What sound do you get when a group of Penn State students makes a $50,000 profit?

Cha-ching.

Students from the Smeal College of Business have already made $50,000 as part of the Nittany Lion Fund stock market project.

J. Randall Woolridge, Smeal professor and the fund's chief executive officer, said that three weeks ago, students received $2.2 million from 43 private investors and have invested 50 percent of that money so far.

Sean Spillman, a Nittany Lion Fund student adviser, said they expect to have the full amount invested by the end of the month.

Woolridge said the minimum requirement for each investor was $25,000, and all profits will be returned to investors.

"Many of the investors, including myself, committed to the project because they have faith in Penn State's students and their ability to manage real money," Woolridge said.

Many of the managers and investors of the Nittany Lion Fund are also part of the Penn State Investment Association (PSIA).

PSIA President Ryan Miller said membership in the organization is not a requirement to be part of the Nittany Lion Fund, but there are many overlaps.

"The students in PSIA are the ones who are most driven and naturally end up involved with the Nittany Lion Fund," he said.

Miller said the fund is managed by groups of 10 students, each associated with a different sector of the stock market S&P 500, including information technology, energy and healthcare.

"Each group researches specific stocks they think would be good for us to invest in, and then its lead analyst pitches the ideas to us at our general body meetings every Wednesday night," Miller said.

Spillman said members have currently invested in 19 stocks out of a target number of 30.

"So far, our best performer has been Apple Computers," he said. "We received a 13 percent return on it."

Jonathan Wyss (senior-finance), student adviser to the Nittany Lion Fund and former PSIA vice president, said the group is taking things slowly right now to ensure they will have a stable portfolio.

"We want to make sure we get the right stocks at the right time," he said.

Celena Cross, the Fund's lead financial analyst, said the strategy has not always worked.

"Because we are trying to buy slowly into our portfolio, we missed buying Goldman Sachs at a cheap price," she said. "I'm still trying to push to buy it at a later date because I think it will do really well."

Miller said the group meets in a closed session every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and general body meetings are held on Wednesday nights in the Smeal Trading Room.

Although the students involved with the Nittany Lion Fund receive credit for FIN 497F (Nittany Lion Fund Manager), PSIA Vice President Frank Howard said it sometimes interferes with his other schoolwork.

"There have been some long nights trying to get things together," he said, "but things are beginning to become routine now, and it's becoming much easier."

Spillman said students in the Nittany Lion Fund plan to reach out to more investors in the future. "Our target amount is $5 million," he said. "We plan to open up the fund every year to give more investors an opportunity to join."