A sign displays the TSX close in Toronto in March, 2020. A stock’s inclusion in a major index can have a meaningful effect on share prices.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
S&P Dow Jones Indices said late Friday that it is adding five companies to the S&P/TSX Composite Index and deleting five others after a quarterly review of stocks included in the broadest measure of the Canadian market.
The index provider will add Altius Minerals Corp. (ALS-T), Extendicare Inc. (EXE-T), Hammond Power Solutions Inc. (HPS.A-T), Spartan Delta Corp. (SDE-T) and Southern Cross Gold Consolidated Ltd. (SXGC-T) to the S&P/TSX Composite Index, it said in a news release.
Goeasy Ltd. (GSY-T), Pet Valu Holdings Ltd. (PET-T), Transcontinental Inc. Class A Subordinate Voting Shares (TCL.A-T), Vital Infrastructure Property Trust (VITL.UN-T) and Winpak Ltd. (WPK-T) will be removed from the index, according to the news release.
The changes will be effective at the open of markets on June 22.
To determine whether a company should be included in its S&P/TSX Composite Index, S&P Dow Jones uses the “float” – the value of shares that it considers to be available to the public to trade. It excludes shares held by other publicly traded companies, government agencies and “certain types of strategic shareholders,” according to its published methodology.
To be added, a company’s float-adjusted market capitalization must be at least 0.04 per cent of the total value of the index over a period of 10 trading days prior to inclusion, and the volume-weighted average price of its shares must exceed $1 over the previous three months. Companies whose float drops below 0.025 per cent of the total value of the index over a 10-trading-day period, or whose volume-weighted average share price stays below $1 over a three-month period, can be dropped from the index.
With the growth of index funds and other passive investing strategies, a stock’s inclusion in a major index can have a meaningful effect on share prices. Fund managers who track an index must hold shares in the underlying companies. Canadian stocks added to the composite index can see price bumps before and after inclusion. Similarly, companies removed from the index lose a source of demand for their shares.