nun bet

Yesterday I went to Noorster’s birthday party. While there, some folks mentioned how much they enjoy reading the Invest in Israel series. For those of you new to the series, take a second to read this post that started it all. Basically, I have two stock simulations running. One game (Invest in Israel) is tracking an $1000 investment divided about equally among eight stocks. In the other game (First Israel Fund Game), I have invested almost $1000 in the First Israel Fund which is a “non-diversified, closed-end management investment company that seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in Israeli securities.”

Here’s where we stand this week.

Invest in Israel Game: Overall this group is up 3.14% with five out of eight stocks posting gains. There were some big winners this week including Fundtech Ltd with a 12.40% gain, Aladdin Knowledge Systems with 9%, and Check Point Software Technologies up 8% since purchase several weeks ago. The biggest loser this week is Teva Pharmaceutical which is down 7.91%.

First Israel Fund Game: This game tracks a $1000 simulated investment in the First Israel Fund. This week this fund continued it’s steady gains. It is up 5.5% since the start of the game.

Let’s take a closer look at this week’s surprise gainer, Check Point Software Technologies. According to their website,

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. is a leader in securing the Internet. It is a market leader in the worldwide enterprise firewall, consumer Internet security and VPN markets. Through its NGX platform, the company delivers a unified security architecture for a broad range of perimeter, internal, Web, and endpoint security solutions that protect business communications and resources for corporate networks and applications, remote employees, branch offices and partner extranets. The company’s ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite and additional consumer security solutions are among the highest rated in the industry today, proactively protecting millions of people from hackers, spyware, viruses and identity theft. Extending the power of the Check Point solution is its Open Platform for Security (OPSEC), the industry’s framework and alliance for integration and interoperability with “best-of-breed” solutions from hundreds of leading companies. Check Point solutions are sold, integrated and serviced by a network of thousands of Check Point partners around the world and its customers include 100 percent of Fortune 100 companies and tens of thousands of businesses and organizations of all sizes.

Interestingly, 100% of Fortune 100 companies use Check Point security solutions! Their international headquarters is in Ramat Gan, Israel which is just up the road form my new apartment!