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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 looking at investing some funds into real estate and do not find any questions re net.un. Was wondering if you could provide a comparison on the three listed as to which may be preferable for a conservative income focused investor. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Betty on August 15, 2022
Q: For income and some safety, do you see anything not to like about these four REITs?

Thanks as always.
Read Answer Asked by Dan on July 20, 2022
Q: I might be finding out I'm less comfortable with volatility than I thought I was <g>. Or am I losing sight of longer-term trends and overreacting to isolated daily extremes?
Two of my holdings are down quite a bit more today than the general market and my other (mostly relatively conservative? - communications/banks/utilities) holdings.
Anything going on sector-related (CT REIT down almost 5%) or company-specific (Atco / utilities down over 3%)? None of my other utility holdings are nearly this bad today.
Read Answer Asked by Lotar on December 01, 2021
Q: CRT.UN is my only real estate exposure in my current unregistered portfolio (5% of the unregistered, 1.8% of the total, portfolios). Exploring replacing that with BAM.A (which you answered for me a few weeks ago, not part of this question) or with NWH.UN.
Re: CRT -- pro: better debt level than NWH (?); con: I already have similar exposure to CTC
Re: NWH -- pro: I currently have no other health care exposure (except the tiny portion of Telus); slightly better global diversification; higher dividend; con: higher debt; no historic dividend increases
Any other considerations? What are your thoughts on this potential swap?
Thanks again for all your comments and service.
Read Answer Asked by Lotar on May 03, 2021
Q: In my unregistered account (focus on low-debt, low volatility, dividend payers, and about 1/3 of total portfolio) my only real estate exposure is CRT.UN (5% of account, 1.8% of total portfolio). I have similar level of investment in CTC.
Would it make sense to replace CRT.UN with BAM.A, realizing that BAM would have much more than real estate (I have quite a bit of other renewable power elsewhere) and I'd be giving up around 3% dividends in the move.
Or a different REIT?
Time horizon 5 - 7 years.
Thanks for all your advice & guidance.
Read Answer Asked by Lotar on April 05, 2021
Q: I am considering the above 7 REITs and would like to concentrate on the best 4-5 for long term in RRSP; based on current value and growth potential. I am concerned that CRT is trading at too high a valuation (P/B higher than others). Could you please tell us where each of the 7 REITs are trading, relative to their NAV (for example DIR's may be trading at a 10-per-cent discount to NAV). Can you please rank all 7 REITs? Thank you!!
PS: Is it hard to calculate trading price relative to NAV?
Read Answer Asked by Grant on February 12, 2021
Q: I am looking at putting together a portfolio of set-&-forget Canadian dividend-paying stocks, in what will be my only unregistered account, making up about 30% of our overall portfolio. The registered accounts (70% of portfolio) are now all in mixes of VGRO, VBAL and XAW.
My emphasis is on stable large cap companies, with a sprinkling of smaller cap, low beta, decent and growing dividends. I expect to draw down the capital at 6 - 7% per year (in addition to the dividends). Beyond the drawdown, capital preservation is secondary to the income.
What are your thoughts on the following mix? Additions/deletions?
Communication: BCE, T
Consumer Discretionary: CTC.A, LNF
Consumer Staples: NWC, PBH
Financials: BNS, TD, SLF
Industrials: SIS
Materials: SJ
Real Estate: CRT.UN
Energy & Utilities: ENB, AQN, FTS, ACO.X, BEP.UN (or BEPC)
My other thought is 100% CDZ but I'm not very impressed with the historical returns and the (relatively) high MER.
Thanks. Lotar.
Read Answer Asked by Lotar on January 26, 2021
Q: A number of Canadian REITs are spinoffs of the properties of big Canadian companies. How do I, as a potential REIT investor, have confidence that the bigger parent (i.e. Magna, Loblaws, Canadian Tire etc.) will not strong-arm the REIT when it comes to rent negotiations etc. ?
Read Answer Asked by Kevin on September 08, 2020
Q: I'm looking to add some REITs to my portfolio. Could you comment on the following REITs? Would you suggest holding all 4 as they have different holdings? If not, could you provide a ranking of your selections?
Read Answer Asked by Richard on June 02, 2020
Q: Hello 5i Team
I am comparing the retail REITs and the two distinct groupings in the sector:
Group 1 - REITs majority owned by parent operating company and the majority source of the REIT's income. These would be Choice Properties REIT (CHP.UN), Crombie REIT (CRR.UN) and CT REIT (CRT.UN).
Group 2 - REITS with a large diverse portfolio. These would be First Capital REIT (FCR.UN), Riocan REIT (REI.UN) and SmartCentres REIT (SRU.UN).
The questions I have are:
1 - What would be your ranking of the REITs in Group 1 and your ranking of the REITs in Group 2?
2 - Which is the better Group to select from Group 1 or Group 2?
3 - Any other retail oriented REITs I should be looking at?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on May 08, 2020
Q: Could you compare the debt levels, payout/dividend sustainability and future direction of these two reits. I have held CRT for a bit over a year and done much better than expected, but wonder if I should just take my gains and move on. I'm looking at CRR, which seems to be more diverse (good or bad?) and has a bit of movement into residential, as well as a higher dividend. The CRR price is down at the moment with the new issue. CRT is my only retail reit. It is not a large position, and is held in a non-taxable account.
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by grant on January 27, 2020
Q: Hi,
I'm looking for income and hopefully a little growth as well. I currently own GRT/UN.TO, CAR/UN.TO and have some of DRG/UN.TO from before the buyout. Would you be able to rate these choices in order of preference? What % weight would you recommend for this sector at the moment, and do you foresee that weighting being changed as we head into Q1 next year? These will be held in a cash account, so should I be considering the potential tax implications? Deduct as many credits as you need. Thanks for all your hard work,
Dawn

Read Answer Asked by Dawn on December 05, 2019