Economic Investment Trust Limited is a Canadian closed end fund trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol EVT. It has been around since 1927 and trades at a very massive discount from net asset value. It closed on March 14, 2013 at $63 and had a reported value, as of December 31, 2012 of $83.98/share. The American stock symbol is ECVTF.PK.
This fund really contains two different and diverse portfolios. Over 54% of the portfolio consists of long term holdings in the following three securities:
| E-L Financial | 39.9% |
| Algoma (AGMJF.PK) | 8.5% |
| Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) | 9.0% |
These are fine large cap Canadian companies which are stable and will always remain part of the portfolio.
The second half of the portfolio consists of a truly global portfolio of non-Canadian securities. This portfolio had been previously managed by Sanford C. Bernstein, which produced a mediocre performance. This portfolio is now being run by Burgundy Asset Management, a Canadian investment advisor.
As of December 31, 2012, the fund held securities with a market value of $483,221,000 and a cost basis of $220,662,000. To partially offset this, it had tax loss carryforwards of $73,930,000.
The fund has always sold at a massive discount from net asset value which has ranged between 20-45% . If you can buy in at the high end of the discount, I think you will have acquired substantial value which may or may not be released over time.
Performance for the past two years has been as follows:
| 2012 | 2011 | |
| NAV | 13.9% | (17.8)% |
| TSX Composite | 7.2 | (8.7) |
| MSCI All Country World Index | 13.7 | (5.1) |
| S & P 500 | 13.5 | 4.4 |
I would not put all my money here but I would buy a little for the ride. The discount can be very appealing.
Disclosure: I am long ECVTF.PK.
