Investment Q&A

Q: My holdings in these two companies have grown substantially even though I recently sold a bit of NPI. Given that I think the sector has a very strong future, I am loathe to sell too much even though you'd say I am still overweight the sector (13%, not including other utilities like FTS).

Does it make sense to move some of my holdings into AQN, or would you really prefer to advise me not to let the holdings in this sector get too big?

Thanks for all your help.

Q: Given your answer today about BEPC having too much of a premium, do you advice selling it and buying BEP.UN instead?

Q: Mainly follow your balanced portfolio. Should I sell AQN and buy BEP.UN . As well would you purchase Aritzia and AC today. As well give me 3 growth names for the next year.
T Steve

Q: The above holdings now represent 10% of my equity portfolio. Should I bring this back to 6-7% or should I let these run? If so,
to what extent? Thanks, Martin

Q: BEP has done well but most analysts rate it a hold now. What is your take for it moving forward?

Q: I know that you rate AQN highly, but why has this stock underperformed the others by like night and day in the last year. What is it that has held this stock back?. This has been a hot market for these stocks here in Canada and the USA.
Seasons Greetings

Q: Can you please comment on your outlook for Bep.un for 2021?Kim

Q: Hello 5i
Both BEPC and BEP.UN have grown a lot in non-registered account. Is it Okay to keep them both in this account ? Since they have grown so much I plan to trim some and I wonder which one you would recommend to trim. BEPC is majority due to splits.

Thanks for all the hard work.
I wish your team a happy holiday season.

Q: I wanted to respond to Roy's concern that the answer I received from TD Waterhouse was a "load of crap " as I believe it could cause a lot of concern among your members that they are being cheated by their online brokers. The best way to do this is with math - Lets say that in total  TD WaterHouse  held 101 shares, split with 19 clients holding 5 shares and 1 client holding 6 shares.  Their total of 101 would be rounded up to 152 shares in the 3 for 2 split and that would be what TD Waterhouse would receive from BEP.  If you look at the clients accounts separately the 19 people would be entitled to 7.5 shares - 7 physical shares and cash for the .5  and the one client with 6 shares would receive 9 shares post split  for a total of 19 X 7.5 + 9 = 151.5 share equivalent in compensation..... So if the total number of shares that the broker holds in trust is an odd number they are making at most .5 of a share - not .5 of a share on each client as Roy implied. As well its the only fair way to treat us. I would be upset if I was the guy holding 6 shares as I am getting 9 shares or 1.5X the number of shares post split whereas if the guy holding 5 shares was rounded up from 7.5 to 8 shares he is getting 1.6 X the number of original shares. Nothing looks deceptive or dishonest to me.

Q: National Bank Financial did the same thing to me. I had 85 shares and was only given 42 shares,
I have told my advisor.
What are the next steps?

Q: There have been a number of questions/comments concerning the recent 3 for 2 stock split of BEPC and BEP.UN and how fractional shares are handled. I reached out to TD Waterhouse and their response may be of interest to your members:

"When we received payment from a Split we as a Broker receive payment on our one bulk position. We do not get paid for each client individually. If the client had a physical certificate or held shares directly with the Transfer Agent in their name only than yes they would have rounded up but the company says for "Registered Holders". The shares in the clients account are registered "TD Waterhouse ITF the client" so when we get paid we get one payment for all our clients because all of our clients shares are registered the same way TD Waterhouse ITF. But the client will get some cash for the fractional shares. The CIL usually comes in about 10 bus days after the Re-Org was processed. "

I would assume the same would be true for all online brokers.

Hope this is helpful
Cheers
Scott

Q: Hello, this is in regard of Roy’s comment about the share splits of BEP.UN. I had the exact same situation with a calculated odd number of shares. In my case it has not been rounded up, so I phoned my online broker and they told me that the 0.5 missing share of BEP.UN would be paid in cash. I just check my account and an amount of $24.95 has been deposited. Gervais

Q: Holders of the above shares I would like to draw your attention to a quote from the notice of share splits . Quote “Any fractional units/shares to be issued to registered holders as a result of the unit/share splits WILL be rounded up to the nearest whole unit/share” unquote. One could quibble over the words WILL and SHALL.
If you have an even number of shares of the above , your account should show the correct number of shares after the split.
However if you have an odd number of shares you might want to check that the rounding up has been done. For example if you held 201 shares of either of the above you should now have 302.
Calculation:
201 x 1.5 = 301.5 , rounded up gives you 302 shares.
If this isn’t happening for you, you should contact your dealer. Thousands of half shares can amount to a lot of missing shares.
Roy

Q: BEP's recent share split announcement indicated, if I read it correctly, that any fractional shares resulting from the split would be rounded up to the nearest whole share. I owned, pre-split, an odd number of shares. My broker rounded down, and I think I've been cheated out of a share. Is my understanding correct and do I have grounds to go after the broker? Not a huge amount on an individual basis, but if a broker does it to hundreds or even thousands of investors . . .

Q: Hi, I’ve read your comments about BEP and BEPC. I understand a bit of correction and consolidation but a 30% drop in one day seems excessive. Surely something else must be affecting this and if not how can one possibly invest in a stock that can drop 30% in one day without a reason? I get risk but that seems absurd to me, especially for a Brookfield security.

Q: Hi,
In a recent question from Jacques about renewable energy, you respond:
We would suggest; BEP.UN, AQN, BLX, NPI
Where does FTS fit in this list?
I own BEP.UN and FTS and considering selling FTS and replace with any of the other 3. Would you agree with such a move? What would be your ranking of these 5 companies in order?
Thanks

Q: Hi group bought MLM Nov 9th so far its down 2% and not acting particularly well. Do you still like it longer term ? also bought BEP (down 6%) same time. These stocks were bought to ride on Joe Biden winning the US election with a bet on a healthy infrastructure spending. Do you still like them both seem to be laggards Thanks for you guidance on this PS they are both full positions

Q: Hi,

I have no utilities exposure at the moment. Looking or a Company with a nice yield that has part of their business in renewables since this is a trend going forward. I will also hold this name outside of my RRSP and TFSA for dividend distribution is ideal rather than other forms of return on investment. I am thinking of a 4% position given record low interest rates and the fact they MAY rise sometime in 2022 or beyond. My questions are: 1- Do you think 4% is a good weighting for the utility sector given current environment? 2- Which is your preferred name among these 3? I am leaning towards AQN for dividend level and the fact that it is paid as a dividend as well as the fact that some of the business is in renewables and they have a nice growth profile.

Thank you so much,
Jason

Q: Yesterday I sold BEPC in my RRSP as the stock had a huge run. Now I am underweight in Utilities. Is it a good idea to buy BEP.UN now as a replacement now or wait for the price to go down. Would you recommend XUT ETF instead? Currently own small position of AQN in utilities. Sincerely appreciate your opinion.

Q: Hi still hold all 4 of these stocks but would like to consolidate them, the BIP shares are in an RRSP of BEP in a non-registered account which is more income oriented. I am mainly concerned with which have more growth.
Thx
Nancy