Investment Q&A

Q: Further to my question of August 24, John Heinzl of the Globe mentioned if you were exchanging BIPC for BIP.UN, you would lose money because BIPC is worth more. In your answer you have mentioned it was somewhere in the neighbourhood of $8.00. The reason is by making the exchange which is in my TFSA with an adviser which has limited yearly trades and then after that, trades become over $50 per trade. That way, the exchange would cost me nothing and I would have one lump sum of BIP.UN which would cost me 1 trade and I would take the cash out of my TFSA and I would buy BIPC in my online non-registered account with another institution for $9.99. Would I be losing the $8.00 (or somewhere in that area) per share by doing this, OR if, for example, I had $9,000.00 worth of BIPC shares which became BIP.UN in the transaction, would I get $9,000.00 worth of BIP.UN shares? I am just concerned I am clear on this. Thanks Dennis

Q: Good morning, Portfolio Analytics suggests we (as elderly seniors) lower our Utility holdings by 6.32%. Currently, we have:
AQN 3.9 %, BEPC 3.5%, BIP.UN 4.6%, H 2.2%, SPB 1.8%. Firstly is there a holding I could eliminate? If not should I just lower the larger percentages? All are in RRIFs.
Second suggestion from Analytics is to lower telecom by 3.54%. Currently have BCE 4.2%, T 3.5% and GOOG 4.2%. T and BCE are in RRIFs. GOOG is in an unregistered account. I have always looked at GOOG as technology sector. Any comments. Thanks for your expertise.
Ted

Q: TD Waterhouse has BIP as a buy. It uses two valuation metrics. EV/EBITDA and P/FFO. Which is better in your opinion. Why don’t they use P/E. Final question, is there another company I could use to compare against?
Thanks.

Q: Can you please comment on this company's recently announced earnings and do you see it as a good long term hold? This stock is approximately 4% of my overall holdings. Thank you.

Q: Hello 5i. Please list the best Brookfield Groups in order of preference for growth in a TFSA.

Thanks
Dave

Q: Hi folks
Today the 28th Arnold asked if shares of Bip.un will drop and you said yes by 20 to 25 percent. Should I sell my shares today and buy back after the drop? When do you expect the drop? All within my RRIF..
Thankyou

Q: Hi folks
I own all 3 in my RRIF. I'm confused with the split for BEP.UN coming on the 26th. Should I switch BEP.UN to BEPC now? Or do nothing. should I switch my BIP TO BIPC? are the Cs better?
Much thanks as always

Q: I am thinking of selling BIF.un and either buying more BEP.un but also wonder if I should be looking at materials exposure in consideration of an increase in infrastructure spending in Canada and the U.S. What materials would you suggest? In materials I do have 10% in gold stocks.
Also would AQN be on your buy list at this time.. Thank you.

Q: I have a small position in Bip.un and want to put more money into infrastructure. would you suggest now or later ? could you give me 2 names in ea country . Is there an ETF that would be better? (take more credits to give a complete answer.). Thanks for your work. Helen

Q: I have 3.0 % in BIP.UN.CA and .73 % of BIPC.T. Wondering if I should have a position in both. Both are held in a Registered fund. No tax issues. Your comments.

Q: Have you compared BIP.UN and BEP.UN before?
I hold BIP.UN and see that you recommend BEP.UN in your income model portfolio.
Thanks, Gary

Q: Hi. I would characterize myself as an income investor, but like many others am also trying to position myself for "conservative growth".

I currently hold 3% positions each in BIP, FTS, BEP and a 3.5% position in CPX. I also have a 4% position in ENB (I see it as a pseudo utility/energy).

I'm down about 5% on FTS and BEP, even on BIP and up 15% on CPX.

I'm thinking of selling FTS at a tax loss and picking up AQN for the higher dividend and what I see as better potential for growth.

I may consider adding FTS back in at a later date. What do you think of this strategy, or would I be better to leave things as is? Do you see BIP, BEP, AQN and CPX as having better growth potential in the next 1-3 years? What would be your recommendations given this mix of holdings?

Thank-you in advance.

Q: Continuing our discussion on these two companies BIPC trades at a much lower PE 12.4 versus 170.8, had lower P/B 1.4 versus 2.5 and also has higher momentum short term- doesn’t this make for a compelling buy for BIPC versus BIP.UN. Very confusing situation created by Brookfield.

Q: I owned shares in Enercare which was taken over by Brookfield. I still hold the units that were exchanged for the shares. BROOKFIELD INFRASTRUCTURE PARTNERS EXCHANGE LP EXCHNGBLE LP UNITS.
If I exchange it will trigger a capital gain. In the meantime, the dividends are still being paid.
Is there any downside to keeping these units and not exchanging them?

Q: Further to my previous question on this topic I’m Attaching report claiming these two stocks do indeed own different assets

I’m wary of holding BIPC because the new corporation only owns a small subset of the partnership’s global infrastructure assets. Is this a concern?
It’s true that BIPC directly owns only natural gas transmission assets in Brazil and regulated utility operations in the United Kingdom. However, the fact that BIPC shares are exchangeable into BIP.UN units and both will pay the same dividend/distribution means BIPC investors are getting access, albeit indirectly, to the complete global portfolio of infrastructure assets including railways, ports, toll roads, pipelines, communications towers and data centres. It also means that BIP.UN units and BIPC shares should track each other closely in price, which has been the case so far. (My note: NOT TRUE)
“In order to effectuate the stock split, we were required to transfer assets to BIPC since it’s a separate reporting issuer/listed entity,” Ms. Low said.
“The assets we chose to transfer (being the gas transmission system in Brazil and regulated distribution operations in the U.K.) were selected as they were relatively easy to transfer considering regulatory, legal, financial and tax implications,” she said.
“So while BIP LP and BIPC do hold different assets, investors should be indifferent as BIP LP and BIPC should be considered one entity, which collectively share the same assets, returns and management.”
Full disclosure: The author owns BIP.UN and BIPC personally and in his model Yield Hog Dividend Growth Portfolio

Q: The gap between these two tickers seems to continue to widen.

BIP.UN yields over 4.5% and BIPC 3.9%. Even with the dividend tax credit, the aftertax dividend cash flow is much high from BIP.UN. Am I going crazy? I have been wanting to step in here for a long time (definitely miss the "boat to a certain extent) but why wouldn't I invest in BIP.UN?

Q: I was under the impression both shares held the same assets and differed only in structure- Corp versus trust. Now I heard BIPC only owns Nat gas transmission in Brazil and regulated utility in UK. Can you please confirm if this is correct. If it is what is NAV of both shares.
Thanks for your service.
Steve

Q: Hello. When calculating 5 and 10 year returns including dividend reinvested, BIP.UN has been doing better than BAM.A. In the last 3 years however, performance is the opposite. If I'm buying either one for my RRSP account, which one would you prefer in the long run? Thanks

Q: I have full positions in the above except KXS and REAL. For available cash is there a stock that you like and would consider adding to this portfolio .

Q: In response to a recent question on BIP.UN, you mentioned it is best in a RRSP or non-registered rather than a TFSA. Is that the same with BAM.A:CA and BRF.PR.E:CA as well? Is the RRSP the best account tax wise? I understand this is true for all US Dividend paying stocks and US Reits, but is it also the same for any TSX listed stocks that make income outside of Canada? Then for TFSA accounts, are they best for Canadian and US growth Stocks, and Canadian Reits?
Thank you!