The Motley Fool: Midyear Midterm Contest

We'll burn that bridge when we come to it. -- Matt Goukas

Midyear Midterm Contest

Contest | Rules & Prizes | Midyear Review Feature

And the winners are...

Congratulations to jcato, who is our grand prize winner! This bright Fool answered all nine questions correctly, and had the best guess of how many shares of Amazon would trade on Monday, August 3. By guessing 2,145,431 shares, which was only 5,679 away from the actual volume of 2,151,200 shares, jcato wins a $3000 trading account courtesy of Web Street. Congratulations!

Of the 1700 Fools that played, over 450 got a perfect score of 9 correct. Way to go! Using the Amazon question as the tiebreaker, here are the rest of our winners:

Place
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
User Name
jcato
mikeching
lhg
spp
crman
chr6016
exyankee
AMZN Guess
2,145,431
2,157,680
2,164,975
2,100,000
2,240,000
2,240,100
2,241,100
Difference
5,679
6,480
13,775
51,200
88,800
88,900
89,900
Prize
$3000 account
Delta Tickets
Box of Filets
Motorclub Membership
Motorclub Membership
Motorclub Membership
Motorclub Membership

We'll be notifying the winners through email. Thanks to everyone who played! And finally, the answers are below. Enjoy!

The Winners: K-tel, American Locker, Amazon, Infoseek, Network Solutions
The Losers: Sunbeam, Adaptec, Consolidated Cigar, Iomega, MedPartners

#1. Which of the 10 companies in the Midyear Review had a CEO nicknamed "Chainsaw," who actually blamed El Nino for a 9% drop in sales?

A. Sunbeam
B. Consolidated Cigar
C. MedPartners
D. K-tel
E. Chainsaw Al's Far East Cruise Lines

Correct answer = A

#2. On an unfortunate day in January, PhyCor called off their deal to purchase MedPartners, cutting MedPartners' stock price in half. According to The Motley Fool's Evening News published on the same day, the drop wasn't just because of the failed deal, however. What was the other big reason the Fool gave for MedPartners' plunge?

A. Questionable accounting practices spurned an investigation into the accuracy of MedPartners' financial statements.

B. A series of lawsuits eroded investor confidence in MedPartners' ability to act in accordance with current health regulations.

C. Having accepted flat fee arrangements for many services, MedPartners' costs ended up being much higher than expected.

D. Several competitors entered the picture, lowering margins for the entire industry.

E. A rabid bison devoured their CEO.

Correct answer = C

#3. In the beginning of 1998, which of the 10 companies in our Midyear Review was thought of as "the runt of the litter" in its industry?

A. Network Solutions
B. Infoseek
C. K-tel
D. Iomega
E. Runt of the Litter, Inc.

Correct answer = B

#4. Which one of these Seinfeld phrases best describes Network Solutions' core business?

A. "No soup for you!"
B. "They're real, and they're spectacular."
C. "Master of the domain."
D. "But I don't wanna be a pirate!"
E. "Look, you don't understand. There was shrinkage."

Correct answer = C (They register domain names.)

#5. Following the advice of your dentist, you purchased 100 shares of American Locker on June 1, 1998. Assuming you haven't traded the stock since then, how many shares would you now own?

A. 50
B. 100
C. 200
D. 300
E. 400
F. None. Apparently, your evil Uncle Leo cleaned out your account while you were vacationing in Nairobi.

Correct answer = E (American Locker split 4-for-1 on June 26th.)

#6. OK, enough easy ones! Time to learn a little. Here are Iomega's earnings per share for the last 4 quarters:

Jun '97: 0.095
Sep '97: 0.110
Dec '97: 0.130
Mar '98: -0.070

Based on the closing price of Iomega on Jun. 30, what would this company's trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio be, rounded to the nearest whole number?

A. -8
B. 22
C. -84
D. 220
E. 0

Correct answer = B (Divide the Jun. 30 price of 5.875 by the sum of the last four quarterly earnings per share amounts, which is 0.265.)

#7. Of the four teams that made it to the semifinals of the World Cup this year, which team would Consolidated Cigar most likely support?

A. The Brazilian Virtuosos
B. The Dutch Masters
C. The Croatian Fighters
D. The French Musketeers
E. What's the World Cup?

Correct answer = B (They make Dutch Masters cigars.)

#8. Which one of these Iomega products is specifically designed for use with smaller electronic devices, such as notebook computers or digital cameras?

A. Zip
B. Ditto
C. Jaz
D. Clik!
E. Buz
F. Ka-thunk!

Correct answer = D

#9. From market close on the date that K-tel announced the launch of their website to market close on June 30th, what was the percentage gain (to the nearest point) in K-tel's stock price?

A. 925%, "Top of the World"
B. 825%, "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing"
C. 436%, "I Think I Love You"
D. 336%, "That's the Way I Like It"
E. 217%, "Hot Stuff"
F. -345%, "Disco Duck"

Correct answer = D (Subtract the original price of 3.3125 from the June 30th price of 14.4375. Then divide that amount by 3.3125 to get the return.)

#10. Tiebreaker Question: This question will be used to break any ties. The closest guess to the actual answer will win. If there's still a tie, we'll determine the winner by random drawing.

How many shares of Amazon.com will be traded on Monday, August 3? Please type in your answer without any commas or other characters (ex: 1354345).

Correct answer = 2,151,200 shares

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