Investment Q&A

Q: Hi and all the best to you for 2018! I hold some ENB.PR.U for income and believe it will stay stable for the foreseeable future as it has fluctuated within a narrow band over the past months. I would be grateful for your thoughts on this however for longer term. Cheers.

Q: I have recently purchased ENB, having owned TRP for a number of years. I need to do some sector adjusting and these two jump out as overlapping industries in my RRSP. I would anticipate holding one or the other mid to longer term. Which of these two do you feel would offer longer term opportunity? If I were to sell ENB, I would not be in a rush and would sell on opportunity if it spiked a few dollars north of where they are today and enjoy dividend in the meantime.

Q: Good morning Peter:
Being a senior over 65 , I treat my TFSA as an extension of my RRSP.
With the market being so high and preservation of capital being important, can you give me three (3 ) dividend stocks that I can add to my TFSA for a secure retirement.
Can you also add your reason for choosing these ( 3 ) dividend stocks.
I presently have only banks in my TFSA and I have done well.
Thank You

Q: Can you recommend a natural gas producer. Prefer in Canada and does not utilize fracking to extract the gas due to the negative views and risk of laws coming in to prevent it. As well a company that refines the natural gas and another that transports it. The best in each sector unless one does all three.

Q: These stocks are held in my RRSP . Have had them for several years. Last year they were down and wondering if it's time to move on. I'm a buy and hold investor. Thanks for great service.

Q: Can some of enbridge weakness be attrituted to new technology being developed to carry bitumen from the oilsands in a safer more solid form by railcar? CN apparently has a patent on the technology? Thx

Q: In the income portfolio it lists ENB having a 1.75%dividend, I believe it is 5.4%, Can you check this out?

Q: I am considering buying ENF. I know 5I prefers ENB but my reasoning is that...
1} ENF has a higher dividend and is committed to the same 10% annual increase
2} Though ENF has shown related volatility it hasn't been as extreme as ENB
3} ENF is well off it's highs and offers a 7% yield while I wait. So I don't really see it as solely income.
My questions are
1} How if any does the debt of ENB which seems to have investors spooked effect ENF and does ENF have debt investors may or should be concerned with ?
2} ENF is issuing shares. Why should I pay a premium now rather than waiting til the shares hit the market and buying after investors digest the dilution ?
Thanks Garth

Q: I have always thought of ENB and TRP as utilities rather than energy companies, as they are involved in distribution of oil/natural gas, rather than dealing with exploration and refinement of these energy sources. Furthermore, while their revenues may have sensitivity to oil/gas prices, there is always a need for oil/gas distribution, whether energy is in a bull or bear market, which is why I have always considered the, as utility companies. I recently noticed that they are listed as energy companies by Bloomberg. For the purposes of sector allocation, is it reasonable to consider them utilities, or should I consider them purely as energy holdings?

Q: Would appreciate your recommendation on three large cap CAD equities with limited downside potential that have increasing profits and cash flow and dividends for a short term investment of 4 mo

Q: You stated in your Q&A on Enbridge that "that cash flow PER SHARE has doubled since 2010." However if I go to the Morningstar web site under Key Stats it shows that cash flow has been mostly negative for the last ten years.
The following are numbers from there site......
Free Cash Flow Per Share * CAD
2007-12 -1.28

2008-12 -3.10

2009-12 -1.78

2010-12 -0.74

2011-12 0.33

2012-12 -3.51

2013-12 -5.50

2014-12 -9.47

2015-12 -4.87

2016-12 -1.20
What am I missing? Are their numbers incorrect?

Q: Can you comment on the stability of both these investments

Q: Any comments about the recent ENB rate reset preferred issue....it seems to have a very favourable floor reset rate although the spread off 5 year Canada's does seem a little rich.
In addition, any new comments ZPR
Thanks

Q: Hi Team,
I have held a full position on both ENB and PPL for 4 years. Share price of ENB has been steadily dropping over the 1 - 2 years while PPL had held its own. I am therefore thinking of moving my money from ENB to PPL (I am therefore may be overweighed on PPL). Your thoughts and comments would be appreciated.
Cheers

Q: Please explain the difference between ENB and ENF.
Thanks for your ongoing excellent service.
Frank

Q: Six questions regarding pipelines:
(1) I understand that Enbridge finances most capital expenditures by way of debt or new equity, not retained earnings. I am thinking that this would be OK if its GAAP earnings per share are keeping pace with dividend increases and its debt service coverage is stable. Do you agree with these comments?
(2) I assume that the prospects for ENF are tied to ENB. Do you agree?
(3) Do PPL and IPL have the same policy as ENB regarding the financing of capital expenditures?
(4) Do you have preferences among ENB, IPL and PPL and, if so, why?
(5) If I am correct, ENB is mostly pipelines, PPL is mostly other midstream and IPL is somewhere in between. I have this idea that pipelines are more stable than other midstream activities. Is this simply wrong or an over-simplication?
(6) ENF, IPL and PPL represent 10% of my portfolio. Would you suggest lightening up? (I am retired and my portfolio is geared to income.)

Q: Can you recommend 5 stocks which have high growth potential, but currently undervalued or not over-valued for 3 - 5 years hold ? These stocks can be in any sector and can be Canadian or US .
Thanks

Q: Great Service Thinking of buying Enbridge or Emera for growth and dividend. What is your pick and why. Thanks

Q: Can you provide an opinion on Enbridge Preferred Series H (ENB PR.A ) shares ?

Q: I would appreciate your take on - The cracks in the Enbridge dividend story by David Milstead in the G&M dated Dec 3, 2017. Some of the key points in the article include (all CAPS from the article):

- ENBRIDGE EMPHASIZES 'AVAILABLE CASH FLOW FROM OPERATIONS' TO INVESTORS WHEN IT TALKS ABOUT THE SUSTAINABILITY OF ITS DIVIDEND. IN CALCULATING THIS MEASURE, IT IGNORES MOST OF ITS CAPITAL EXPENDITURES, DEDUCTING ONLY 'MAINTENANCE' CAPEX TO ARRIVE AT THE NUMBER. THAT HAS LEFT BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF CAPEX OUT OF THE MEASURE OVER TIME. WHEN ALL OF THE COMPANY'S CAPITAL EXPENDITURES ARE DEDUCTED FROM OPERATING CASH FLOW, ENBRIDGE POSTS NEGATIVE FREE CASH FLOW IN NEARLY EVERY YEAR. STILL, THE COMPANY PAYS DIVIDENDS — AND ISSUES DEBT, AS WELL.
- For the third quarter, Enbridge reported $360-million in maintenance capital expenditures. Total capex was $1.95-billion. Depreciation, a measure of how much of the company's property, plant and equipment was "used up" in the period, was $848-million.
- In the last 10 years, from 2007 on, it was only in 2016 that Enbridge actually posted positive free cash flow, a paltry $83-million. The 10-year total is a staggering $24.1-billion in negative free cash flow. That's before paying out $7.4-billion in dividends. Perhaps not coincidentally, the company issued almost $25.6-billion in net debt over that decade. It now has $65-billion in debt on its books, including the tens of billions it took on in the merger with Spectra Energy Corp. this year.
- https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/inside-the-market/the-cracks-in-the-enbridge-dividend-story/article37172663/

I would have expected that maintenance capex would be inline with the depreciation expense. Is Milstead highlighting one of the risks in ENB - ie., that the dividend is solid as long as the market has confidence in the Company and it can raise additional capital each year.

What mid/large-cap companies in this sector would you would recommend that have more conservative financials?

Thank you.