Showcasing your ability to pick stocks is no longer a problem given the current stockpicking contests being run by Thestreet.com (Beat the Street) as well as CNBC.

But each contest is different and allows for different approaches.

The big qualitative difference is structural: the Beat The Street contest allows for companies with market caps less than $500mm. So it's interesting what that means in the context of the contest.

You always want to bet on volatility. But stocks with $100mm market caps are always volatile in general, as a group. Whereas stocks > $500mm market cap are only volatile when they are HORRIBLE companies (and can snapback). So companies like FMT and ELN are on the Top CNBC Contest Stocks (note: this list is only comprised of the top picks of the top 4
portfolios in the CNBC contest).

However, theStreet.com's Beat the Street Top Stocks contains companies that might be better long-term picks but will be volatile no matter what because of their market cap. For instance, ANSR trades for 10x cash flows, has $20mm cash in the bank with no debt, $146mm mkt cap, and if they have a decent announcement in the next month, they can easily be up 20%. Both lists though have very speculative biotechs that are hard to tell.

Also, the Street also has shorts on the list, like TNS and KELYB. So you can bet on volatility in both directions.

Either way, you can showcase (and share) your stockpicking ability which is always a good thing.