Investment Q&A

Q: With the recent $550mm equity offering, the shares have moved from $44 to $41.

Do you feel that BEP.un at $41 offers good value to new investors in this current market environment?

Thank you.

Q: 5i gives BEP.UN a favorable rating. But Accountability Research (AR), in a report on 12 January 2017, rated it as a SELL with a target of only $33. The AR report suggests the possibilities of conflicts of interest with BAM and fears about the high payout rate. Have you considered your rate in light of AR concerns? A detailed reply would be appreciated since I own BEP.UN and planned to purchase more.

Q: There's no "double exchange" of currency on the distributions. From the BEP website:

Distribution Currency Option

The quarterly distributions payable on the Partnership’s LP Units are declared in U.S. dollars. Beginning with the fourth quarter distribution payable December 31, 2016, unitholders resident in the United States will receive payment in U.S. dollars and unitholders resident in Canada will receive the Canadian dollar equivalent unless they request otherwise. The Canadian dollar equivalent of the quarterly distribution will be based on the Bank of Canada daily average exchange rate on the record date or, if the record date falls on a weekend or holiday, on the Bank of Canada daily average exchange rate of the preceding business day.

Registered unitholders resident in Canada who wish to receive a U.S. dollar distribution and registered unitholders resident in the United States wishing to receive the Canadian dollar distribution equivalent should contact Brookfield Renewable’s transfer agent, Computershare Trust Company of Canada, in writing at 100 University Avenue, 8th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5J 2Y1 or by phone at 1-800-564-6253. Beneficial unitholders (i.e., those holding their units in street name with their brokerage) should contact the broker with whom their units are held.

Q: Hi Your answer to me re the div on this stock was wrong the div paid to Canadian investors is converted into C$ that is a fact if you wish to hold them in the us side of your account they are converted back to US $ thus the double conversion
Stan

Q: Hi Peter &Ryan
I wished to take a position in this stock on the US side of my cash account due to the div being in US $ I was told by my trading house that although the div is in US$ it must be paid in C$ which would mean a double exchange this is in my opion absurd .
Could you explain the rational for this that Brookfield is using .
Which should be a good stock for a US div is not good due to the double exchange.
Kind Regards
Stan

Q: Thoughts on the company post bought deal?

Q: I am interested in investing in dividend growers that 5-6 years from now would be yielding in the 4 to 5% range. At that time I would change from DRIP to cash payments. Therefore I would accept a lower yield now but would grow to that range. What would you suggest?

Thank you

Paul

Q: What is a good alternative to BEP.UN? Due to the late reporting of tax information from BEP I have chosen to sell my units as I just received two $100 penalties from CRA.

Q: At the beginning of the year I had to liquidate 30% of a taxable portfolio. I managed to sell stocks that minimized my income taxes, however, as a result I sold all of my Financials, Materials, Utilities and Energy stocks. I now have 10% to add back and will be contributing another 20% sometime later this year. I do not think I will be needing these funds anytime in the next 5+ years. I am looking at taking half positions in PKI; GSY; BEP.UN and AEM. Your comments about my stock selections would be appreciated.

Q: I have stayed away from LP stocks due to worries about tax issues. Do you have any general comments on LP stocks? for example, If one holds BEP.UN on the TSX, should one purchase it in a registered or non registered account? Are there tax concerns....or is that only a problem if one purchases on the US stock exchange?

Thank you so much for your comments on this issue.

Q: Hi 5i

First a comment-it is puzzling why you get so many questions outside of the stocks on your coverage list or portfolios. With the results BE port has achieved it seems to make sense to follow your advice rather than making our own picks. Similarly if you get less questions on uncovered stocks you will have more time for the ones you recommend.

My question is I currently have about 4% in BEP.UN (42.58) which has done great. 2.5% in MDA (63.93) down 25% as I bought just before you removed from BE. 2% in HR.UN (23). And less than 1% in AVO (15.20) bought near peak so down 50%. Also own more than half of BE plus 5% AAPL and GOOGL, 4% DIS and TD.

Don't yet have SYZ,GUD,AIF,CLS,CSU,KXS,NFI,PBH, or TOY. Should I get rid of any of the stocks listed in first section? And which of the BE I don't have yet should I get soon? Have enough cash that I could add 3 and risk tolerance is high.

Thanks, Greg

Q: John Heinzl discussed MLP's recently and hinted that they are taxed unfavourably.

I hold BEP in a non registered account, can you help me understand BEP's distributions in particular the effect of ROC ?

Is this good or bad ROC ??

THANKS

Q: Regarding the recent question on Brookfield renewable, it is a TSX-listed company and the distributions are treated as Canadian rather than American for tax treatment.

Q: BROOKFIELD RENEWABLE PARTNERS L.P. is, I believe, the legal name for the Brookfield business with TSX symbol BEP.UN. Is BEP.UN a U.S. Master Limited Partnership (MLP)? An article in the May 27 Globe Report on Business discusses the risks to a Canadian investor holding U.S. MLPs, including a 39.6% withholding tax on payments to non-residents (according to the article, the tax applies to both registered & non-registered accounts). Is this applicable to BEP.UN.? Thanks for your reply. Edward.

Q: Both these companies report in USD. They are listed in NY and Toronto. Is the Toronto price basically a function of the rate of exchange?

Do these companies have a hedging strategy to protect the Canadian shareholders?

I suppose that an investor concerned about foreign exchange losses should examine the hedging strategy of any company holding assets outside Canada.

Q: Would you swap BAM for BEP ? Why, why not? Thank you.

Q: I currently own BEP.UN and BIP.UN. Thinking of adding BAM.A.
Are these companies linked in such a way, that really bad news would bring the other Brookfield stocks down?
Thanx
Saw your response on rating the order of the Brookfield stocks on the 17th. Noticed you put BAM.A ahead of all the Brookfield stocks.
What makes it better than the two I have , in your opinion.

Q: Please rate these Brookfield companies in order of you best choices for growth, valuation and risk.
Thanks,
Terry

Q: Can you rank the stocks best to worst in your opinion. These are the stock s that are in my utilities sector which is 3% of my current portfolio. Would you add, swap or remove any of them? My portfolio holdings/thoughts are very similar to your BE Portfolio.

Q: You have indicated a recent buying preference of BIP over BE. I notice that the analysts predict a 10% price reduction for BIP in 2017 but stable for BEP. Does this affect your preference?