DAILY NEWS STOCK PICKING CONTEST.

THE GAME: Four investment professionals and four experienced amateur investors are managing fictitious portfolios that stood at $100,000 on Aug. 3. Contestants can buy and sell daily, but each transaction costs $50. The portfolios are limited to stocks traded on the nation's major exchanges

THE PAYOFF: Whoever has the largest portfolio on Feb. 1 stands tallest.

FIRST PLACE

NAME: Marvin Karelitz

PRO OR AMATEUR? Pro

Crowell Weedon

STOCK PORTFOLIO: Central Garden 1,000 shares, Cotelligent 1,000 shares, 3Com 1,000 shares, St. John's Knits 1,000 shares

TRANSACTIONS LAST WEEK: None

VALUE THIS MORNING: $147,235.48 (includes $60,141.73 in cash)

VALUE ON NOV. 6: $151,704.23 (includes 60,141.73 in cash)

SECOND PLACE

NAME: Rick Zulawski

PRO OR AMATEUR? Amateur

STOCK PORTFOLIO: Danaher 3,235 shares

TRANSACTIONS LAST WEEK: Sold 13,004 shares of Food Tech. Services at $3.9375, bought 3,683 shares of Sunterra for $13.875, sold 3,683 shares of Sunterra at $13.75, sold 13,005 shares of Food Tech. Services for $3.875, bought 4,398 shares of K-Tel for $22.9375, sold 4,398 shares of K-Tel at $32.625, bought 11,588 shares of Food Tech. Services for $3.75, bought 2,474 shares of Danaher for $40.375, sold 11,588 shares of Food Tech. Services at $3.50, sold 2,474 shares of Danaher at $42.75, bought 4,117 shares of Unocal for $35.50, sold 4,117 shares of Unocal at $34.9375, bought 3,235 shares of Danaher for $44.4375

VALUE THIS MORNING: $143,756.27 (includes 96 cents in cash)

VALUE ON NOV. 6: $110,538.72 (includes 47 cents in cash)

THIRD PLACE

NAME: Ron Kaku

PRO OR AMATEUR? Pro

Prudential

STOCK PORTFOLIO: Axent 100 shares; Banc One 191 shares, Chrysler 165 shares, Consolidated Graphics 257 shares, Cisco 154.50 shares, Interpublic Group of Cos. 167 shares, Lucent 190 shares, Oracle 374 shares, Procter & Gamble 131 shares, Schlumberger 168 shares

TRANSACTIONS LAST WEEK: Bought 165 shares of Chrysler for $47.125

VALUE THIS MORNING: $103,625.95 (includes 44.29 in cash)

VALUE ON NOV. 6: $106,457.76 (includes $7,869.92 in cash)

FOURTH PLACE

NAME: Sandy Lechtick

PRO OR AMATEUR? Amateur

STOCK PORTFOLIO: Dell 358 shares, Earthlink 481 shares, Tellabs 979 shares

TRANSACTIONS LAST WEEK: None

VALUE THIS MORNING: $101,849.75 (includes $15.38 in cash)

VALUE ON NOV. 6: $104,762.28 (includes $15.38 in cash)

FIFTH PLACE

NAME: Jose Arevalo

PRO OR AMATEUR? Amateur

STOCK PORTFOLIO: Amazon 60 shares, 3COM 340 shares, Dell 300 shares, Danaher 220 shares, Intel 125 shares, Microsoft 175 shares, N2K Inc. 847 shares, Yahoo! 69 shares

TRANSACTIONS LAST WEEK: Sold 150 shares of Schlumberger at $53.1875, bought 847 shares of N2K Inc. for $9.3125, sold 960 shares of Advanced Fibre Communications at $9.9375, bought 220 shares of Danaher for $42.75

VALUE THIS MORNING: $99,636.29 (includes $40.54 in cash)

VALUE ON NOV. 6: $100,603.42 (includes $15.11 in cash)

SIXTH PLACE

NAME: Glen Chester

PRO OR AMATEUR? Pro

Glen Chester & Associates

STOCK PORTFOLIO: AirTouch 200 shares, Cheesecake Factory 500 shares, CBS 325 shares, Funco 650 shares, Mirage 500 shares, Nike 200 shares, T. Rowe Price 325 shares

TRANSACTIONS LAST WEEK: None

VALUE THIS MORNING: $97,290.62 (includes $30,040.62 in cash)

VALUE ON NOV. 6: $100,962.49 (includes $30,040.62 in cash)

SEVENTH PLACE

NAME: Nancy Sy

PRO OR AMATEUR? Amateur

STOCK PORTFOLIO: AOL 381 shares, Earthweb 590 shares

TRANSACTIONS LAST WEEK: Sold 750 shares of Cisco at $67, bought 728 shares of Dell at $69, bought 810 shares of Safeway for $49.9375, sold 728 shares of Dell at $71.9375, bought 381 shares of America Online for $137.125, sold 810 shares of Safeway at $50.50, bought 590 shares of Earthweb for $69.25

VALUE THIS MORNING: $92,882.79 (includes $12.79 in cash)

VALUE ON NOV. 6: $91,198.92 (includes $40,620.80 in cash)

EIGHTH PLACE

NAME: Julie Stav

PRO OR AMATEUR? Pro

Retirement Benefit Systems

STOCK PORTFOLIO: Theglobe.com 1,000 shares

TRANSACTIONS LAST WEEK: Bought 1,600 shares of Tarrant Apparel Group for $25.50, sold 795 shares of Gilat at $47.875, sold 1,600 shares of Tarrant Apparel Group at $28.25, bought 1,000 shares of theglobe.com for $63.50

VALUE THIS MORNING: $85,816.74 (includes $22,316.74 in cash)

VALUE ON NOV. 6: $82,908.62 (includes $43,556.12 in cash)

STACKING UP

Stock index performances since the contest started Aug. 3, when each contestant received a fictitious $100,000 for investment:

Indexes Return (price appreciation only)

Dow Jones industrial average 1.51 percent

S&P 500 1.19 percent

Nasdaq Composite -0.17 percent

Daily News/Bloomberg -3.22 percent

CAPTION(S):

8 Photos, Box

Photo: (1) Marvin Karelitz

(2) Rick Zulawski

(3) Ron Kaku

(4) Sandy Lechtick

(5) Jose Arevalo

(6) Glen Chester

(7) Nancy Sy

(8) Julie Stav

Box: STACKING UP (See Text)