Topic: How To Invest

Pat: What’s your opinion of the iShares S&P/TSX SmallCap Index Fund? Thank you.

Article Excerpt

iShares S&P/TSX SmallCap Index Fund, $16.41, symbol XCS on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 7.3 million; Market cap: $119.8 million), holds the stocks in the S&P/TSX SmallCap Index. This index is made up of the smaller companies on the Toronto Stock Exchange. These stocks are chosen by market size (their market caps must be between $100 million to $1.5 billion) and liquidity. The fund’s expenses are 0.55% of its assets. The 10 highest-weighted stocks of the 178 companies in the index are New Gold, 1.74%; Quadra FNX Mining, 1.68%; Semafo, 1.67%; Trican Well Service, 1.60%; SXC Health Solutions, 1.57%; Toromont Industries, 1.41%; HudBay Minerals, 1.40%; IESI-BFC, 1.40%; Detour Gold, 1.39%; and Keyera Facilities Income Fund, 1.36%. The fund’s industry breakdown is as follows: Materials, 32.6%; Energy, 23.7%, Financials, 14.3%; Industrials, 11.7%; Consumer Discretionary, 6.4%; Consumer Staples, 3.6%; Health Care, 3.3%, Information Technology, 2.0% and Utilities, 1.7%. We like some of the stocks the fund holds, but don’t recommend others. Overall, the idea of buying this…