Florida International University (FIU) College of Business student Stefano Delloro captured a top ranking in a national trading contest with the help of an interesting strategy: he went to the movies.

“I bought Netflix for $62 a share and it rose to $165, up 164 percent, by the end of the competition,” said Delloro, who graduated last spring.

Delloro’s well-allocated portfolio, covering several sectors, placed him #13 among nearly 700 students from 34 schools competing in the 2012-13 Institutional Investor Magazine All American Student Analyst Competition. A total of 31 students from FIU participated in this first annual competition. In addition to Delloro, five other students nabbed a spot in the Top 100: Changhao Wu #41, Ryan Brewer #56, Roberto Araujo #75, Lanza Anthony #81 and Carlos Alvarez #98.

Using $100,000 in phantom funds, students built and maintained a personal portfolio from September, 2012 to January, 2013. Analytic data in six categories– net benchmark outperformance, volatility, balance sheet impact, net exposure impact, long alpha and short alpha—were used to determine the overall ranking.

Delloro, who concluded the competition with a 28.01 percent portfolio return, reported that he had an advantage in the competition.

“My Student Management Investment Fund class at FIU taught me a great deal about strategies, about valuing companies and building a portfolio,” said Delloro who will begin work on his master’s at FIU in the fall. “The research I did for that class was instrumental in preparing me.”

FIU faced tough competition.  

“Students from FIU were up against undergrads and MBA candidates from Cornell, UC Berkeley, Fordham, Lehigh and other strong schools,” said Flavio Carrillo, faculty director in charge of the competition. “Our students competed quite well.”

In addition to impressive overall rankings, three of the top four finishers in the Consumer Sector category were also FIU students: Dellaro, Roberto Araujo and Nathalie Alvarez.

“We’re quite proud of our students,” said Chun-Hao Chang, chair of FIU’s Department of Finance. “Skills in strategy and execution allowed these investors to outdistance themselves from many strong competitors.”