What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

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Peculiar_Investor
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What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

This topic is where you can post actual or potential sells in 2016! We'd ask that you please include your rationale for the education of us all.
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

Late in December Mr. Market provided us an exit point on our holding in Uni-Select (UNS.TO) @ $68.13 in one of our non-registered accounts.

The decision to sell out the holding was based on two factors, the first being that based on my analysis valuations were significantly stretched. Over the past five years the average high P/E runs about 17.7 and I'm guesstimating 2015 EPS of about $2.44 (give or take), which means Mr. Market is pricing the company at ~ 28x earnings. Although I still believe in Uni-Select, I couldn't convince myself that the valuation made any sense, they aren't growth the business fast enough to justify the multiple expansion, so it was time to take profits. A secondary factor was the upcoming tax rate increases in 2016 in Alberta, which made it more practical to have this transaction occur in 2015 vs. 2016.
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by bindexit »

Recently sold:

Caribbean Utilities Company, Ltd.(TSE:CUP.U) $10US and change
Re: Taking advantage of the increase in value due to decrease in Canadian dollar. Want funds to be switched into general Canadian market (ETF) and energy. Purchased when $C was near par to $US....those were the days, eh!

BMO LADDERED PREF SHARE IDX ETF(TSE:ZPR) $8.70 something
Re:Selling at a small loss. I want to switch funds into a higher risk investment exposure which seems to be the Canadian market and energy.
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by westcoastfella »

Recent sales:

RRSP:
- Walgreens (WBA) at 82-ish: have booked a pretty healthy profit in the past year, decided to move that money into WMT as a discretionary

- Corning (GLW) at 17.20-ish: I always buy this thinking it will be a long term hold, but as big industrial conglomerates go, it swings pretty wildly and I find I like to take advantage of the swings. In this case, I was up ~10% in 4 months, so took profits and moved to steadier ITW.

Non-Reg:
- Agrium (AGU) at 118-ish: saw ~25% profit over the past couple of years, but I am starting to minimize my exposure to materials. POT has been hammered recently, and although AGU is more diversified than POT, potash is still a significant part of its revenue. I have a sizable stake in CHE, so felt I was overweight somewhat in chemicals.

- Canadian Tire (CTC.A) at 112-ish: have held this for a few years now, and have seen a substantial profit in that time. I decided to get out due to their exposure to the AB market (via Marks Work Wearhouse), as well as me wanting to be out of domestic retail in general.

Non-reg profits were salted into recent purchases of long term holds BNS, POW, T, as well as holding some cash for future purchases.
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by bindexit »

Sold:

Penn West Petroleum Ltd(TSE:PWT) almost $1
Freehold Royalties Ltd(TSE:FRU) $10
Re: Trimming my holdings. Added these to my existing holdings less than a month ago, and selling most today to take advantage of today's nice bounce for nice gain. I like buying when a sector is down (like oil) but have to be reasonable as I also hold oil also in recent ETF purchases (VCN, XCS, and SIN.UN).

Orange SA (ADR)(NYSE:ORAN) $17US
Re: Had bought in 2012, 2013 when known as France Telecom and there was a European debt crisis (is there always one?). The Canadian was worth much more then. I have now hit a double (two bagger) and cashing in. The devaluation of $C helped. I believe Benj Gallander holds too and previously indicated a higher sell target price than price today. I am not very good at figuring out sell targets nor timing of it. I am cashing in while the going is good as I want to repatriate funds where there the trouble is...Canada and it's battered resource sector. I have not decided what to buy yet and look forward to other Contrarian investor's ideas this year.

Note : Went for a nice long walk on Mount Royal and cut it short to sell Orange instead of continuing down to Old Montreal Notre Dame church for Rene Angelil ceremony. I just watched it on TVA (I'll plug my recent purchase:) and only Montreal Canadien seen was Guy Carbonneau. I hope the others are practicing because we need wins for the playoffs!
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by brad911 »

Sold the remaining position in SSW in my RSP to free up some cash for purchases. Long time company in my portfolio, but difficult to equate what discount if any is sufficient given the volatility in the market. At this present moment I'd rather be in a larger cash position and patient.
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by bindexit »

Trimmed back recent purchases of:

Encana Corporation(TSE:ECA) $6.10
Bank of Nova Scotia(TSE:BNS) $56 and change
iSHARES SP TSX SMALLCAP INDEX ETF(TSE:XCS) $11.60
VANGUARD FTSE CANADA ALL CAP IDX ETF(TSE:VCN) $25

Re: Trimmed these recent purchases for small gain. This sudden bounce in Canadian markets this week makes me nervous and so want more cash available if it drops again. I wonder if the significant drop in value of oil and other commodities in the past year still has to work its way through the system and have further negative effects (impact employment of numbers on housing, financial sectors=foreclosures, insolvencies). If not, I can look on the bright side that my sales on recent purchases earned more than locking them into GICs, which pay next to nothing.
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by bindexit »

