FFH short position

[bonechip1]

Anybody have a source for the number of FFH shares that are currently sold short?

 

Thanks,

Chip

[valuesource]

This one's pretty fresh.  TSX market data as of March 15.

 

FFH FAIRFAX FINANCIAL HOLDINGS LTD. SV 38879 1366 T

 

These were previously published as Excel spreadsheet but now it comes as text.  Annoying.  The line above basically means there is a total short interest of 38,879 and the interest increased by 1,366 over the 15 day period.

 

-vs

[bonechip1]

Thanks valuesource.

[niels12think]

This one's pretty fresh.  TSX market data as of March 15.

FFH FAIRFAX FINANCIAL HOLDINGS LTD. SV 38879 1366 T

 

As I understand it, this only covers the short position registered with the Toronto Stock Exchange.

There is an additional short position for the pink sheets:

 

Date	Short Interest ;	% Change ;	Avg. Daily Share Volume ;	Days to Cover ;	Split ;	New Issue
Mar 15, 2011	105,637	-9.37	10,021	10.54	No	No

from http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/FRFHF/short-sales

 

The total reported short position at 15th March, 2011 therefore seems to be 144,516

 

Cheers

[niels12think]

The total reported short position at 15th March, 2011 therefore seems to be 144,516

 

The unreported / "fail to deliver" short position should be added on top of this:

from http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/FRFHF/short-sales: "No Reg SHO data is available for FRFHF".

History teaches us that this can be significant - even more so for pink sheets; pink sheets can be dodgy...

 

If anyone has a pink sheet position in Fairfax, why not ask your broker to do a northbound transfer of the position to Toronto Stock Exchange?

The rules, regulations and transparancy seems to a lot better at a real exchange instead of the pink sheets.

 

In fact, why doesn't Fairfax withdraw from the pink sheets?

 

Cheers!

[niels12think]

In fact, why doesn't Fairfax withdraw from the pink sheets?

 

Does anybody know where to find additional information?

E.g. how many of Fairfax' shares are trading on the pink sheets?

if shares can be moved from Toronto to the pink sheets?

is the pink sheets listing mandated by Fairfax or is this listing contradictionary to the company wishes? 

 

Thanks

[Uccmal]

Neils,

 

I cant answer your questions specifically.  I have experienced the following:

 

I have held FFh in a US account, and sold shares out of this account since they delisted from the NYSE.  That would be trades on the pink sheets.  I have also transferred shares from my Us margin account to my Canadian Margin account with no fees.  I am thinking that there is no actual assignment of a specified number of FFh shares to pink sheets.  FWIW.

[link01]

The total reported short position at 15th March, 2011 therefore seems to be 144,516

 

The unreported / "fail to deliver" short position should be added on top of this:

from http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/FRFHF/short-sales: "No Reg SHO data is available for FRFHF".

History teaches us that this can be significant - even more so for pink sheets; pink sheets can be dodgy...

 

If anyone has a pink sheet position in Fairfax, why not ask your broker to do a northbound transfer of the position to Toronto Stock Exchange?

The rules, regulations and transparancy seems to a lot better at a real exchange instead of the pink sheets.

 

In fact, why doesn't Fairfax withdraw from the pink sheets?

 

Cheers!

i'd like to swap my frfhf shares into ffh.to (or ffh:ca according to fidelty style nomenclature) but, strangely, my brokerage doesnt allow international trades for ffh:ca. its the only international stock i've seen disallowed or on some kind of restricted list. and i've owned half a dozen canadian exchange stocks within the last 2 years, tho i currently only own mty:ca. now my curiousity is piqued. but why is there always price premium of the pink sheet shares over the canadian ones? is it because they're priced in US dollars?

 

as far as the short position in ffh goes, that's a mystery to me. its relatively cheap, has a strong balance sheet thanks to their great investment results especially in 2008-2009, and it has a demonstrated history of far above average shareholder returns. the only visible potential achilles heel waiting to trip them up that i can see is their big holdings of long term US treasuries. they've REALLY gone against the conventional wisdom of the crowds on that one.

[niels12think]

Neils,

 

I cant answer your questions specifically.  I have experienced the following:

 

I have held FFh in a US account, and sold shares out of this account since they delisted from the NYSE.  That would be trades on the pink sheets.  I have also transferred shares from my Us margin account to my Canadian Margin account with no fees.  I am thinking that there is no actual assignment of a specified number of FFh shares to pink sheets.  FWIW.

 

Yes, I've also transferred my shares from US to CA. In one account at one brokerage without any fee, but for shares in another account at another brokerage, there was a small fee.

 

I was just curious if the number of Fairfax shares on the pink sheets was forever diminishing - or if shares could also be transferred the other way. But I guess then that shares can flow freely both ways.

 

Cheers!

[niels12think]

...now my curiousity is piqued. but why is there always price premium of the pink sheet shares over the canadian ones? is it because they're priced in US dollars?

 

Yes, the price quoted on the pink sheets is in USD, where the price of FFH.TO is in CAD.

 

as far as the short position in ffh goes, that's a mystery to me. its relatively cheap, has a strong balance sheet thanks to their great investment results especially in 2008-2009, and it has a demonstrated history of far above average shareholder returns. the only visible potential achilles heel waiting to trip them up that i can see is their big holdings of long term US treasuries. they've REALLY gone against the conventional wisdom of the crowds on that one.

 

Yes, compared to the low average daily volume, the short position is significant. As to why someone would short Fairfax as opposed to e.g. short the TYX directly, doesn't seem to make sense; must be something more speculative?

 

Cheers

[NumquamPerdo]

Dude, don't even get us started on shorting FFH.  :P