gary17

If you are a holdco, then the deemed dividend may not have any tax if there's 'safe income' at FairFax. that's the only rule i know of. Otherwise no there is no way around it. The concept is to prevent a company's owner from using company cash to buy him/herself out entirely and receive all the proceeds 'tax free' (ie as capital gains that meet certain lifetime exemption limits in Canada, or otherwise at low tax rates ). It's no diff than paying yourself a wage so it needs to be treated as deemed dividend.

Total market cap is based on future earnings - so that is a function of low rates, discount etc. GDP is a measure of current output is it not. so i'd say the higher the ratio just means the lower the interest rate.

i had a really excellent year. i don't think the % means much to anyone, other than myself. i beat the market this year, mainly coming from Xpel, TSU.to, TSLA (which I sold around $900 - $950), GOOGL/FB/MSFT/AAPL, IBG.to, CSU.to , ATCO, BAC, and finally FairFax. many many thanks to the smart contributors on the forum. i have a day job so haven't been able to do as much research / contribution as I like, but am really appreciative of all the 'free' information this forum has provided, thanks to all & Sanjeev. all the money can't buy a covid-free world where people are less divided.... we can hug each other,,, and i would get back to travelling, connecting with friends & relatives overseas... hopefully 2022 delivers on sub-par results for me, and excellent results on happiness

could it be they made statutory deductions on the deemed dividend tax?

when would we know the Purchase Price ? The offer expires on the 23rd - how long would it take for them to figure out all the math? I assume there would be a computer program that can figure this out... Gary

Any reasonable investor would tender above the market , which is trading at $576 CAD = $448USD....

Thanks - maybe i misunderstood - i thought even if i tender at the high price of $500USD ; i'm still guaranteed to be bought out at the purchase price as defined - which will fall in the range - ? If that's true, then i guess i would naturally want to tender at the highest; and see where I end up... Gary

i'm finally able to have some time to think about the SIB; i was wondering if anyone knows of a basic model or explanation somewhere online that can help me understand how Dutch auction work? Wouldn't everyone just tender at the highest price - $500USD ? Gary

Each day Elon Musk's net worth is increasing more than the market cap of Fairfax !

hi- i am wondering if there are any canadian IB users here - i recently got an email from them offering me a 'debit card' with mastercards... it seems like it's basically a debit card against my margin in my investment account. is this like a way for me to spend money but without having to sell stocks (ie its margin borrowing). so i'll be paying interest, but not capital gain taxes? has any canadian investors studied this and that it makes sense? TIA!

yes i believe rules in canada require disclosure, which is different in the US. interesting for me as an observer they issued shares at much lower prices before and now buying them at higher prices. not sure if overall those capitals raised in prior years resulted in good returns.

Does anyone that follow companies like Stantec (STN), IBI (TSX: IBG), & WSP (TSX:WSP) know how much these roll-up firms pay to buyout privately owned professional engineering service firms? I'd be interested to know what sort of multiple they pay. Thanks! Gary

the Liberal government that just got re-elected for a 3rd term will be taxing insurance companies on profit of $1B. i think market is pricing this in.

Wow so in a market meltdown Fairfax shares are declining much faster than "growth" stocks like FANG!

maybe the market is just reacting to big hurricanes we are seeing and climate change - long term trend of bigger losses!

thanks, was just trying to gauge if the whole stock market is basically gambling with free money from government. hard to figure out when the music chair will stop.

my friends from the US are telling me an unemployed person with all the federal support, etc is getting about $4000 - $5000 USD / month for not working - is that true?

this is where classic value investors trying to buy 50c on the dollar don't get - is the future earnings potential... so buying at market cap 23B in 1999 for what would become a trillion dollar company is the value proposition that's not reflected in the accounting, but in the future prospect.

rising rates is not good for Fairfax though right?

Defining just exactly what ‘inflation’ is is part of the challenge. One example is real estate in Vancouver. Single family home prices are expected to increase this year 20-30% (maybe as soon as this spring). Crazy. And prices were already at bubble levels. This looks like asset inflation to me. Ever rising prices :-) So i agree rates and ‘inflation’ often don’t move in the same way. Relative to foreigners Vancouver RE has gone down in prices because Canadian currency has devalued significantly. That’s not correct, the CAD has been strong relative to the USD and is close to a 5 year high. https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/CADUSD=X?p=CADUSD=X&.tsrc=fin-srch I was looking at Asian currencies rmb, jpy, skw, hkd, ntd, etc and Euro

Defining just exactly what ‘inflation’ is is part of the challenge. One example is real estate in Vancouver. Single family home prices are expected to increase this year 20-30% (maybe as soon as this spring). Crazy. And prices were already at bubble levels. This looks like asset inflation to me. Ever rising prices :-) So i agree rates and ‘inflation’ often don’t move in the same way. Relative to foreigners Vancouver RE has gone down in prices because Canadian currency has devalued significantly.

TSMC is a stock I own - has benefited greatly during COVID and this shortage. Also Apple M chips helped. and i don't think it's too expensive , relative to other stocks in the USA.

i guess they didn’t sell any BB

they are cheap because the market is not convinced they can make sound investment decisions - so the market is pricing in future decline of current asset value - hence it's below book value.... if they don't sell BB shares, i think that just gives the market the confirmation they are not good investors and confirm Mr. Market's thesis of value destruction will continue... and hence cheaper prices for FFH shares. my 2 cents.

is a hard market better for EPS or not?