GROUP EFFORT; INVESTMENT CLUBS AT A LOSS IN COPING WITH DAILY NEWS STOCK CONTEST.

Byline: Deborah Adamson Staff Writer

Determination. That's what made the difference in this contest.

Through sheer refusal to give up their first-place status, Wall Street Women of Granada Hills fought back with a vengeance to regain their number one spot after sliding as far as third in the six-month contest.

On Feb. 1, the Daily News launched its semiannual contest; this one, pitting the stock picking skills of five investment clubs. With a fictitious $100,000 to spend, the clubs splurged, but mainly on technology and Internet stocks.

The rationale, of course, is that one needs volatile stocks to win a short-term contest. But volatility works both ways, as the clubs found out when their portfolios plunged in midcontest due to a big hit in the Internet sector. By July, Internet stocks had regained some steam, but not their full strength.

It was also a rough final week, with the Dow Jones industrial average sliding a combined 316 points Thursday and Friday.

Nevertheless, the Wall Street Women investment club emerged victorious with an ending portfolio of $96,455.33, down about 3.5 percent over the six months.

``It's been a rocky road because the market has been so volatile,'' said Lynn Luke, vice president of Wall Street Women. ``We've used trading methods we never thought we would. We buy and sell more frequently than we do in the club. We're not really investing, we're trading.''

The group of nine hairstylists, a manicurist and an artist began the contest by parking $35,000 in cash and pouring the rest into a diversified portfolio of six stocks: Amgen, America Online, Dell, eBay, Earthlink and Yahoo!

Their best stock was the initial buy of Healtheon, with 869 shares purchased at $57 and sold at $67 for a profit of $8,590 including commission. Their worst? Dell. Bought with high hopes at $54, the group finally gave up on their 184 shares after six weeks, bailing out at $42.25 for a loss of $2,262.

In May, the club bought Yahoo! and Amazon.com for a quick profit, but those buys backfired and plunged them to third place. But they didn't give up. They got rid of their losers and bought Healtheon, which propelled them to second place.

Another highflier that gave the club members a boost was Infoseek, which they bought for $43 a share and unloaded at $49.0625 on 1,352 shares. The profit? $8,096.50.

How did they know what to buy? Luke says they searched for companies that could make big gains quickly by looking at volume, analyst upgrades, news events that would affect the stock and watching CNBC, the cable financial news channel.

In second place is the Goddesses investment club in Newbury Park.

Unlike Wall Street Women, this group's members didn't trade a lot. The strategy worked for them, moving them to first place in late March.

They took the lead, thanks to two stocks - Knight/Trimark and Netbank. They bought Knight/Trimark initially for a split-adjusted $23.75 a share and sold 754 shares at $55.75 - bagging a cool $24,028, including commission. They bought Netbank for a split-adjusted $16.71 a share and sold at $33.3125. That's a profit of $14,892 on 903 shares.

When they saw Wall Street Women catching up, the Goddesses were determined to hold on to first place. They boldly sold off their entire portfolio and replaced it with three stocks: Goto.com, Keravision and Wit Capital. Goto.com paid off for them in a big way, with a gain of more than $6,000.

Hedging their bets, the Goddesses sold off their entire portfolio after the close of trading Thursday and ended the contest with $96,375.70, a 4.6 percent loss from their initial investment.

``We've learned from participating in the stock contest the need to arrest stock market losses at 8 percent no matter what and the need to be instantly flexible and move to where the action is,'' said Judy Myers, a member of the Goddesses. ``We recognize that the more aggressive we are, the more flexible we need to be and more immediately responsive to market rotation.''

Divided Assets of Chatsworth is in third place with a $85,707.90 portfolio, down 14.3 percent in half a year.

The club's best stock was Lucent - 200 shares acquired for $55.25, 175 shares for $61.625, and 929 shares for $68.25. It closed at $65.6875 on Friday for a profit of $417.87.

The worst? E-Trade. They bought it three times for $55.1875, $54.1875 and $45.0625. They sold all 387 shares at $34.75 for a loss of $7,822.

``We've learned how volatile a stock could be,'' said Myrl Combs, vice president of Divided Assets. ``You have to be very careful if you're buying for the short term. (The club) wanted all the Internet stocks so we can win the contest. It didn't work out that way.''

In its real-world portfolio, Divided Assets typically takes two months to research a stock before buying it. The members also want companies with earnings. But in the contest, they deviated from club rules to see whether a new strategy would work. Combs said it didn't.

``We learned a lesson - not to do a quick buy,'' she said.

In fourth place is the Money Hungry Investment Club of Northridge. It ended the contest with $76,445.62, a 23.6 percent loss.

The club started and ended the contest with Compaq, Dell, Oracle, Philip Morris and Pfizer. Its members didn't make any trades during the six months, since the club's strategy was to buy and hold. Unfortunately, Dell and Compaq, two good computer companies, took significant hits in the past six months. So did Philip Morris and Pfizer, for different reasons.

Their best stock was Oracle, which they bought at a split-adjusted $39.42. It closed at $38.0625 on Friday. With 750 shares, the club lost $1,015.62.

