Cutting Through the Noise
June 7, 2012
The Castlerock funds, which were formerly the Hartford funds, are becoming CI, Cambridge and Black Creek funds. Got it? This confusing reorganization is the result of another round of mergers in fundland. It’s CI’s turn this time, as they plan to...
Read MoreMay 31, 2012
Don Cranston and Sheila Norman, both partners at CGOV (the manager of our Equity Fund), stopped by our office this week to give us a review of the fund. We’ll report on the portfolio in detail in our Q2 Report (early July), but in the interim we felt it would be...
Read MoreMay 28, 2012
May 26, 2012
‘[T]he market’ is rapidly becoming something of an endangered species. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to try and identify any asset of significance that isn’t experiencing huge and artificial distortion to its price by forces that we might...
Read MoreMay 23, 2012
I find the kerfuffle about the Facebook initial public offering (IPO) interesting. I don’t know if anything nefarious went on behind the scenes, but it seems to me that what played out on this overhyped and highly priced IPO (the $38 issue price equates to over 20x revenue) fell within the range of possible outcomes. Facebook...
Read MoreMay 17, 2012
In this space, we talk a lot about transparency, and we try our best to walk the talk. There was a piece by Barrie McKenna in the Globe and Mail this week about the Federal government’s transparency around financial reporting. The conclusion: If the...
Read MoreMay 16, 2012
We don’t spend a lot of money advertising at Steadyhand (at the end of the day, investors pay for it). If we did, you might see something similar to IA Clarington’s latest campaign on Active Mind. But with a Steadyhand spin, of course. As part of their campaign...
Read MoreMay 14, 2012
We’re in one of the greatest bear markets of all time. In natural gas, that is. The commodity’s price has fallen from over $10 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) in July 2008 to about $2.50 today. Last month, it touched $1.90, representing a decline of roughly 85% from peak to trough. Natural gas is used to heat and cool homes and...
Read MoreMay 12, 2012
A long-standing investment strategy is back in vogue. “Covered call writing” is designed to generate income from a stock by selling a call option against it (the right to buy the stock at a set price in the future). While the strategy has been around forever...
Read MoreMay 10, 2012
In recent presentations, we’ve been discussing a slide that shows the industry diversification of the Founders Fund versus the S&P/TSX Composite Index. We’ve been doing this admittedly ‘apples to oranges’ comparison because it highlights what the portfolios...
Read MoreMay 10, 2012
We are currently seeking candidates for a permanent, part-time or full-time Office Manager. As part of this diverse role, the team member will be involved in many facets of our business, including maintaining the office, managing vendors, coordinating client...
Read MoreMay 7, 2012
Our Small-Cap Fund is at the top of its game. Over the past year (ending April 30th) it has gained 13.6% while the market, as measured by the BMO Small Cap Index, has fallen -13.8%. It’s been zigging as the market’s been zagging. Over the past five years the fund has gained 6.2% per year, while the small-cap index and the S&P/TSX Composite Index are up 1.3% and 1.1%, respectively. What's more, the fund's annual returns since...
Read MoreMay 3, 2012
iShares fixed income turns 50. The global leader in exchange traded funds (ETFs) recently launched their 50th U.S.-based fixed income ETF (iShares offers 22 fixed income ETFs in Canada). Investors can access a wide array of products, including 8 different...
Read MoreApril 30, 2012
The wealth management industry has changed a lot since we started Steadyhand five years ago. The banks have strengthened their hold on asset management, low-cost ETFs and high-cost structured products have become more prominent (and numerous) and lower-volatility income products are now the big seller. Some of the changes have been good for client returns, while others were more attuned to company profits...
Read MoreApril 28, 2012
As your buy side correspondent, I make a point of reading a whole stack of investment manager reports each quarter. I particularly focus on managers who think long term (no frequent traders), are prone to non-consensus views and aren't afraid...
Read MoreApril 25, 2012
Last Sunday, while flying to the hottest housing market in Canada (Toronto), my airplane reading surfaced a couple more statistics about Canadian housing, both of which point towards caution. In their quarterly report, Mawer Investment Management noted...
Read MoreApril 23, 2012
At the end of this month we’ll be rewarding our earliest clients with an additional fee rebate, as our first ‘tenure discounts’ come into play. Clients who hold our funds for 5 years receive an additional 7% reduction on their total fees. This discount is in addition to any rebates they receive based on the size of their accounts with Steadyhand. The tenure discount will apply every year until investors hit their 10th anniversary...
Read MoreApril 19, 2012
A theme in our blog postings this month is to bring readers inside the tent. Many clients express an interest in how we run our business, so we’re bringing it to life. In the second article of our five-part series (Five Sources of Tension), we noted that our website is one of our greatest sources of constant tension, as we aim to keep it fresh and...
Read MoreApril 18, 2012
It was a good start to the year for Steadyhand. We welcomed close to 200 new clients to the firm in the first quarter, our assets under management grew by 15%, and our transfer pipeline is healthy. Stocks also had a strong showing, with the Canadian market rising 4% and the U.S. and World markets gaining roughly 10%. The bond market declined as interest rates edged upwards, although losses...
Read MoreApril 16, 2012
We go through our fair share of Advil at Steadyhand. Like any business, we’re faced with strategic decisions that involve internal discussions in which not everyone sees eye to eye. While some choices are easy – the boardroom m&m’s are for clients only – others face more rigorous debate. Below are five issues that have been constant sources of tension within the walls of 1747 West 3rd Avenue...
Read MoreApril 14, 2012
We’re celebrating our firm’s fifth birthday this week, which has brought on lots of reflection. Before we started up, I sought counsel from as many people as possible under the theory that if you want money, ask for advice. As it turned out, I got little money...
Read MoreApril 12, 2012
From our Quarterly Report: We’re celebrating our fifth birthday this week, so this letter is going to be more about us than usual. Indeed, during the rest of this month, our plans are to share five stories, post a few ‘five’ lists and drink too much 5-year old wine...
Read MoreApril 10, 2012
“If the bear leans on you, hold your ground.” Are these words of advice from an investment guru like Buffett, Watsa or Hager? No, they’re instructions from the trainer of Koda, my big furry friend who appeared with me in the video on our original home page. As it turned out, the trainer’s words would quickly become as relevant...
Read MoreApril 9, 2012
Steadyhand opened its doors to investors five years ago tomorrow. Since that bright spring day in April 2007, we’ve witnessed a lot – the biggest stock market decline since the Great Depression, a collapse in the U.S. housing market, derivatives gone wild, a global debt crisis, a strong market rebound, record low interest rates, investor paralysis, political revolution ... and more. It’s been an eventful period. And...
Read MoreApril 4, 2012
The investment banking league tables came out this week and they showed that Scotia Capital was at the top of the equity list. BNS was lead underwriter on $2.4 billion worth of deals in the first quarter. What pushed them to the top was a $1.66 billion stock...
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