- Three Things the US Can Do To Stop the Dollar's Decline
- Toll Brothers: More Contracts Signed, but Sales Down
- Fed's Lacker: US in a 'Good Place' With Inflation
- Bear Stearn Fund Managers Not Guilty on All Counts
- Commodity ETFs: Returns May Not Match Expectations
- JPMorgan Chase to Hire 1,200 Mortgage Officers
- Home Prices Decline Further In Most Parts of US
- Ponzi Proceeds: Bidding on Madoff's Toys
- Quiz: Do You Know Your Coca-Cola Myths?
- Starbucks Brews Up Growth
- Farr: An Extended Period—No Fat Lady in Sight
- More Upside if S&P Passes This Number: Market Pro
- Murdoch Lashes Out At Google
- Fighting The Flu Vaccine Critics
- Nov. 10: Unusual Volume Leaders
- Shadow Inventory Dwarfs Loan Mods
- The Lloyd's Prayer
- Playing Activision and Other Video Game Stocks: Analyst
MOST SHARED
- Bear Stearn Fund Managers Not Guilty on All Counts
- JPMorgan Chase to Hire 1,200 Mortgage Officers
- Fighting The Flu Vaccine Critics
- Hottest Zip Codes for Home Prices
- Oil Tomorrow
- Nov. 10: Unusual Volume Leaders
- Bair: Reserve Fund For Dismantling Must Be Set Up
- Commodity ETFs: Returns May Not Always Match Expectations
- A Squeeze on Customers Ahead of New Rules
- CNBC EXCLUSIVE: CNBC MEDIA ALERT: CNBC'S MARIA BARTIROMO SPEAKS WITH STARBUCKS CEO HOWARD SCHULTZ TODAY ON "CLOSING BELL"
Text Size 
Stephen Weber used currency fluctuations and earnings plays to become the winner of CNBC’s latest Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge.
Weber, a systems analyst from Lakewood, Ohio, walks away with a prize of $500,000. The two runners-up Bette Lockhart, a consultant from Tucson, Ariz., and Debra Lewis, the owner of an auto repair shop in Effingham, Ill., win $200,000 and $100,000, respectively.
The three finalists beat out 175,000 other contestants by trading $1 million CNBC dollars in equities and currencies.
CNBC asked the three winners of the challenge about their strategies, top trades and anything else that helped them profit in a down market.
1st Place: Stephen Weber, Lakewood, Ohio
Weber, who was also the week nine winner, got to the finals on his currency-trading prowess.
 |
Stephen Weber |
In the finals, Weber traded on earnings and made the big leap into second place and then first place on the strength of those trades. He bought Energy Conversion [ENER
Loading...
()
], Barclays [BCS
Loading...
()
], Akamai [AKAM
Loading...
()
], Alpha Natural Resources [ANR
Loading...
()
] and Omniture [OMTR
Loading...
()
].
2nd Place: Bette Lockhart, Tucson, Ariz.
Lockhart was 13th in the overall contest and moved into the top 10 due to duplications of weekly winners in the overall. She was the true dark horse in the finals, and she propelled herself into second place in the last day of trading.
Lockhart said the trade that most surprised her was Hartford Financial [HIG
Loading...
()
]. She bought the stock on Dec. 4 at $7.21 a share and sold the majority on Dec. 5 at $14.59 a share, making 102.36 percent.
3rd Place: Debra Lewis, Effingham, Ill.
Lewis was the third weekly winner making a 99.40% gain for that week. Debra bought ProLogis [PLD
Loading...
()
] twice during week three; she made 26.48% from Dec. 1 to Dec. 2 on the first transaction and 34.81% on the second buying and selling from Dec. 4 to Dec. 5. She also bet on two ETFs that helped her portfolio in the pre-finals: Proshares Ultrashort Real Estate [SRS
Loading...
()
] which gained 25.8%, and Proshares Ultra Real Estate [URE
Loading...
()
] which she bought and sold twice for gains 18.91% and 14.15%.
Lewis was another dark horse in the finals, where she gambled on financials, which paid off for her. Regions Financial [RF
Loading...
()
], Huntington Bancshares [HBAN
Loading...
()
], Fifth Third [FITB
Loading...
()
] and Bank of America [BAC
Loading...
()
] helped her secure third place finish.
You'll find more information on the contest and the winners here.
Print
Email
- Vote and suggest your own, and remember--there's a fine line between a hero and a zero.
- If you are lucky enough to have money and the time, this is a great time to see America, says CNBC's Jane Wells.
- What’s powering your microwave, fridge and computer? Part of it is fuel from Russian nuclear weapons. The NYT reports.
- One author sees lessons for you in Disney’s recent Makeover of Mickey Mouse: “Nice” doesn’t always win.
- With 123 years of history, slogans and commercials, Coca-Cola is the most recognized brand on earth.
- The opening of a virtual pet store in “World of Warcraft” could prove a cash bonanza for Activision-Blizzard.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes