ok you stock gurus explain TRF to me

[alwaysondbigscreen]

stock ticker TRF is paying out about $9.00 per share to owners as of 12/16/08 it also has a net aset per share of about $35.00, and is currently trading at $16.70. I have actually owned it for years and the dividend isnt a "fluke". So why is it trading so low? Or is there something im missing

[CampuspostmanHOG]

are you paying capital gains on the dividend?

[alwaysondbigscreen]

are you paying capital gains on the dividend?

beats me Im not near as bright as I look. the dividend is paying $8.43 in long term cap gains and 0.52 on sort term cap gains and 0.25 on net investment income. Im sure I will be paying taxes of some kind but what I dont know. What I do not understand is how something like this could be so cheap? Unless I just dont understand the concept if something has a net asset of $35 per share doesnt that mean if they sold the assets they would more or less end up with about $35 for each share. and if you take into account that they are paying out approx $9 per share in a few days then the stock is actually trading for about $7 or 1/5 of its value. I really dont understand WHY. but I will be the first to admit that I really dont understand the stock market I just try to use a little common sense, and this is bumfuzzling me

[Ash]

Here's a shot at it... the fund invests in Russia and Eastern Eurpoean countries. I imagine that right now given the way Russia is acting there is a whole lot of political risk factored into the price.

[BlackKnightHogFan]

The Russian market is down nearly 70% YTD.  Some in Eastern Europe more then that.  ROE for that fund is -53.42%, EPS is -27.25 and Net Income is -149.81.  That fund uses leverage and options to generate income which increases the Beta or risk of the fund.  All of this info is public and I found most of it on yahoo finance and the templeton website.  With numbers like the above, no way does it have a positive return.

[CampuspostmanHOG]

beats me Im not near as bright as I look. the dividend is paying $8.43 in long term cap gains and 0.52 on sort term cap gains and 0.25 on net investment income. Im sure I will be paying taxes of some kind but what I dont know. What I do not understand is how something like this could be so cheap? Unless I just dont understand the concept if something has a net asset of $35 per share doesnt that mean if they sold the assets they would more or less end up with about $35 for each share. and if you take into account that they are paying out approx $9 per share in a few days then the stock is actually trading for about $7 or 1/5 of its value. I really dont understand WHY. but I will be the first to admit that I really dont understand the stock market I just try to use a little common sense, and this is bumfuzzling me

You may be paying capital gain on the dividend and if the stock goes down the value of the dividend, you are out those taxes.

[Fletch]

The fund more than likely sold a portion of stocks at some point and booked the gains. As a fund it must distribute those gains to shareholders or else the fund is taxed on them. This being a capital gain only comes from the positions sold at a lower cost basis. When the fund runs out of those positions then the distributions will stop.

This is not always a good thing. For instance if you purchased the fund early in the year at 50, you now have a huge loss in principle value and you are stuck paying capital gains taxes on top of that.

[alwaysondbigscreen]

thanks guys I think I get the jest of some of it. So just cause its paying out big doesnt  mean its done  great this year. They just gotta pay out. It seemed to me that the concensus was run away run away. Oh well I got it, I will just ride it out