The Copper & Blue's Oilers Investment Trading Fund

With Craig MacTavish "done" for the off-season and happy with his roster, I can't think of a better time to unveil our latest bit of madness: The Copper & Blue's Oilers Investment Trading Fund. The object was simple: construct a practice investment portfolio made of up real-world equities and mutual funds whose ticker symbols reflected the names of the players on the current roster of the Edmonton Oilers.

Please note, this is a play money, only-for-fun exercise, and is not intended to be an investment recommendation or strategy.

To build the portfolio, I started with an initial investment directly proportional to each roster player's cap hit. Taylor Hall's ticker symbol had an initial investment of $6 million. Denis Grebeshkov's ticker symbol had an initial investment of $1.5 million. After a little bit of research, and a bit more thought into the matching ticker symbols, here is the initial portfolio and the initial position of The Copper & Blue's Oilers Investment Trading Fund:

BABS (Jason Labarbera) SPDR Nuveen Barclays Cap Build Amer Bd - This is an Exchange-traded fund seeking to track the performance of the Barclays Build America Bond Index. An ETF comprised of municipal bonds bent towards "building America"? Oilers gate revenue is already building American hockey teams, so this is a fantastic start! Labarbera's $1 million bought us 18,365 shares of BABS.

BLC (Anton Belov) Belo Corp. - This is a television company in the United States. The company owns 20 television stations, including ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW, and MyNetwork TV affiliates, as well as their associated Web sites in 15 markets, concentrated mostly in Texas. Belov's $1.525 million bought us 106,942 shares of BLC.

BMI (Justin Schultz) Badger Meter Inc. - Headquartered in Wisconsin, college home of Badger Schultz, the company manufactures and markets flow measurement and control products to water and gas utilities, municipalities, and industrial customers worldwide. Its products are used to measure various liquids, including water, oil, and lubricants. Schultz' $3.75 million bought us 79,240 shares of BMI.

BYD (Boyd Gordon) Boyd Gaming Corporation - A casino company in Las Vegas, Boyd owns and operates 21 gaming entertainment properties located in Nevada, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana, Kansas, Iowa, and New Jersey. Boyd goes well with the Oilers' club, becoming a natural background to civic conversations every time Daryl Katz needs an arena threat. Gordon's $3 million bought us 225,394 shares of BYD.

DUBL (Devan Dubnyk) DubLi, Inc. - This is a company that provides Cashback rewards and value-based travel, shopping, and entertainment portals to online customers. It's a penny stock - a terribly risky investment. While risks like these are more suited for Nikolai Khabibulin's blundering, Dubnyk's $3.5 million bought us 36,842,105 shares of DUBL, just shy of 10% of the company. We're corporate raiders now.

DVPEX (David Perron) Transamerica Partners Small Core -This is a mutual fund that invests equity securities of companies with small market capitalizations seeking growth. Perron fits into a small core of fan-approved roster players. Perron's $3,8125 million bought us 148,173 shares of DVPEX.

EBERX (Jordan Eberle) Putnam Global Natural Resources A - This is one of the highest rated Mutual Funds traded today. Potential investments include companies engaged in the discovery, development, production or distribution of energy and other natural resources, in the development of technologies for the production or efficient use of energy and other natural resources, and in furnishing of related supplies or services. Also, EBERX has a nice WEAPONX feel to it. Eberle's $6 million bought us 298,656 shares of EBERX.

GAGS.VI (Sam Gagner) Gurktaler AG - This is an Austria-based company that makes liquor. Oilers fans know how important liquor is to a hockey season. Gurktaleris made out of 59 different types of herbs, roots, seeds and fruits, and Lil Wispinski is combing Edmonton for a bottle. We'll need a stiff, yet stomach-relaxing drink for Sam's blind drop passes. Gagner's $4.8 million bought us 685,714 shares of GAGS.VI.

GREBX (Denis Grebeshkov) Goldman Sachs Real Estate B -This is a real estate-based mutual fund. I tried to find some investment associated with psychedelics, but came up blank. Grebeshkov's $1.5 million bought us 93,052 shares of GREBX.

HEMA (Ales Hemsky) HemaCare Corp. -The company delivers Blood Products and Therapeutic Services. The Blood Products segment provides apheresis platelets to The American National Red Cross; and offers apheresis products, human blood cells, cells and blood components, and apheresis collection services. I'm as confused by that description as Mark Spector is by Ales Hemsky's unwillingness to talk to a scribe. This is another dangerous penny stock and Ales Hemsky's $5 million was enough to buy all 10,343,750 shares issued by HEMA and have $1.69 million left over. We now own an entire company that does stuff with blood, apparently. A certain segment of fans scream blood-curdling screams when the topic of keeping Hemsky comes up. That leads us to:

ALESX (Ales Hemsky) Aberdeen Latin American Equity Instl Svc - This is a mutual fund focused on Latin American stocks looking for long-term capital appreciation. Ales is diversified. It's going to take a very long-term view for the average Oilers' fan to appreciate Ales. Hemsky's remaining $1.69 million bought us 199,057 shares of ALESX

JNY (Ryan Jones) The Jones Group Inc. - The company makes shoes and has a ton of brands to go market: Nine West, Jones New York, Anne Klein, Kurt Geiger, Rachel Roy (L), Robert Rodriguez, Robbi & Nikki, Stuart Weitzman, Brian Atwood (L), Boutique 9, Easy Spirit, Carvela, Gloria Vanderbilt, l.e.i., Bandolino, Enzo Angiolini, Nine & Co., GLO, Joan & David, Miss KG, Kasper, Energie, Evan-Picone, Le Suit, Mootsies Tootsies, Grane, Erika, Napier, Jessica Simpson (L), Givenchy (L), Judith Jack, Albert Nipon, Pappagallo, and Rafe (L). I wanted to find an accounting firm (LIFO) or a whisky company, but couldn't find a fitting ticker. Jones' $1.5 million bought us 91,352 shares of JNY.

