Quincy Invests

A group of Quincy House residents have added a new twist to the time-honored tradition of pre-professionalism at Harvard: now, in addition to pre-meds and pre-laws, a clique of undergraduates has gone pre-rich.

But the members of the Quincy House Investment Club are more likely to be found scanning the latest market quotations in the Wall Street Journal than cramming in Cabot Library.

The aspiring executives began the road toward Goldman Sachs and Paine Webber in October of 1982, when a former resident tutor in Quincy decided to speculate in stocks and encourage others to join him.

Now, the club is open to anyone who wishes to buy shares in it: the money put up by participants goes towards investments which club members decide upon at weekly meetings. Investment Club President Mike Davis '86 explains that, just like in the real world, voting power at club meetings is based on the number of shares one owns.

According to Davis, the club currently has $1800 in assets, $700 of which is already invested. The club has yet to decide where to place the reserve sum of $1100.

Investment Club vice-president Andrew R. Mann '86 says that, with about 20 investors, the organization has been growing dramatically. "So far, the value of one share has risen from $10 to $10.86 in just a few weeks." Mann adds that the club recommends a minimum investment of of about 10 shares.

As to what kinds of securities the club is investing in, Davis is very candid: "We're investing 50 percent of our portfolio in growth stocks, 25 percent in dividend stocks, and 25 percent in speculative stocks." At the end of the year, any member who wishes can receive his percentage of the club's profits.

Mann says that this week's upcoming meetings will help decide where to invest the money, since club members will be analyzing potential securities and evaluating the portfolio.

Just how cut-throat are these youthful entrepreneurs? Mann says, "You really don't have to invest a cent to join our club. Education and fun are important goals, too."

But Davis admits, "We try to make noney first and learn second."

Yet, he does feel free to impart a hot market tip to the public: "In terms of long-run growth, I am high on factory-automation stocks."

How reliable is this tip? Joe McDonald, a broker at the Cambridge firm of Moseley, Hallgarten, Estabrook and Weeden expresses some skepticism. "It doesn't have a tremendous following right now, but it might come back. It sounds too black-and-white to me."

But McDonald is optimistic about the club's chances of guessing right and hitting it big on the market. "The chances are somewhat better than someone winning yesterday's lottery."

In fact, the club has proven itself so reliable that, last year, Quincy House Committee allotted $500 to invest with the club and, according to Mann, they gained "an effective annual yield of 10 percent."

However ruthless and mercenary all of this may sound, Davis is quick to point out that the club is not without morals. "We don't invest in companies operating in South Africa."