asset management
Slate Retail REIT, $13.97, symbol SRT.UN on Toronto (Units outstanding: 35.4 million; Market cap: $459.9 million; www.slateretailreit.com), owns 66 retail malls in 20 U.S. states. In all, those properties contain 7.7 million square feet. Slate’s overall occupancy rate was a high 94.4% as of March 31, 2016. The REIT took its current form on April 15, 2014. That’s when Slate Asset Management L.P. reorganized its publicly traded operations. This firm owns 6.7% of Slate Retail and manages the REIT....
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) give you a low-cost, flexible alternative to mutual funds. Here are five ETFs we recommend and one to sell.
ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX ETF $20.09 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) is a good low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSX. The units are made up of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index—the 60 largest, most heavily traded stocks on the exchange. Expenses are just 0.18% of assets, and it yields 2.9%. The index mostly consists of high-quality companies. However, it must ensure that all sectors are represented, so it holds a few we wouldn’t include. The index’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 8.6%; TD Bank, 7.7%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.9%; CN Railway, 4.6%; Suncor Energy, 4.4%; Bank of Montreal, 3.9%; BCE, 3.8%; Enbridge, 3.6%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.1%; CIBC, 3.0%; and Brookfield Asset Management, 2.8%....
These six ETFs hold mostly blue chip, widely traded stocks on Canadian and U.S. exchanges. All of them mirror, or track, the performance of major stock market indexes. That’s opposed to narrower indexes focused on, say, resources or themes such as solar power or biotech. Of course, you pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell these ETFs. But their low management fees give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds. Below we update our advice on all six—five buys and one we don’t recommend....
WAL-MART STORES INC., $69.06, New York symbol WMT, has successfully defeated a new law in Puerto Rico that would have tripled the tax bill for companies with local yearly revenue of $2.75 billion or higher. Wal-Mart operates 48 retail stores on the island. It is the only company that would have been affected by the law. A federal judge has now struck down the tax plan. Wal-Mart will still go ahead and shut down seven of its Puerto Rico stores. That’s part of the previously announced closure of 269 underperforming locations. Worldwide, the retailer has over 11,500 outlets....
Blackstone Group LP, $26.06, symbol BX on New York (Shares outstanding: 558.4 million; Market cap: $16.0 billion; www.blackstone.com), is a global alternative asset manager and provider of financial advisory services. The company’s alternative asset management businesses include managing corporate private equity funds, real estate opportunity funds, hedge funds, mezzanine funds, senior debt funds and closed-end mutual funds. Mezzanine financing is a mixture of debt and equity financing that private companies use to fund expansion. Mezzanine debt gives the lender the right to convert the debt to equity if the borrower defaults. It typically entails less due diligence by the lender, and the borrower puts up little or no collateral....
ING Group NV (ADR), $11.70, symbol ING on New York (ADRs outstanding: 3.9 billion; Market cap: $44.2 billion; www.ing.com), is a global financial institution that offers banking, insurance and asset management to approximately 75 million clients in Europe, the U.S., Latin America, Asia and Australia. The bank is in the final stages of selling off its insurance businesses. This is part of a broad restructuring effort that ING began after it received a Dutch government bailout during the 2008 financial crisis. Last year, ING sold its remaining shares in U.S. insurer Voya Financial. It still has a stake of around 14% in Dutch insurer NN Group NV. ING’s outlook is positive, especially in its core Dutch market. The Dutch economy is improving following a lengthy crisis in 2012 and 2013—the housing market is up and disposable incomes are rising....
Brookfield Asset Management, $41.21, symbol BAM.A on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 981.1 million; Market cap: $40.2 billion; www.brookfield.com), is a holding company with a focus on real estate, infrastructure and power generation....
Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are set up to mirror the performance of a stock market index or sub-index. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings that go into the calculation of the index or sub-index. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. That’s different from mutual funds, which you can only buy at the end of the day at a price that reflects the fund’s value at the close of trading. Prices of ETFs are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell them, but their low management fees give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds....
Our look at Brookfield Property Partners, a growth stock with worldwide properties, a high dividend yield and big plans for more growth.