Investment Q&A

Q: hello 5i:
I'm looking at a possible upgrade for our portfolio, as almost all energy names are down (and substantially), to date. Please rank the following, best to worst, using dividend, safety and growth in that order as criteria. This is a long term hold, so > 3 years. And would ALA be a better fit in the Utilities sector than energy?
thanks
Paul L

Q: hi. im looking to add 3 names to my dividend portfolio. can you rank these names for me for best investment choice for long term play and safety.

Q: Hi Team 5i,

I have been patiently awaiting the recovery of the O&G sector. I am under water on the list of 9 stocks listed. I have been patient and have harvested dividends and DRIPed in the meantime (bank brokerage DRIPing). But with the current US admin and shift to renewable energy sources, I am concerned that the recovery may be a long time (decades ?) away. My question is ... if I chose to sell a few of the above stocks, which do you think might be the poorist performers given the current energy environment and therefore could have the longest time to recover).

Q: I owned these stocks.I would like to know the potential in the next 6 months ?

Q: Team,
Just like your thoughts on the listed stocks and which you would add ( in some order of preference) to an existing portfolio skewed to secure dividends and modest growth with a target 7-8% combined dividend and growth. Conversely is any one a definite NO.
Thx

Q: I am overweight Financials and am considering reducing my weight and re-investing the funds in either ALA or ENF. What are your thoughts between ENF or ALA ?

Q: Hi Peter &Ryan
I held ipl in a reg account for many years and now appears to be range bound .my thoughts are to exit the position and move on .
Any thoughts for a replacement?
Kind regards
Stan

Q: I have had Altagas for over 4 years. I would like your opinion, should I sell or look for something better and if so what do you suggest.

In my US portfolio I have four stocks of which 22% are GE, would this be a good time to add more GE

Q: Sold ALA at a lost and DHX with a gain to minimize my capital gain, with the intention to repurchase ALA 30 days later in my none registered account. Now, I am debating if I should purchase SPB or VSN instead. They all give a good dividend yield. Already have IPL in my TSFA and KEY in my wife TSFA. Your comments plse.

Q: Hi 5i
I'm interested in adding Altagas to my portfolio. I curently have 15 stocks which range from 4 to 8%....(AGU-BEP.UN-CAR.UN-CGX-CSU-KWH.UN-ENF-FTS-IPL-STN-SLF-T-TD-VET-WSP). This is a registered dividend/income account (rrsp). I would appreciate your view on either replacing a weak stock in this account or just adding to it. If you can think of a better stock than ALA i'm open for suggestions. Thanks Gilles

Q: Hello Peter, I have full positions in FTS, BIP and EMA, and a long-held triple position in BAM. With some new money, I'm tempted by ALA for its good yield and steadiness. Do you think this is too much duplication (considering the fact that I probably already own too many individual stocks, probably 60-70 if I include my RRSP, TFSA and non-registered). Or is the excellent yield enough to justify the addition.

Q: Which of these two do u suggest

Q: This is in response to your answer to Stan(1) in regards to dividend income and DRIP plans.
I agree that taxable Canadian dividend income does not reduce the A.C.B. of the stock shares held, but then neither does the market value of the shares received under a DRIP. In fact the value of the shares at the time of the dividend payment is added to the A.C.B of your share holdings at the same time that you are credited with the additional shares. For reduce of A.C.B., are you not referring to "Return of Capital" which would be noted on the Corporate website under dividends/distributions and can be found in the appropriate box on your T5/T3 supplementary slips received each year.
R.

Q: I often see posts about members saying they are down on ALA-tsx or some other dividend paying company and wonder if they should sell (nearsightedness).

I offer my approach for consideration.

I own ALA and every months when I receive a dividend payment my ACB is lowered. It is like getting some of my original $$ back.

The present dividend yield is 6.7% annually, paid monthly at $0.175/month.

So every month my cost basis is lowering. This is great in a non-taxable account such as a TFSA or RSP (also good in a taxable account).

Eventually I will have 100% of my original, out-of-pocket $$$ returned to me.

At that point in time, lets say we got to a $0.00 ACB for example purposes, then no matter the price of the stock and any dividend I receive the return is incalculable. This is because a dividend of say, $1.00 is an infinite return on a ACB of $0.00.

What % return is Warren Buffet getting on his long held KO, Coke shares? I suspect he is near the infinite, incalculable figure = pure 100% profit. Or is it 100,000,000%... percent profit?
--------------------------------------------

Example (with made up #'s):

ALA bought at $30.00/share.
Get 6 dividends totalling $1.05 ($01.175*6 = $1.05).
New ACB: $30.00 - $1.05 = $28.95.

** So if ALA is at $29.00 now the investor is still up $ 0.05/share ($29.00 - $28.95).
But in a taxable account the investor on paper is down $1.00 ($30.00 - $29.00) so they could sell @ $29.00 and declare a capital loss even though they have a gain in reality.

This is 1 way the long term investor get richer and richer without getting out of bed.

Hope this is clear and helpful to some one.

It is like with real estate income property in that once you have your original down payment returned all future incomes are 100% profit (minus normal expenses like hydro, insurance..).

Have a great and prosperous day/year.

PS. The other 2 great things I have learned over the years:
1. To not listen to the media, financial tv shows....
2. Once a person knows how basic Options & Shorting works they can make $$$ in any market (up/down/sideways) easily.

Q: I am down on both companies 25% each and would like to switch to MX. Which one should I sell or trim both? My objective is growth.

Q: would you sell ala to buy mx. thanks donald

Q: I am trying to run a slightly more concentrated portfolio. There are currently 37 individual equity positions; 4 equity ETFs (VIG, IWO, XGD, ZRE); and 4 bond ETFs. Within the utility sector there are 5 positions, each at ~2% (BIP.UN, BEP.UN, FTS, ALA, PPL). I would like to cull either ALA or PPL. I am leaning towards selling PPL, as ALA looks to have a better 5 yr dividend growth rate and appears to have more of a focus on renewable energy. Any input would be most appreciated. Thank-you.

Q: good morning.
I own ala shares and just wondering if you would probally switch to ala.r. What happens if deal does not go through and in this case would ala.r be safer? Trying to find the analysis you did on
ala and receipts but cannot find.
can you tell me where I can find.
thanks and keep up great work

Q: Would you please comment on the purchase of Alta Gas Subscription Receipts.
Thanks,
Bill

Q: Good Morning
My average cost on ALA is $38.00 and the weight around 2%. I have two questions:
1. Would you recommend that I average down at the current stock price.
2. If so, should I be buying ALA or ALA.r (receipts)
Thank you