CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 1

[Scroll for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Results!  It's day 3 of the contest and we've just had our first portfolio recalculation.  Because of the way the game processes trades, your portfolios' performance currently will reflect only Tuesday's market action (and any Bonus Bucks you've earned to date).

The first place trader, Taylor Forman, notched up a mighty 15.5%.  Assuming he's gotten the maximum available $24,000 in bonuses, that's still a 1-day move of 13.1%.  Not bad, considering you can't allocate more than 25% of your portfolio to a single stock.  The minimum gain required to hit the inaugural leaderboard was 11.1% (8.7% before bonuses).

As I mentioned yesterday, my first day volatility plays were hit-or-miss, but my best performing portfolio managed to scrape out 7.2%, which translates to 821st place out of (something like) 512,000.  My worst performer... 509,918th place.  Less wonderful.

Yesterday, I also noted a few stocks that might invite some of that sweet, sweet volatility during today's session and they appear to be fulfilling their promise.  CGV Veritas (CGV) for instance opened down 4% - whee!  Nano/solar play Applied Materials (AMAT) opened down nearly 2%.  Deere & Co. (DE) was down almost 6% at the open.  And Whole Foods (WFMI)... well the less said about Whole Foods the better.

CommVault Systems (CVLT) is the bright spot today, jumping more than 11% at the open.  Happily, I maxed it out in 4 of my portfolios - I just hope it's strong enough to salve the wounds inflicted by some of the others.

So far, so good.  My 821st place (what color ribbon is that, incidentally?) portfolio is up another 4.4% intraday, which would give it just enough to crack the leaderboard, so long as everyone else stays perfectly motionless.  Which I'm sure they will.

But assuming things pivot and deteriorate horribly before the closing bell, make sure you don't let big declines scare you off.  In a contest where if you're not first (or in the top 6 anyway), you're last, putting up nice, consistent, tiny little gains is just as bad as losing your shirt.  You don't necessarily need to chase earnings reporters, but you do need to keep swinging for the fences.

If you're still looking for ideas for today's reallocation, these are 7 eligible companies that will report earnings tonight or tomorrow morning and might be worth a look.

                               

Symbol	Name
A	Agilent Technologies
CTRP	Ctrip.com International
ELP	Companhia Paranaense de Energia
MPEL	Melco PBL Entertainment
NGG	National Grid
STV	China Digital TV Holding
URBN	Urban Outfitters

My favorite (in terms of best opportunity to show a sizable one day pop, irrespective of downside risk) would have to be China Digital (STV).  There are at least 7 others (ASYS, CRE, GILT, NEON, SLRY, and SPTN) set to release earnings which should be eligible (they meet the market cap and trading volume requirements), but for whatever reason, they are not.  Add it to the list of grievances.

(Consider all of the above to be for entertainment purposes and not meant to be used as real-world investment recommendations.  The goals and strategies of the Portfolio Challenge are not to be confused with those of sensible investing.)

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

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Wednesday, May 14th

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: "In Monday's Fast Money Web Extra, what M&A pair did the FM traders discuss?"

  Answer:  XM/Sirius

Squawk On the Street: "How much did super sports agent David Falk sell his agency, FAME, for in 1998?"

  Answer:  $100 million

The Call: "Short Seller Trivia: In the May 1 "Market Insider" blog, which green stock did shorts want badly?"

  Answer:  Canadian Solar

(Bad choice, shorts.  Canadian Solar netted us a cool 19.6% yesterday.  Ricky Gervais was made to dance in celebration.  What a timely trivia question, though...)

The Call: "What casino-resort company did billionaire Ron Baron recommend on Tuesday?"

  Answer:  Wynn Resorts

Street Signs: "In the slideshow, 10 Biggest Entrepreneurial Mistakes, what is the No. 5 (Five) error?"

  Answer:  Dazed & Confused

Closing Bell: "In the story "Homebrew Heads To Your Gas Tank," what's the "true cost" of the EFuel100 MicroFueler?"

  Answer:  Around $5,000

Got a grievance about the contest?  Air it.