Their worst stock was Compaq, bought at $46.875 and down to $24.0625 on Friday. The club lost $11,406.25 on 500 shares.

Bringing up the rear is Fiscal Therapy, the San Fernando investment club comprised mostly of teachers. They ended with $72,807.32, a loss of 27.2 percent.

Fiscal Therapy had been moving from third to fourth place throughout the contest, but in late June dropped to last. What happened? The club found out the hard way that it's not easy playing the momentum game. Even investors with decades of experience can't always spot a stock on its way up.

The club started the contest with a diversified portfolio of nine stocks spanning the computer hardware to pharmaceutical industries.

Its best stock was Nextlink, bought for $47.875. It closed at $112.125 on Friday. With 208 shares, the club members made a profit of $13,364. Their worst stock was eToys: 333 shares bought for $68.50 and sold at $40.5625 for a loss of $9,403.

Although the club made money on some stocks while Money Hungry lost on all its investments, Fiscal Therapy still ended up last because it kept trading. Therefore, paper losses became real losses. In the end, while a few profitable stocks gave a boost to the whole portfolio, it couldn't recoup the losses.

DAILY NEWS STOCK PICKING CONTEST

FIRST PLACE

NAME: Wall Street Women

STOCK PORTFOLIO: Chromavision Med 2,644 shares, NTOP 2,070 shares.

TRANSACTIONS

LAST WEEK:

Bought 1,400 shares of Summit Technology at $26.25, bought 2,644 shares of Chromavision Med at $15.125, bought 2,070 shares of NTOP at $26.5625, sold 654 shares of Stamp.com at $37.75, sold 1,400 shares of Summit Technology at $23.5625, sold 412 shares of Covad at $48, sold 1,110 shares of Digital Island at $21.75, sold 956 shares of Mail Boxes Etc. at $19.25

VALUE

THIS MORNING:

$96,455.33

(includes $294.33 in cash)

VALUE

ON JULY 26:

$117,931.95

(includes $12,421.70 in cash)

SECOND PLACE

NAME: Goddesses

STOCK PORTFOLIO: All cash

TRANSACTIONS

LAST WEEK: Bought 214 shares of Redback Networks at $168.375, bought 233 shares of Copper Mountain at $113.4375, bought 180 shares of Juniper Networks at $144.25, bought 658 shares of Cheap Tickets at $50.50, sold 766 shares of GoTo.com at $47.375, sold 1,435 shares of Juno Online at $18.5625, sold 1,203 shares of Wit Capital at $21.75, sold 214 shares of Redback Networks at $153.75, sold 233 shares of Copper Mountain at $124.125, sold 658 shares of Cheap Tickets at $61.50, sold 180 shares of Juniper Networks at $145

VALUE

THIS MORNING:

$95,375.70 in cash

VALUE

ON JULY 26:

$98,580.83 (includes $100.58 in cash)

THIRD PLACE

NAME: Divided Assets

STOCK PORTFOLIO: America Online 230 shares, ExciteHome 508.3804 shares, Cisco 200 shares, DoubleClick 36 shares, Lucent 375 shares

TRANSACTIONS

LAST WEEK:

Bought 929 shares of Lucent at $68.25, sold 230 shares of America Online at $110.50, sold 508.3804 shares of ExciteHome at $45.25, sold 200 shares of Cisco at $61.125, sold 36 shares of DoubleClick at $85.

VALUE

THIS MORNING:

$85,707.90

(includes $51.40 in cash)

VALUE

ON JULY 26:

$87,582.40

(includes $51.40 in cash)

FOURTH PLACE

NAME: Money Hungry Investment Club

STOCK PORTFOLIO: Compaq 500 shares, Dell 500 shares, Philip Morris 138 shares, Oracle 750 shares, Pfizer 300 shares

TRANSACTIONS

LAST WEEK:

None

VALUE

THIS MORNING:

$76,445.62

(includes $127 in cash)

VALUE

ON JULY 26:

$75,703.87

(includes $127 in cash)

FIFTH PLACE

NAME: Fiscal Therapy

STOCK PORTFOLIO: Arco 109 shares, Citigroup 199.50 shares, Home Depot 73 shares, Nextlink 208 shares, Bank One 232 shares, Priceline.com 22 shares, Time Warner 82 shares, Yahoo! 43 shares

TRANSACTIONS

LAST WEEK:

None

VALUE

THIS MORNING:

$72,807.32

(includes $35.11 in cash)

VALUE

ON JULY 26:

$73,308.23

(includes $35.11 in cash)

Daily News Staff Writer Enrique Rivero contributed to this story.

CAPTION(S):

10 Photos, Box

Photo: (1--Color) Wall Street Women

1st place

$96,455.33

(2--Color) Goddesses

2nd place

$95,375.70

(3--Color) Divided Assets

3rd place

$85,707.90

(4--Color) Money Hungry Investment Club

4th place

$76,445.62

(5--Color) Fiscal Therapy

5th place

$72,807.32

(6) Wall Street Women

(7) Goddesses

(8) Divided Assets

(9) Money Hungry Investment Club

(10) Fiscal Therapy

Box: DAILY NEWS STOCK PICKING CONTEST (See text)