Topic: How To Invest

Dear Pat: Based on their previous history, would it not appear that CNR will soon be doing a 2-for-1 stock split? Also, what effect might that have on the share price? Thank you.

Article Excerpt

Canadian National Railway, $101.50, symbol CNR on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 428.4 million; Market cap: $43.5 billion; www.cn.ca), last split its shares two-for-one in February 2006, when they traded at $108. So another share split at today’s price of $101.50 is a possibility. However, we haven’t heard of any plans for a split. You asked how a share split would affect the price of the stock. When a stock splits, your percentage ownership of the company is unchanged—you hold more shares, which are worth less, but you still own the same percentage of the company. Statistics sometimes suggest that companies that split their stock are better investments than those that do not carry out splits, but that confuses cause and effect. When a company’s stock price goes up, it has an incentive to split the stock to make it seem cheaper to investors who may then buy more. This can make the stock more liquid than if the company refrained from stock…