Topic: How To Invest

Dear Pat: I am thinking of investing in a few Canadian real estate investment trusts (REITs) as part of my portfolio, as they seem to be the only class of income trusts that are exempt from the new tax regime for income trusts that comes into operation in 2011. In particular, I am thinking of investing in Whiterock REIT. What is your guidance with respect to this REIT? I look forward to seeing your answer to this question.

Article Excerpt

Whiterock Real Estate Investment Trust, $13.99 symbol WRK.UN on Toronto (Units outstanding: 16.1 million; Market cap: $225.9 million), owns, develops and operates office, industrial and retail properties across Canada. As of March 31, 2010, Whiterock owned 33 office buildings, 13 industrial buildings and 7 retail properties. In all, these holdings include 4 million square feet of leasable area. The trust gets 46% of its revenue from Ontario, 20% from Quebec, 15% from Saskatchewan, 10% from Atlantic Canada and 9% from Alberta. Whiterock’s largest tenants include SIQ (a Quebec government agency), the Province of Ontario, Intact Insurance Co., SNC-Lavalin Group, the Government of Canada, the Province of New Brunswick, the Province of Nova Scotia and Teranet, which manages Ontario’s electronic land-registration system. Government tenants account for about 29% of Whiterock’s revenue. In the three months ended March 31, 2010, the trust’s revenue rose 3.8%, to $16.3 million from $15.7 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit fell 14.9%, to $0.40 from…