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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: I am holding a full position (5%+) in each of ALA in a non registered account, PPL in a RRIF account, and ENF in a TFSA. I have decided that I am overexposed to the sector and
must reduce my positions. In your opinion which companies should be held for the long term and which should be sold? I also hold ALA.R in my RRIF as per your suggested opportunity, should the pending transaction be consummated.
Thank you for considering my question.
Read Answer Asked by Gail on October 10, 2017
Q: I am a retired, conservative dividend-income investor with a company pension, CPP, annuities, Fisgard Capital and the following equities:
1. 17% Mutual funds (RBC Cdn Equity Income, Sentry Cdn Income, Sentry REIT)
2. 10% ETFs (ZLB, XIT, ZWE)
3. 41% stocks (listed above)
4. 32% fixed income (annuities, Fisgard, but not including my pension nor CPP).

I plan to reduce my Sentry Cdn Income holding from 9% to 5% and purchase ZWC. The benefits would be a) saving $1k in hidden MER fees, b) receiving an extra $1k in dividends and c) a better asset allocation. I like the covered call strategy that ZWC provides, as well as the 30 companies inside the ETF.

Question = is this the right ETF product? Are there other Canadian Covered Call ETF choices that offer this diversified asset mix that I should consider? Are their other ETFs that have slightly less financials, less utilities, and more industrials that would result in a better asset allocation for me?

Thanks for your help...Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on October 05, 2017
Q: I would like to top up one of these 4 stocks and would appreciate your opinion on best buy at this time. Please rank best to worst with an explanation.
Thanks for the great advice.
Read Answer Asked by Lyle on September 28, 2017
Q: How do I purchase Altagas subscription receipts? I cannot find the proper ticker with my direct broker. Only the stock ticker for the regular stock and the privilege stocks are shown. Is there a special section of the broker to purchase the subscription receipts.

Thank you and congratulation for a great job
Read Answer Asked by Jean on September 21, 2017
Q: Hi 5i,
Just a follow up on the first part of my previous ALA question. Thank you for your response to it. I understand that according to the release you quoted, any receipt reimbursement necessary would be "plus any unpaid Dividend Equivalent Payments owing to such holders of Subscription Receipts (the "Termination Payment")." What I had in mind was the part about the reimbursement being 'in full' unless there were insufficient funds available in the cash pool for paying the reimbursement. What I was thinking was that the dividend equivalent payments issued to receipt-holders are likely being drawn from that same cash pool, so a shortfall relative to 'in full' reimbursement might be reasonably foreseeable. The unused pool may well be invested in short term instruments in the meantime but I wouldn't think that could fully offset the 6.77% yield of the receipts (on the $31 issue price). Thanks again!
Read Answer Asked by Lance on September 20, 2017
Q: Hi 5i! This is regarding Altagas (ALA); please correct me if I am mistaken in setting this out:
1. The prospect of the return of cost of the receipts in the event the WGL takeover collapses: Doesn't this really mean that receipt-holders would receive $31 minus the total of all dividend equivalent payments issued in respect of each receipt held (even if they were issued to someone else before you bought your receipts)? In that case, if the deal were to collapse after 15 monthly distributions, receipt holders would be due to receive $31 - $2.625 (i.e. minus 15 x $0.175) or net $28.375 per subscription receipt? In this situation, people holding the receipts from issue in taxable accounts would still be down the tax on the distributions, even after receiving 'reimbursement' for the cost of the receipts.

2. Do you know if ALA's management or board have given any indication of their intentions about the possibility of a dividend increase in 2017 or even any time before the closing date of the WGL transaction? Previously ALA had been raising annually. I have seen people writing as though dividend increases are off the table until Sept 2018 but I don't remember seeing an announcement from the company to that effect.

3. If Altagas' share price is down because "the market does not like the WGL transaction" or because "the market does not like uncertainty," wouldn't that suggest that if the deal falls through the share price would be likely to rise, particularly given any continuation of the recent strong quarterly report? I believe it was trading in the range of $33-35 shortly before the WGL deal was announced.
Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Lance on September 20, 2017
Q: I am thinking of putting a fairly large sum of unregistered money into Altagas just to get the dividend. I am not overly concerned about the share price unless something catastrophic happened to the company. I realize that sometimes the strongest of companies can go out of business so before committing I am wondering about the chances of something really bad happening to this company. Perhaps I am safer with a covered call etf strategy (but getting less of a dividend)? Your thoughts?
Read Answer Asked by Bradley on September 15, 2017
Q: Hi. I have a question about Altagas. When the company converts the receipts to common shares next year, investors will only benefit if ALA is higher than what a person paid for ALA.R. Recently, I found the common share price has been drifting lower and lower than the receipt. At this point, what's the benefit of buying ALA.R? Currently, ALA common shares receive a higher dividend %. I'm thinking to buy ALA or ALA.R for income. Which one should I choose, or are there any others that you would recommend? Thanks for your guidance. Have a great day.

Read Answer Asked by Esther on August 31, 2017
Q: On august 17 in answer to an ALA question, you said that a regulatory agency (?) had recommended AGAINST approval of the US acquisition. I have head nothing about this anywhere else. Can you please elaborate, tell us how important this may be for ultimate approval, and provide a link to this? I was quite surprised to hear this, given the Q2 conference call said progress on the acquisition was ahead of schedule and they expected final approval by the end of Q2.
Read Answer Asked by arnold on August 28, 2017
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