picks by a team of investment experts who are going up against the forces of chance.

Four investment advisors each pick one stock which is then set against four stocks chosen by Wall Street Journal reporters who throw darts at the stock tables to make their picks.

In the most recent competition, the exports beat the chance takers as their four stocks gained 12.1 percent in the nearly six months between November 8 and April 28.

"Not bad, especially compared with the 1.4 percent average gain of four stocks selected by Wall Street Journal staffers throwing darts at the stock tables,'' the Journal said. "But not quite good enough to match the 12.8 percent advance in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.'' the top two investment advisors in each competition are joined by two new advisors.

One of the newcomers, Mr. Philo Smith of Philo Smith & Co., an investment-management firm in Stamford, Connecticut, has chosen Sphere Drake.

"Mr. Smith likes Sphere Drake Holdings Ltd., a property and casualty insurance and reinsurance company,'' the Journal said. "With underwriting subsidiaries in London and in Bermuda, it can participate in the London market, historically the center of the insurance business, and also have a foothold in the growing market in Bermuda, he says.

"Sphere Drake's largest business is aviation and marine insurance and reinsurance. Net premiums written were about $500 million last year, up from $183 million in 1990. Underwriting margins, the ratio of expenses to premiums written, are better than the rest of the industry in the US, Mr. Smith says.'' ` "It's a good company and I think it's attractively priced,' he says. Sphere Drake currently trades on the New York Stock Exchange at around $15.50.'' In the most recent competition, at a time when the stock market was reaching new highs, the pros were led by a man who recommended a short sale -- a bet on falling prices. In a short sale, an investor sells borrowed stock, hoping to replace it later at a lower price.

Pete Thomas, president of Skye Investments Inc. in Zephyr Cove, Nevada, recommended shorting Creative Technology Ltd., a Singapore manufacturer of sound cards for personal computers. That paid off in a 23.6 percent gain for Mr. Thomas, as Creative Technology's stock price fell to $10.125 from $13.25 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. It was Mr. Thomas's third time in this contest and the third time he won with a short sale.

The second-place finisher in the latest competition was Kevin Moore, former senior portfolio manager of Parkstone High-Income Equity Fund, one of the funds run by First of America Investment Corp., a unit of First of America Bank, Kalamazoo, Mich. Mr. Moore left First of America in March and is currently seeking another position in the money-management field.

His stock pick, Alco Standard Corp., rose 20.9 percent. The Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, company distributes copiers and office equipment and paper.

The pros are now ahead of the darts by a score of 34 to 25 in this series of overlapping six-month contests. The tally is closer, at 31 to 28, when the pros are pitted against the industrial average.

Professional investors look better when actual performance is compared. In the 59 contests since the current rules were adopted, in July 1990, the pros have posted an average six-month gain of 7.7 percent, compared with 3.5 percent for stocks selected by flinging darts and four percent for the industrial average.

As usual, the top two finishers in the latest competition have been invited for a return engagement. Mr. Thomas and Mr. Moore will be joined for the coming six months by John Bowen, head of John Bowen Investment Management in Coronado, Calif., and by Mr. Smith.

Mr. Thomas is going for his fourth win with another short: 3DO Co., a Redwood City, Calif., company that licenses technology for an interactive multimedia system. 3DO's Interactive Multiplayer runs video games as well as educational and informational applications on CD-ROM.

The company's main problem, Mr. Thomas says, is "a high cash-burn rate.

They're losing about $3 million a month.'' Although the company probably will get a cash infusion through a private placement, Mr. Thomas says, it faces fierce competition and its product costs twice as much as others on the market.

Software available for the 3DO machine is limited, Mr. Thomas says, and there are only about 500,000 machines in use worldwide, compared with about 10 million each for competitors Sega and Nintendo.

The company's stock now trades at around $14.375 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, down from a 52-week high of $25 in October. Mr. Thomas says it could drop another 25 percent to 30 percent by the time this contest ends, Oct. 31.

Mr. Moore recommends buying McDonald's Corp. The Oak Brook, Illinois, fast-food restaurant chain "is the premier consumer brand in the world'', he says. "As standards of living rise, one of the first things global consumers want is the Golden Arches.'' The company is putting most of its new units overseas, where sales growth is faster, there is less competition and "at least for the time being, there's a currency benefit'' from the falling dollar, Mr. Moore says. He expects profit margins overseas to improve as the number of outlets reaches the "critical mass'' necessary to reduce distribution and other costs.

In the US, meanwhile, McDonald's "satellite'' units in places such as airports and university student centres are generating a good return on investment, Mr. Moore adds. He says the company's earnings could grow at a rate of about 20 percent a year and the stock, which now trades at around $37 on the New York Stock Exchange, will "certainly outperform the market''.

For his first attempt to beat the forces of chance, Mr. Bowen is going with Diebold Corp., a Canton, Ohio, maker of automatic teller machines. In picking stocks, Mr. Bowen says, he looks for niche companies that will do well regardless of the economy, and Diebold fits the pattern. "It's the purest play in ATM machines,'' he says.

ATMs are "a cost-effective way of doing business, they're growing in popularity and they're now dispensing other things besides cash, such as theater tickets, traveler's checks, stamps,'' he says. He likes the fact that Diebold is expanding its presence overseas, where there is lots of room for growth.

At around $40.625 on the Big Board, the stock is about where it was in December 1993, he notes, despite steady growth in revenue and earnings. He expects positive earnings surprises in the next two quarters to propel the stock price upward, although he declines to give a specific target. The stock was at $35.75 in early March, when it was selected by a participant in another, overlapping, Investment Dartboard contest.

For the contest that ends October 31, the pros will be competing against a dartboard portfolio consisting of Amerada Hess Corp., Financing for Science International Inc., Orbit Semiconductor Inc. and Tylan General Inc.