A Yield to Caution: Financial 15 Split Corp.

Article Excerpt

FINANCIAL 15 SPLIT CORP. $7.81 (Toronto symbol FTN; Shares o/s: 47.4 million; Market cap: $370.2 million; Dividend yield: 19.5%; www.quadravest.com) holds shares of 15 big Canadian and U.S. financial companies. These include Bank of Nova Scotia, TD Bank, Manulife, Sun Life, CI Financial, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Wells Fargo. Financial 15 yields an exceptionally high 19.5%. Still, its income does not cover those distributions to its shareholders. To make up the difference, it must realize capital gains on its securities. But those gains are far from guaranteed, so it supports its distributions by selling call options on the stocks it holds. Selling call options also generates an income stream. However, these sales tend to limit any capital gains that Financial 15’s portfolio might otherwise generate. That’s because when the stocks it owns go up, holders of any call options on those stocks will buy them from the trust at the agreed upon price. That means the company loses out on any…