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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: Is the takeover of CEF.A sure to happen?

If so what is the last date to sell CEF.A?

Also, is there some similar alternative to own that will have any payouts in the form of dividends rather than distributions?
Read Answer Asked by jane on March 22, 2017
Q: This is a comment on Ken's question of this morning regarding LFE. I have analyzed this split share and I thought this might be of benefit to subscribers.: LFE net asset value (NAV) as of February 28 is $ 5.44. The dividends will be discontinued again if NAV goes below $ 5. The portfolio which consists of the four insurance companies Manulife, Sunlife, Greatwest life and Industrial Alliance has to produce a net return of $ 1.825 per unit ($ .625 for the preferred and $ 1.20 for the common) to maintain its dividends. Adding a .75% management fee so the total return for the portfolio has to exceed 11.8 % based on the NAV today. This I think is difficult for a portfolio manager to produce consistently. But if interest rate environment favors life insurance companies this might be achievable. The common share dividends is declared by the manager and to my knowledge the amount is not specific, so it could go up or down. The company uses options to supplement the return and according to their document uses some sort of derivatives which may help increase or (decrease) the value of the unit. Since its IPO, of $25 for both units in 2006 it paid $ 13 ( $ 6.35 for the preferred and $ 6.70 for the common). So yes I consider it risky but the IPO was right before the 2007 crash and lower interest environment which devastated life insurance companies. Although its past is not great, perhaps the future is brighter and it is not without its risk.
Read Answer Asked by Saad on March 18, 2017
Q: This is a comment on Jerry's question this morning. DFN holds a portfolio of 15 high quality large cap companies. Its net asset value now is about $ 19. The preferred shares can be surrendered at maturity on December 2019. If he is comfortable with holding these preferred shares until maturity and getting a 5% yield I think the dividends and the redemption price of $ 10 are reasonably safe. It will take a total market collapse to reduce the net asset value to below $ 10. There are many split preferred with different maturities, yields and risks. Considering their price stability and yield, with the right choice, I think these split preferred are better than holding GIC's or money market funds.
Read Answer Asked by Saad on March 15, 2017
Q: Please don't answer this with the standard reply about split corporations. I know 5i is not crazy about split corporations. No one ever mentions the preferred share side of the split. Everyone talks about the ultra-high yielding Class A shares that pay over 10%. That's not what I'm asking about.

The preferred shares yield about 5%. DFN.PR.A was priced at about 10.50 in 2004 and today its price is 10.34. There was a 30% dip in 2008. Otherwise the graph is amazingly level, showing only a fraction of the losses "normal" preferred shares showed in 2015-16. Also, distributions have never been suspended. A graph of dfn.pr.a compared to the preferred share etfs CPD and HPR may be surprising. The question is, How dangerous are preferred shares of a split corporation? Certainly they have to be safer than the Class A, high yielding shares. Seems like a good place to park some cash, which is what I've been doing. Thank you for your thoughts.
Read Answer Asked by Jerry on March 15, 2017
Q: Aside from the market cap, which is pretty obvious, could you explain the difference between these two funds. In particular why/how BGI pays almost twice the dividend. I have held BIP for quite a while and done really well with it, but can't help looking at BGI.
Thank-you
Read Answer Asked by grant on March 13, 2017
Q: What do you think of taking a position in FAH.U as part of a global diversification plan? It would be part of a portfolio go along with India, Europe and US etf's.
Read Answer Asked by David on March 10, 2017
Q: Hi Team,
As you mentioned Sprott made a bid for Central Fund of Canada yesterday and CEF.A stock went up 3.1% by the close. I understand this is a hostile bid. Do you think there will be a competing bid or any more upside to CEF.A? Coincidentally, I was planning to sell my CEF.A holdings next week and replace them with PHYS. Do you see any reason to hold off on that? Thank you, Michael
Read Answer Asked by Michael on March 09, 2017
Q: Hi Team,
This question is about investing in a gold ETF. Sprott Physical Gold Trust (PHYS) I believe is a closed-end fund. I read this affects its ability to issue new shares so it cannot effectively track the price of gold. This means shares could trade at a premium to net asset value and not truly track the price of gold. Is that true and if so, is it a concern? Thank you. Michael
Read Answer Asked by Michael on March 08, 2017
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