Investment Q&A

Q: Looks like you can get everything in this 1 stock. Utilities, Railways, toll roads, pipelines, data centres, ports, communication towers and so on.
How would you value this for a long time purchase, i definitely want to avoid another AQN.
I have their debt to cashflow at around 4.6 x ( net debt 4.16 B ) ( Cash from OP 0.893B)
In your deep dive do you see any alarm bells ? and at what price would you see it as attractive?
Thanks Gord

Q: Year-end results were published this morning. FFO was up substantially which Net Earnings were down considerably. Would you provide your Comments on this and how these results should be interpreted?

Also, would you please explain what the differences are between these two companies & why there is not just one stock?

Thank you.

Q: In order, what are your top 4 Canadian utility holdings for growth, moderate risk and dividends >3%? Five-year time frame. Thank you.

Q: Hello All,

Is it possible to rank my list of utility companies sorting via most financially vulnerable therefore most likely to underperform because of the increased cost of financing. i.e worst to best please.

Is that a blunt but reasonable filter?

Could it be that the "worst" companies have been so badly beaten up that they may be worth adding to for the long haul?


Many thanks

Q: I must progressively restructurate a non-registrated portfolio, recovered in early 2022 for self-managing... Here are the percentage of each stock vs all portfolio, and also indications (+/-) if they are at a profit or at a loss on paper. stocks at profit are: BIP.UN (8% of portfolio), CM 5%, DIR. UN 3%, BIPC 1%, BCE 5%, ENB 2%, SGR.UN 1,5%. Stocks at a loss are: BN.PF.D (5% pf portfolio), TRP 1.5%, VET 1.2%.
My objectives are in order: stability, dividends, and some growth if possible.
Some stocks represent a probably too high percentage of the portfolio, I would not sell them “only to rebalance the portfolio” if they are still safe (to avoid non necessary capital gain tax), but I shall sell if they represent a risk. On the other hand, I would not sell stocks with a loss if they respond to my objectives.
I have already balanced a good part of this portfolio with ETF and a selection of stable dividend stocks. Those are the remaining stocks from the original portfolio..
Please give me suggestions for each stock according to objectives as : keep, sell, or sell partly. All of your comments are always greatly appreciated.

Q: I am a 76 year old income investor. 3% of my portfolio is held in BIP, BIPC and BEP. I just sold my CU for my RRIF withdrawal. I now have about $40,000 with which to invest in our TFSA accounts. Analytics shows I need 5% more of healthcare, industrials and technology. I am thinking of adding BIPC.TO. and/or CPX to replace the CU. Please provide other income ideas.
Thank you
Stanley

Q: BEPC is down 18.54% and BIPC is down only 7.73% over the past year. This is quite a difference given that they are both utilities. Can you tell me the difference between them in terms of what they invest in, safety, and expected growth? If you were to add to one, which one would it be, if any?
thanks

Q: The spread in price between BIPC and BIP.UN has continued to widen to over 30% now. Do you think it is likely that Brookfield will convert more BIP.UN shares to BIPC at some point? It seems like this would be in their best interests if there is not tax or other issues preventing it from happening.

Q: I hold shares in BN, BAM, BIPC and BEPC. I am now underwater with BIPC, which I have held for its generous dividend. Given BN seems to be struggling even more than BIPC for shareholder love, would you suggest selling BIPC for a small tax loss and replacing it with BN? Looking for a 3% dividend with some growth. Thank you.

Q: What are your thoughts on BIPC as a long term hold? It fits my portfolio and what about adding more? For whatever reason, Brookfield in general is not getting much love. Should we be concerned, in your estimation?

Thanks

Q: 11:23 AM 12/13/2022
It seems that the Brookfields are nothing but trouble from a taxable perspective and the new withholding tax may make it worse. The brokers will naturally take the withholding tax and it will be a fight to try to claim it back.

My question however is about the exchangeability of BEP.UN and BIP.UN into BEPC and BIPC. Can these exchanges still be made?

If I get my broker to do the exchanges does this become a taxable capital gains event? If so it is prohibitive for us as we have huge capital gains in both BEP.UN and BIP.UN which would prohibit the exchange.

Any suggestions on what to do?

Thank you......... Paul W. K.

Q: I hold both of these and I realize it's difficult to compare an ETF to a single stock I was thinking of selling one and putting it in the other. My thought process was once the war is over the Ukraine will need a lot of help in therefore the ETF. Considering my age being 73 what would you suggest
.

Q: Somewhat unexpectedly, I will need to raise about $200,000 in the next few months. I'm trying to think through my options and would like your perspective. I can think of three approaches, perhaps there are more. I'm near retirement but employment is secure and there is no compelling reason to retire. I own a home in Toronto that has a small remaining mortgage (less than 10% of market value). No other debts.
1. sell stocks in a non-reg account to raise the funds. Assume a mix of stocks in the red and in the black so there would be little net tax consequence. Plan to replenish the account over 5 or 6 years.
2. borrow the funds and plan to pay off the loan over the same 5 or 6 years.
3. sell stocks as in #1, but then also borrow the same amount to replenish the sold stocks over a shorter period of time, say 6 to 12 months through calendar 2023, legging in to dollar cost average. Pay off the borrowed funds over 5 or 6 years. Interest expense on the borrowed funds in this case would be tax deductible.
Part of the decision relates to expected interest rates over the timeframe and the shape of the (expected) recovery. If we assume 4 to 6% average interest rate over the life of the loan but a more significant bounce in equity markets, then option 3 makes sense. But I am not sure I've considered everything, including risk.
If you think option 3 makes sense, could you suggest 5 - 10 lower-risk stocks (dividend growth / growth) with the noted timeframe in mind. Many thanks and take as many credits as needed.

Q: I note in a recent reply, you suggested the anticipated growth rate in 2023 for AQN was 19%, while BIPC was -12%. This being the case, would you suggest I sell BIPC (with a small capital loss) and purchase AQN?

Q: Hello,
Which of the Brookfield companies quality for the dividend tax credit?
Also, which Canadian dividend ETF’s also quality for the dividend tax credit you would recommend?
Thanks for your great service.

Q: I am trying build a list of buy and forget core stocks for each sector. I hold the following utilities in various accounts: FTS, BIPC, BEPC, AQN, NEE, BLX, NPI. Can you please rank these for safety and also for growth. I hold BLX in a corp account because it has the lowest yield - do you see BLX as a long term buy and forget stock? Thanks.

Q: Hi Peter

In the latest update to the income portfolio, the entire position in TCL has been sold to invest the capital in other quality names.

Is it possible to let us know some of the names you have in mind for deploying this capital?

Q: What is the main difference between the dividend of BIPC and BIP.UN? Is it that the BIPC dividend is an eligible dividend, therefore qualifies for the dividend tax credit, and the dividend from BIP.UN comes to the unitholder as regular income?

Q: I own a mixture of these in both my RIF and non registered accounts and wish to consolidate them so as to only own one of each. Capital gains and tax need not to be considered. Which version of these 2 companies would you have in each of my two accounts ? Thanks.
Derek

Q: Hi Folks,
I currently hold FTS and AQN in my non registered account. I would like to add one more utility company, I am looking at BIPC and BEPC - which one would you recommend at this time. Appreciate your comments.
Thanks