skews the results).
