Topic: How To Invest

Hi Pat: What would you think of the Pathfinder Convertible Debenture Fund as an investment? Thanks for all your good advice over the years.

Article Excerpt

Pathfinder Convertible Debenture Fund, $12.35, symbol PCD.UN on Toronto (Units outstanding: 10.0 million; Market cap: $124.0 million; www.middlefield.com/path.htm), is a closed-end fund that holds 73.5% of its portfolio in convertible debentures issued by publicly traded Canadian companies. The rest of the fund consists of common stocks, real estate investment trusts and cash. Convertible debentures are often promoted as offering more income than common stocks, and more growth potential than bonds. But it’s equally true that they offer less income than bonds, and less growth than stocks. We rarely recommend convertible or exchangeable debentures, because most expose investors to too much risk and too little profit potential. In effect, most convertible debentures are just low-quality, fixed-return investments. Pathfinder Convertible Debenture Fund yields a high 6.3%, but that yield partly reflects the risk of its holdings. By adding a convertibility option, companies pay a lower interest rate on their debentures than if there was no option to convert. But typically, that’s because they are riskier…