Topic: How To Invest

Pat: What is your recommendation on Faircourt Gold Income Corp.? It pays a high dividend. Thank you.

Article Excerpt

Faircourt Gold Income Corp., $8.33, symbol FGX on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 4.5 million; Market cap: $37.5 million; www.faircourtassetmgt.com), mainly invests in large- and mid-sized gold producers that are part of the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index. The company holds mostly high-quality stocks, including Barrick Gold, Detour Gold, Franco-Nevada Corp., Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold, Goldcorp, Kinross Gold, Newmont Mining, Yamana Gold and New Gold. Faircourt pays a high 7.2% dividend yield. To meet its high distributions, the company may use capital gains on its investments to increase its cash flow—a strategy that works when markets are rising but not when they are falling. As well, the company writes call options to boost returns. Call option holders have the option to buy the underlying shares from the company at a specified price. The company earns a premium on the call option whether or not it’s exercised. The problem with covered call writing is that you have to hold the stocks on which you’ve sold calls, even when…