Last week we published Part One of the text of the most-recent letter I sent to our Portfolio Management clients, in February this year.

Part Two appears below. It covers the hidden risks in the so-called “alternative investments” that have come on the market in recent years....

STEINWAY MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS HOLDINGS INC. has filed paperwork with U.S. regulators for an initial public offering (IPO) of common shares. The shares will trade on New York under the symbol STWY.

The company is planning to have two classes of shares with Class B shareholders entitled to 10 votes per share, versus the one vote for share assigned to Class A shareholders....

J.P. MORGAN CHASE & CO., $126.81, New York symbol JPM, remains a buy.

The stock lets investors tap the largest banking firm in the U.S., with total assets of $3.95 trillion as of March 31, 2022.

Morgan last raised your quarterly dividend with the October 2021 payment by 11.1%, to $1.00 a share from $0.90....

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP., $138.25, New York symbol IBM, is a buy.

The company is one of the world’s largest computer firms, with operations in over 175 countries.

On November 3, 2021, IBM completed the spinoff of Kyndryl Holdings Inc....

YAMANA GOLD INC., $7.52, is a buy. The miner (symbol YRI on Toronto) owns and operates five gold mines, in Canada, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. This includes the Cerro Moro gold/silver mine in Argentina. It started up in mid-2018.

Yamana now plans to seek better terms from its lenders including Bank of Nova Scotia and Citigroup.

That’s after earning an upgrade from debt-rating service S&P Global Ratings....

METRO INC., $69.82, Toronto symbol MRU, remains a buy.

The company operates 950 grocery stores and 650 drugstores, in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick.

To offset rising costs for labour and the impact of COVID-19 on its supply chains, Metro continues to raise its selling prices.

In the company’s fiscal 2022 second quarter, ended March 12, 2022, its overall sales rose 1.9%, to $4.27 billion from $4.19 billion a year earlier....

This is the time in each calendar quarter when we usually devote this spot in our Inner Circle to our latest letter to Portfolio-Management clients. However, recent events call for a change in our routine. In particular, before we get into the client letter, I want to address an issue that is showing up a lot in the media, in questions from our clients and readers, and in my own mind:

• What should investors do about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?
• Do we need to worry that the conflict can explode into World War III?
• How should investors react—if at all—to Vladimir Putin’s veiled threats to bring nuclear weapons into the battlefield?

To get started, I’m going to ask readers a question: Do these lyrics sound familiar?

“In 1814, we took a little trip
Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip’
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans
And we caught the bloody British in the town of New Orleans

We fired our guns and the British kep’ a-comin’
There wasn’ nigh as many as there was a while ago
We fired once more and they began to runnin’
way down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico

We looked down the river
And we see’d the British come
And there must have been a hundred of ‘em
Beatin’ on the drums
They stepped so high and they made their bugles ring
We hid behind our cotton bales and didn’t say a thing

We fired our guns and the British kept a-comin’
There wasn’ nigh as many as there was a while ago
We fired once more and they began to runnin’
On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico

Old Hickory said we could take ‘em by surprise
If we didn’t fire our muskets
‘Til we looked ‘em in the eye

We held our fire
‘Til we see’d their faces well
Then we opened up our squirrel guns
And really gave ‘em, well….we…

… fired our guns and the British kept a-comin’
There wasn’ nigh as many as there was a while ago
We fired once more and they began a’runnin’
On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico

Yeah, they ran through the briars
And they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes
Where a rabbit couldn’t go
They ran so fast
That the hounds couldn’t catch ‘em
On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico

—from “The Battle of New Orleans,” by Johnny Horton, 1958

I don’t offer the following as an exhaustive or scholarly analysis by any means....

TWITTER INC., $45.08, symbol TWTR on New York, offers users a global platform to express themselves on the Internet in real time. Its website lets people create, distribute, and discover content. Platform partners include publishers, media outlets, and developers.

Advertisers use Twitter’s Promoted Products, the majority of which are pay-for-performance, to promote their brands, products, and services....

SUNCOR ENERGY INC., $42.57, Toronto symbol SU, is a buy.

The company is Canada’s largest integrated oil firm, with major projects in the Alberta oil sands. Suncor also operates four refineries (three in Canada and one in Colorado), along with 1,875 Petro-Canada gas stations.

With the December 2021 payment, Suncor doubled your quarterly dividend to $0.42 a share from $0.21....

AT&T INC., $19.54, New York symbol T, is still a buy for long-term gains.

The company is the biggest wireless carrier in the U.S. It also offers traditional phone services.

AT&T has now completed its plan to merge its Warner Bros....