Q. What are the prospects for my shares of The Allstate Corp? Are its television commercials helping or hurting the company?A. Losses from tornadoes and mortgage-backed securities are of much greater concern for Allstate Corp than its commercials about potential mayhem.CEO Tom Wilson said the largest publicly traded US home and auto insurer will seek rate increases in several states because weather pattern changes are triggering a greater number of hurricanes, floods and hailstorms. It will also regularly release information on its catastrophic losses if they exceed $150 million in a month.Tornadoes in the South, for example, were a primary contributor to its estimated $1.4 billion in catastrophic losses in April. That nearly equals its total catastrophic losses for all of last year.Meanwhile, the giant insurer has sued JPMorgan Chase & Co, Deutsche Bank AG and Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch unit for damages for fraudulently selling it hundreds of millions of dollars in troubled residential mortgage-backed securities.Shares of Allstate are down two percent this year following a gain of eight percent last year and a 26 percent decline in 2009. In the first quarter in which it had lower catastrophic losses, its profit rose to $519 million from $120 million a year earlier when a winter storm caused significant damage in 24 US states.The company’s television commercials lately have featured actor Dean Winters more often than Dennis Haysbert, the reassuring voice of Allstate since 2003. Personifying mayhem to car owners, Winters’ roles include that of a falling tree, a crashing television dish and distracted motorist.But whatever its image in the fierce insurance commercial competition, Allstate’s enormous size lets it spread its fixed costs over a large base while its network of agents helps keep a customer’s home, car and leisure-craft policies in one place. It sold off its riskiest investments and is restructuring its financial business that was a drain on results in the economic debacle.Consensus analyst opinion on Allstate stock is “buy”. according to Thomson Reuters, consisting of seven “strong buys”, five “buys” and 12 “holds”.By the nature of its business, Allstate is vulnerable to disaster costs and investment losses. How effectively it manages those areas will determine the company’s profitability.Allstate’s voluntary Drive Wise discount programme is a high-visibility initiative that installs wireless devices in cars to record the maximum speeds, hard braking and mileage. Customers signing up can receive discounts of up to 30 percent, depending on how safely or how few miles they drive.Earnings are expected to increase 10 percent next year compared to 39 percent projected for the property and casualty insurance segment. Its expected five-year annualised increase of nine percent is in line with its peers.Q. Please give your opinion of the Calamos Growth & Income Fund, which is in my portfolio.A. Through solid management teamwork, its inventive mix of stocks, bonds and convertible securities has provided smooth sailing for investors.Calamos Asset Management founder John Calamos and his nephew Nick Calamos as fund co-managers have extensive experience in delivering downside protection and working with convertible securities. The team also includes John Calamos Jr, John Hillenbrand, Steve Klouda, Jeff Scudieri and John Vacko.The $4.6 billion Calamos Growth & Income Fund “A” is up 22 percent over the past 12 months to rank in the upper one-third of aggressive allocation funds and has gained six percent over the three-year annualized period to rank at the top of its category.“Calamos Growth & Income Fund is for an investor who wants a fund without a lot of volatility, since its equities are high-quality and its fixed-income stake offers some ballast,” said Courtney Goethals Dobrow, mutual fund analyst with Morningstar Inc in Chicago, acknowledging that in the past decade its upside potential has trailed some competitors. “We see it as a supporting player but I can see it functioning as a core holding too.”The portfolio typically includes low- and mid-quality issues from small and mid-cap firms. Its quantitative approach to finding stocks with the best value is combined with fundamental analysis and company visits. Stocks and convertible securities each represent more than 40 percent of the portfolio, with the remainder in bonds and cash.Calamos Growth & Income Fund includes shares of Amazon.com Inc, Oracle Corp, Qualcomm Inc, Eaton Corp, United Technologies Corp, eBay Inc and Microsoft Corp. It also owns preferred shares of Apache and Archer Daniels Midland, as well as convertible securities of EMC Corp, Netapp and Sandisk.This 4.75 percent “load” (sales charge) fund requires a $2,500 minimum initial investment and has an annual expense ratio of 1.09 percent.Q. What is a limit order on a stock and how does it differ from other orders? I am a new investor.A. It reduces your risk of paying too much for a stock, or at least what you consider would be too much.A limit order, which is an order to buy or sell a stock at a specific price or better, can only be filled if the stock’s market price reaches the limit price the investor has set. The investor can never pay more for a stock than his or her determined limit.“While limit orders do not guarantee execution, they help to make sure that an investor does not pay more than a pre-determined price for a stock,” explained Eugene Profit, founder of Profit Investment Management in Silver Spring, Md. “Limit orders are especially useful in stocks that have large price swings or low daily trade volumes.”In contrast, a market order is an order to buy or sell a stock at the current available price. This is a less precise but more hassle-free way to purchase shares.Andrew Leckey answers questions only through the column. Address inquiries to Andrew Leckey, 555 N. Central Ave., Suite 302, Phoenix, Ariz. 85004-1248, or by e-mail at andrewinv[AT]aol.com) (C) 2011 TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES INC.