Great posts Sarge!Sarge:
I really enjoyed reading all of your posts!
I agree that 'to thine own self be true' is the best approach to investing (and to life in general)! For example, last year, analysts were ranking REITs as 'Under Market' weighting, but I chose to ignore and bought in quite a bit (in Dec. 2018) when the market had a 'correction' (specifically NWH.UN, SMU.UN, BTB.UN and APR.UN). About 30% up to date considering that group as a bundle. So much for experts and analysts!!!
The other sweet aspect of REITs is that you can hunt for those that generate a high (often 100%) portion of Return of Capital in their distributions. Seems to be a hallmark of relatively new, small and growing REITs - presumably cuz they are generating a lot of CCA with their new and growing portfolio of properties. With high RoC, you pay no tax in the year of receiving; instead the ACB is reduced and you have an increase in Unrealized Capital Gains (tax-free until time of liquidation).
Of course, the downside of attractive REITs is that they are also attractive to private capital funds and they get bought out (at a premium) - such as HLP.UN, MST.UN, ACR.UN and RUF.UN in recent years. You make a profit (capital gain) but then have to search out where to redeploy the cash! Oh well, could be much worse problems than this!
Re ALA: I share your curiosity to hear from ALA employees regarding their take on the erosion of shareholder value since the WGL acquisition. I also agree with you that in so many cases, going large with a US acquisition is a real 'digestive' problem for the Canadian buyer. ENB and TRP struggled post their US purchases in the recent past but seem to have survived. I am also confident that ALA will survive and rise from the ashes in the not-to-distant future. Let's just hope that the Greta, Justin and Gerry (Butts) show doesn't derail everything related to fossil fuel extraction, processing, shipping and selling!
Cheers!