Stock and ETF List
2023-2024 Approved Stock & ETF List
The Wharton Global Youth Program considers the Approved Stock & Exchanged-Traded Fund (ETF) List to be an essential tool for making the Wharton Global High School Investment Competition accessible to all levels of learners. One of the biggest challenges for new investors is knowing how and where to begin. Rather than sending you out into the overwhelming universe of some 41,000 listed companies worldwide, we limit your choices with an ample sampling of large, mid and small-cap stocks from a variety of exchanges, sectors and industries. We limit your ETF options to a select group of diverse funds. This gives you plenty to work with as you consider your 10 weeks of strategy and analysis, without the often-paralyzing prospect of too much to consider in too little time. The Approved Stock & ETF List and accompanying rules are also structured to support diversification (at least with stocks), to underscore the importance of managing risk and smoothing out the volatility of investment returns.
This is the first year that we are including ETFs in the competition. The Approved ETF list was constructed with the guidance of multiple sources including an analyst for Bloomberg. All the data on the list comes directly from the Bloomberg terminal.
The Approved Stock list is organized using the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®). GICS® is an industry analysis framework that helps investors understand the key business activities for companies around the world. MSCI and S&P Dow Jones Indices developed this classification standard to provide investors with consistent and exhaustive industry definitions. The GICS is a four-tiered, hierarchical industry classification system. According to the GICS hierarchy, there are 11 economic sectors. These sectors are further divided into 25 industry groups, 74 industries and 163 sub-industries.
A sector is an area of the economy where businesses share the same or related business activity, product or service; An industry group is a way of grouping individual companies or stocks based on common business lines; An industry is a part of the economy that produces closely related raw materials, goods or services; A sub-industry is a lesser industry that is either part of or dependent on a larger industry.
Teams competing in the Wharton Global High School Investment Competition must have a final investment portfolio that includes at least one stock from as many sectors as they have members and one ETF. For example, if your team has five members, you must have stocks from at least five different sectors in your portfolio when trading closes on December 1. You can always invest in more sectors than the minimum.
Based on the GICS structure, the 11 sectors include:
- Energy
- Materials
- Industrials
- Consumer Discretionary
- Consumer Staples
- Health Care
- Financials
- Information Technology
- Communication Services
- Utilities
- Real Estate
The WInS simulator for the Wharton Global High School Investment Competition only allows students to buy and sell stocks from the Approved Stock List, so there is no need to worry about accidentally placing trades from outside this list.
Please note that based on changes in the markets (i.e. a stock is delisted, a company acquired, etc.), this list is subject to change throughout the competition. New stocks and/or ETFs will not be added to the list. This webpage will not be updated once the competition begins on September 25, 2023. To ensure you have the most up-to-date version of the Approved Stock List, please refer to the list on WInS.
Teams are also permitted to recommend that their client invest in U.S. Treasury bills, notes, bonds and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS). However, teams will not be able to invest in bills, notes, bonds or TIPS on WInS. Teams should indicate in their final reports which bonds and/or notes they recommend for their client’s portfolio. Teams are not required to recommend that their client invest in bonds or notes. Teams whose final report includes investment recommendations other than cash, stocks from the Approved Stock List, and U.S. Treasury bills, notes, bonds and TIPS will NOT be eligible for the Semifinals or Global Finale. STRIPS, U.S. Savings Bonds (EE Bonds, I Bonds, and HH Bonds) and the use of stock-secured debt are NOT permitted as a part of your team’s strategy.