2017 stock picking competition — February update
Time for our first update on the Sharesight & Livewire stock picking competition!
Back in December 2016 we sent the call out for your picks for the 2017 calendar year. We’re comparing the performance of the most popular picks from the Sharesight customer base, the Livewire readership, and some of Australia’s top fund managers -- and of course tracking them in Sharesight.
Here are the portfolios for each group, which consist of the 5 stocks that received the most votes:
Sharesight customer picks
| Company | Symbol |
|---|---|
| Altium | ALU |
| BHP Billiton | BHP |
| Retail Food Group | RFG |
| Sirtex Medical | SRX |
| Vocus Group | VOC |
Livewire reader picks
| Company | Symbol |
|---|---|
| Altium | ALU |
| BHP Billiton | BHP |
| Macquarie | MQG |
| QBE Insurance | QBE |
| Ramsay Health Care | RHC |
Fund Manager picks
| Company | Symbol |
|---|---|
| Altium | ALU |
| Centrepoint Alliance | CAF |
| Event Hospitality | EVT |
| GOOGL (Nasdaq) | |
| Imdex | IMD |
Performance since 1 January 2017
So far the Sharesight customers are outperforming both the Livewire readers and the expert fund managers. The Sharesight portfolio is also the only portfolio to have so far beaten the ASX 200 (as tracked by the ETF STW):
| Portfolio | Total Return % | Total Return $ |
|---|---|---|
| Sharesight | 4.37% | $21,851 |
| Fund Managers | 0.31% | $1,542 |
| Livewire | -0.53% | $-2,672 |
| Benchmark | 2.70% | $13,496 |
The best performer in the Sharesight portfolio has been Vocus Group, returning over 18%. The worst performer has been Retail Food Group, down nearly 9%.
For Livewire, the best performer has been BHP, delivering over 3%. The worst performer has been Altium, losing almost 8%.
And for the Fund Managers, their best pick has so far been Imdex, producing over 16% gain with Event Hospitality down almost 11%.
Portfolio notes
- We’ve "invested" $100,000 in each holding while assuming a brokerage fee for each buy transaction of $9.95.
- All dividends are/will be included in the total performance calculation, and are reinvested. Total performance also factors in currency effects.
- Performance figures are total return (versus annualised) as none of the portfolio positions has been held for longer than one year.
- The benchmark return figure assumes that all $500,000 was invested in the benchmark ETF.
All articles in this series
- 2017 stock picking competition
- 2017 stock picking competition - survey results
- 2017 stock picking competition - February update
- 2017 stock picking competition - April update
- 2017 stock picking competition - July update
- 2017 stock picking competition - October update
- 2017 stock picking competition — final results
FURTHER READING
Your complete portfolio performance: Product updates, October 2026
This month we added cash account performance, Australian funds composition data, faster custom investment price imports, and upgraded several reports.
Same foundations, different convictions: how Australian men and women really invest
Sharesight data shows Australian men and women share the same core ETFs – but women lead on ethical investing and buy-and-hold, while men trade more actively.
What AI gets wrong about your clients’ portfolios
What ChatGPT and AI assistants miss when evaluating a real investment portfolio, and how advisers can respond. Acknowledge, verify, add context and document.