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BELL ALIANT INC. $27.01 (Toronto symbol BA: Shares outstanding: 227.8 million; Market cap: $6.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Yield: 7.0%; www.aliant.ca) provides telephone services in Atlantic Canada, as well as rural parts of Ontario and Quebec. BCE Inc. owns 44.1% of Bell Aliant. Bell Aliant converted from an income trust on January 1, 2011. The conversion forces Bell Aliant to pay income taxes. In response, the company changed the rate and frequency of its payout, starting in March 2011. The company now pays quarterly dividends of $0.475 a share. The new annual rate of $1.90 (down from $2.90) now yields 7.0%. That’s still a high payout for a dividend paying stock and high as well compared to similar telephone utilities. As well, investors who hold Bell Aliant outside an RRSP benefit from the dividend tax credit....

Tonight at 6 p.m., we’ll issue 2 urgent “sell” recommendations in our Successful Investor Email/Telephone Hotlines. If you’re holding these 2 companies, we think it’s crucial that you sell them immediately to take profits—and avoid the potential for big losses—in your investment portfolio. Read on to learn how you can be among the first to get full details on these stocks with no cost and no obligation.

3 stock investment tips for deciding when to sell

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When investing for our portfolio-management clients, we rarely put much more than 5% of a portfolio in any one stock. If a stock does so well that it comes to represent more than 10% of a client’s portfolio, we at least consider selling part of it to cut the risk. In addition to the weight that the stock carries in your portfolio, however, we also consider how much of your portfolio is invested in the stock’s economic sector. Suppose you start out with 5% of your portfolio in a particular stock, and that stock does so well that it now makes up 10% of your portfolio. Now, suppose the sector the stock is in has come to make up, say, 28% of your portfolio. In that case, we wouldn’t feel any great compulsion to sell just to reduce your exposure to the stock or sector. On the other hand, if you now have, say, 38% or more of your portfolio in that sector due to price gains, we’d feel a greater urge to sell. But we wouldn’t necessarily sell the top-performing stock you own in the sector. We may instead sell lower-quality, or less-promising stocks you own from the sector, while hanging on to high-quality issues....

ARC RESOURCES LTD. $26.34 (Toronto symbol ARX; Shares outstanding: 275.9 million; Market cap: $7.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; Dividend yield: 4.6%; www.arcresources.com) produces oil and natural gas in western Canada. Its average daily production of 84,686 barrels of oil equivalent (including gas) is weighted 61% to gas and 39% to oil. In the three months ended December 31, 2010, ARC’s revenue rose 18.2%, to $329.3 million from $278.6 million a year earlier. Cash flow per share rose 10.0%, to $0.66 from $0.60. Increased production and higher oil prices pushed up results. The company has $803.6 million of debt. That’s a low 11.0% of its market cap. The shares trade at 8.8 times ARC’s forecast 2011 cash flow of $2.99 a share. It plans to spend $625 million on exploration and development this year, up 5.8% from 2010....

With interest rates still near historic lows, borrowing money to invest continues to look like an attractive investment strategy. That’s especially true if you borrow to buy well-established, dividend-paying stocks. For example, you could pick from the 19 companies we recommend in our Canadian Wealth Advisor newsletter’s Safety-Conscious Stock Portfolio. These investments give you regular dividend income and cash flow to pay the interest on your investment loan. (The Safety-Conscious Stock Portfolio is one of three portfolios Canadian Wealth Advisor offers to conservative and income-seeking investors. The other two are the Index Fund and ETF Portfolio and our Safety-Conscious Income Trust Portfolio. We continually monitor and update all three portfolios.)...

PEYTO EXPLORATION & DEVELOPMENT CORP. $19.61 (Toronto symbol PEY; Shares outstanding: 121.9 million; Market cap: $2.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 3.7%; www.peyto.com) is the new name of Peyto Energy Trust after it converted to a dividend-paying corporation on December 31, 2010. Peyto produces and explores for oil and natural gas in Alberta. Its average daily production of 32,500 barrels of oil equivalent (including natural gas) is weighted 85% toward gas and 15% to oil. At current production rates, Peyto has proven oil and natural-gas reserves that should last 11 years. Peyto’s cash flow was $0.47 a unit in the three months ended September 30, 2010. That’s up 20.5% from $0.39 a year earlier. The shares trade at 8.6 times the company’s forecast 2011 cash flow of $2.28 a share. Peyto’s long-term debt of $455 million is a reasonable 19% of its $2.4-billion market cap....

PENGROWTH ENERGY CORP. $12.66 (Toronto symbol PGF; Shares outstanding: 320.1 million; Market cap: $4.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 6.7%; www.pengrowth.com) is the new name for Pengrowth Energy Trust after it converted to a dividend-paying corporation on January 1, 2011. Pengrowth has large tax pools it can use to offset the new taxes. That will let it keep its monthly payout at $0.07 a share, for an annualized yield of 6.6%. The monthly payout will be in the form of a dividend. That means investors who hold Pengrowth outside an RRSP will benefit from the dividend tax credit. Pengrowth is still a buy.

PENGROWTH ENERGY TRUST $12.96 (Toronto symbol PGF.UN; Units outstanding: 320.1 million; Market cap: $4.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Divid. yield: 6.5%; www.pengrowth.com) will convert to a dividend-paying corporation on January 17, 2011. It will then trade as Pengrowth Energy Corporation under the symbol “PGH”. Pengrowth has $2.7 billion of tax pools it can use to offset income taxes. It expects to be able to delay paying taxes until after 2014. That will let Pengrowth keep paying $0.07 a month (it now yields 6.5%). Starting with the February 15, 2011, payment, the monthly payout will be in the form of a dividend. That means investors who hold Pengrowth outside an RRSP will benefit from the dividend tax credit....

ARC ENERGY TRUST $25.59 (Toronto symbol AET.UN; Units outstanding: 275.9 million; Market cap: $7.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; Dividend yield: 4.7%; www.arcresources.com) will convert to a dividend-paying corporation on January 17, 2011. It will then trade as ARC Resources Ltd. under the symbol “ARX”. ARC has $2.2 billion of tax pools it can use to offset income taxes. That will let it keep paying $0.10 a month (it now yields 4.7%). Starting February 15, 2011, these dividend payments will benefit from the dividend tax credit if you hold your shares outside of an RRSP or a RRIF. ARC Energy is still a buy.