JOE (Jesse Joensuu) The St. Joe Company - we purchased shares in a real estate development company in Florida, fitting, because given Joensuu's footspeed issues, developing a plot of land is a good idea. Joensuu's $950,000 bought us 41,887 shares of JOE.

LACO (Ladislav Smid) Lakes Entertainment Inc. - Lakes develops, finances, and manages gaming-related properties for the Shingle Springs Tribe, the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, and the Jamul Tribe. Smid's agent negotiates like he's drunk and playing blackjack at a native casino, so there's that. Smid's $3.5 million bought us 904,392 of LACO.

LLLI (Anton Lander) Lamperd Less Lethal, Inc. - We've purchased another risky penny stock. The company makes non-lethal handguns. Another risky pop gun? Lander's $900,000 bought us 21.4% of LLLI.

LT.NS (Philip Larsen) Larsen & Toubro Ltd. - This Indian industrial conglomerate has it's hand in numerous areas in southeast Asia. Larsen's $1.025 million bought us just 1,186 shares of LT.NS.

NICK (Nick Schultz) Nicholas Financial Inc. - Another boring stock - an automobile insurer - but this time it's more fitting. Schultz is talked about by Edmonton sports writers as if he's 81 years old. Schultz $3.5 million bought 224,791 shares of NICK.

PBR (Jeff Petry) Petróleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras operates as an integrated oil and gas company in Brazil and internationally. Its Exploration and Production segment engages in the exploration, development, and production activities; sale and transfer of crude oil in domestic and foreign markets; and sale of oil products produced at natural gas processing plants. Petry's $1.75 million bought us 128,299 shares of PBR.

RNHEF (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) Renhe Commercial Holdings Co Ltd - the company engages in the development, lease, and management of underground shopping malls in the People’s Republic of China. There's nothing dangerous at all about investing in Chinese penny stocks, especially when the company is in a stable industry like underground malls in an earthquake zone. Hopkins' $3.75 million bought us 67,410,614 shares of RNHEF.

SAS.TO (Andrew Ference) St Andrew Goldfields Ltd. - Another penny stock that engages in gold exploration and mining in Canada. The similarities between a high-risk investment that searches for gold with a low probability of long-term payout and a high risk investment, paid in gold with a low probability of long-term payoff is striking. Ference's $3.25 million bought us 10,833,333 shares of SAS.TO.

SMY.V (Ryan Smyth) Search Minerals Inc. - It's an exploration stage company, engaging in acquiring, exploring, and evaluating mineral resource properties in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Looking for treasure in Atlantic Canada in the middle of nowhere? That's something only Captain Canada would do. Smyth's $2.25 million bought us 45,000,000 shares of SMY, or 62% of the company.

TAYD (Taylor Hall) Taylor Devices Inc. - This Buffalo-based company engages in the design, development, manufacture, and marketing of shock absorption (fitting for a Cannonball), rate control, and energy storage devices (ideal for a man who is lightning in a bottle) for use in various types of machinery, equipment, and structures (Hall is probably all of these). The company’s products include seismic dampers that are designed to ameliorate the effects of earthquake tremors on structures, also ideal for the Avs' defense the next time Hall is bearing down on them and their knees start knocking. Hall's $6 million bought us 713,436 shares of TAYD.

UPS (Mike Brown) United Parcel Service - Nicknamed "Brown", UPS, a package delivery company, provides transportation, logistics, and financial services in the United States and internationally. It operates in three segments: U.S. Domestic Package, International Package, and Supply Chain and Freight. Like UPS, Mike Brown is best-suited for delivering packages. Brown's $736,667 bought us 8,486 shares of UPS.

YAK.V (Nail Yakupov) Mongolia Growth Group LTD - This is a real estate and financial services conglomerate focusing its operations on Mongolia. They are focused on creating, managing and continually improving profitable businesses in two sectors: Real Estate & Insurance. A company doing it's own thing in the middle of Asia buying up gobs of real estate while insuring massive mining projects? If only they also made fireworks displays, or at least party favors, or if only Party City were publicly traded. Otherwise, this one is perfect for Nail Yakupov. Yakupov's $3.75 million bought us 1,187,106 shares of YAK.V.

Our portfolio is all over the place, much like the makeup of the Oilers roster, performance expectations muted, much like the Oilers, and the entire thing is worth a laugh. The similarities should make tracking our investment basket great fun.

Not Investment Advice or an Offer

This information is not intended to assist investors. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest or to provide management services and is subject to correction, completion and amendment without notice. Any such offer, if made, will only be made by means of a confidential prospectus or offering memorandum or management agreement. It it not our intention to state, indicate or imply in any manner that current or past results, when stated, are indicative of future results or expectations. A prospective investor should consult with its own investment, accounting, legal and tax advisers to evaluate independently the risks, consequences and suitability of that investment.

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