investment trusts

Every Monday we feature “A Stock to Sell” as our daily post. With every stock or investment we recommend as a sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in it at this time.

Arafura Resources $0.05 (symbol ARU on the Australian exchange; www.arultd.com), is an Australian firm with a rare earth property in the country’s Northern Territory.

Rare earth elements are a group of metals with unique characteristics. They are fairly common in the Earth’s crust, but due to their geochemical properties, these elements are usually dispersed and not routinely found concentrated as minerals in economically exploitable ore deposits. Thus the name “rare earth.”

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Every Monday we feature “A Stock to Sell” as our daily post. With every stock we recommend as a sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in the stock at this time. Adidas AG (ADR) (symbol ADDYY on the U.S. over-the-counter market; www.adidas.com) together with its subsidiaries, develops, makes and markets athletic equipment and clothing worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Wholesale, Retail, TaylorMade-Adidas Golf Company, Rockport, Reebok-CCM Hockey and Other Centrally Managed Brands....

Altus Group, $20.20, symbol AIF on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 29.1 million; Market cap: $587.8 million; www.altusgroup.com), provides consulting services and software for the commercial real estate industry. The company has five divisions: ARGUS Software; Research, Valuation and Advisory; Property Tax Consulting; Cost Consulting and Project Management; and Geomatics. ARGUS, a leading provider of real estate valuation software, is a recent acquisition. Altus has about 2,200 employees around the world, including in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. Clients include financial institutions, private and public investment funds, insurance companies, accounting firms, real estate investment trusts, health care organizations, private investors, oil and gas companies and real estate developers....

ISHARES CDN REIT SECTOR INDEX FUND $16.64 (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds the 15 Canadian real estate investment trusts in the S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index.

iShares CDN REIT’s expenses are 0.60% of its assets. The fund yields 5.0%.

The ETF’s largest holding is RioCan REIT at 19.3%, followed by H&R REIT (14.7%), Canadian REIT (7.8%), Dream Office REIT (7.0%), Calloway REIT (6.4%), Boardwalk REIT (6.3%), Canadian Apartment REIT (6.2%), Allied Properties REIT (5.8%), Cominar REIT (5.4%), Artis REIT (5.0%), Chartwell REIT (4.6%), Granite REIT (4.5%), Crombie REIT (2.4%), Northern Property REIT (2.2%) and Dream Global REIT (2.1%).

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ISHARES CDN REIT SECTOR INDEX FUND $16.64 (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds the 15 Canadian real estate investment trusts in the S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index. iShares CDN REIT’s expenses are 0.60% of its assets. The fund yields 5.0%. The ETF’s largest holding is RioCan REIT at 19.3%, followed by H&R REIT (14.7%), Canadian REIT (7.8%), Dream Office REIT (7.0%), Calloway REIT (6.4%), Boardwalk REIT (6.3%), Canadian Apartment REIT (6.2%), Allied Properties REIT (5.8%), Cominar REIT (5.4%), Artis REIT (5.0%), Chartwell REIT (4.6%), Granite REIT (4.5%), Crombie REIT (2.4%), Northern Property REIT (2.2%) and Dream Global REIT (2.1%)....

ISHARES CDN REIT SECTOR INDEX FUND $16.48 (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds the 15 Canadian real estate investment trusts in the S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index. The weight of each REIT is limited to 25% of the ETF’s value.

iShares CDN REIT’s expenses are 0.60% of its assets. The fund yields 4.9%.

The ETF’s largest holding is RioCan REIT at 19.9%, followed by H&R REIT (15.1%), Canadian REIT (7.5%), Dream Office REIT (7.2%), Calloway REIT (6.6%), Canadian Apartment REIT (6.0%), Boardwalk REIT (6.0%), Allied Properties REIT (5.8%), Cominar REIT (5.3%), Artis REIT (4.8%), Chartwell REIT (4.5%), Granite REIT (4.5%), Crombie REIT (2.3%), Dream Global REIT (2.2%) and Northern Property REIT (2.1%).

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ISHARES CDN REIT SECTOR INDEX FUND $16.48 (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds the 15 Canadian real estate investment trusts in the S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index. The weight of each REIT is limited to 25% of the ETF’s value.

iShares CDN REIT’s expenses are 0.60% of its assets....

Flaherty & Crumrine Investment Grade Fixed Income Fund, $12.36, symbol FFI.UN on Toronto (Units outstanding: 9.1 million; Market cap: $112.5 million; www.bromptongroup.com), mainly holds preferred shares of U.S. companies. Firms in the banking, insurance, utilities and financial services industries make up a combined 87.7% of the fund’s portfolio. Corporate bonds comprise 6.9%, and the remaining 5.4% is cash. The fund’s MER is 1.0%. The fund is hedged against movements of the U.S. dollar against the Canadian dollar. Its value rises and falls solely with the stocks in its portfolio, so it would not give you U.S. dollar exposure. However, hedging costs money, and we feel these outlays are wasted. They can cut the fund’s volatility from one year to the next, but they won’t add to its performance. In addition, we see U.S. dollar exposure as a plus—a valuable form of diversification....

RioCan, along with other real estate investment trusts (REITs), faces several challenges that are beyond its control. For example, interest rates will likely rise in the next few years, making bonds more appealing to income-seekers and hurting REITs. Meanwhile, rising online competition has forced retailers that sell books, music and electronics to close stores.

However, RioCan is taking steps to continue prospering....

ISHARES CDN REIT SECTOR INDEX FUND $15.52 (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds the 15 Canadian real estate investment trusts in the S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index. The weight of each REIT is limited to 25% of the ETF’s value.zxc iShares CDN REIT’s expenses are 0.60% of its assets....