Recently sold:

Canadian Oil Sands Ltd(TSE:COS) $9 and change
Penn West Petroleum Ltd(TSE:PWT) $1 and change

Re: I'm holding several energy resource names from recent purchases and want to increase cash in case of another dip in energy. I arbitrarily reduced above holdings. Sold out of COS with very small gain (thanks to past dividends). Trimmed PWT and am taking a big bath on this one.
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by Londoncalling »

Sold Capstone Infrastructure after the buyout offer last week. Reallocated 1/2 the sale into CWB today. Remainder is in cash for now
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by Dubina »

Recently sold short CNQ in the high 29s.
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by Arby »

Sold my position in Russel Metals at a loss. Russel was a very small holding (less than 0.5%) so it was insignificant to my portfolio. I originally bought Russel as part of my allocation to dividend growth industrial stocks. Russel met my expectations by regularly increasing it's dividend over the years. However Russel's earnings have been hit hard by the decline in oil exploration. The dividend currently exceeds EPS by a wide margin. I think it's a pretty safe bet that Russel will significantly cut it's dividend when it announces 4th quarter results on Feb 16. Decided to get out before the dividend cut is announced.
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by Insomniac »

Sold XIN. I have had this for few years. XIN is currency hedged and I wanted to switch to VDU, an unhedged ETF. To spread out the CG taxes, I have been switching over a little each year. However, over the last couple of days the price of XIN has plummeted, so I took the opportunity to complete the switch over ahead of schedule. I will still have some CG to report, but it won't be too bad.
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by gsp_ »

VDU includes Canada and is a clone fund, making it less tax efficient. VIU or XEF are likely better options by excluding Canada and directly holding their stocks.
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by Insomniac »

I am adding to my position in VDU. I have accounted for Canada in VDU by reducing my allocation in VCE.

VIU is brand new. Might look at it later...
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by olivaw »

Looking to sell my INTC (Intel) in 2016. I will use the proceeds to purchase VTI which is a US market ETF.

I held INTC for the dividend but I believe that there is some risk with this stock. Intel's inability to make major inroads into the smart phone market suggests that it may have difficulty capitalizing on emerging technology such as robotics, specialized devices and smart-consumables.
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by jay »

Sold 1/2 of my TSE:XMA (materials ETF) this morning at $10.5. I bought it in the Fall of last year and was lucky enough to catch it near a bottom. This was a significant part of my portfolio at around 5%. Main reason is to raise some cash to buy consumer stocks when/if they dip.
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by brad911 »

Sold out of positions in TRP and MFC for 15% and 20% gains respectively.

No reason other than to capture a short-term gain I had not anticipated and to place proceeds into cash. Bought both on short-term weakness and was happy to be paid to wait, but with the market volatility I'll take my gains today not knowing what tomorrow may bring.
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by jay »

jay wrote:Sold 1/2 of my TSE:XMA (materials ETF) this morning at $10.5. I bought it in the Fall of last year and was lucky enough to catch it near a bottom. This was a significant part of my portfolio at around 5%. Main reason is to raise some cash to buy consumer stocks when/if they dip.
Sold out most of my XMA (materials ETF) today for a nice profit. Kept a very small position in case the material sector continues to sky rocket from here. Cash will be used to buy consumer stocks. Currently watching consumer stocks at or close to 52 week lows, like Empire and Corbys
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by StuBee »

I bit the bullet...

Sold 500 Enbridge :shock: :shock: .

Reason: It crossed back over 50$ and I feel overly exposed to this company. It has had a very good run. But, I am increasingly uncomfortable when I contemplate it's future. Recently their CEO reduced dividend growth guidance and also mentioned that, beyond 2019-2020, it saw little growth for the more traditional part of it's business. Furthermore, anyone can see how much resistance there is to anything remotely related to the oil sands. It has become downright ridiculous!! ENB's attempts to diversify, though praiseworthy, may bring them into areas which are not as profitable.

However, I have not sold out of ENB. But, with this sale I have made a significant step towards the 5% mark of total portfolio (and am almost there...).

Sold all of my ESI.

Reason: It is down by 2/3's since purchase. It was an excellent candidate to (at least partially) mitigate the CG from sale of ENB.

I still have a net crystallized CG. I have the remainder of the year to either learn how to live with it or find another way of reducing it.
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by JaydoubleU »

StuBee!

I"m in shock :shock:

Thought you'd never do it.

I think it was a smart move, though, for all the reasons you mention. I also noted the termination of PPAs by Altagas and TRP, and in the statement issued by TRP, I found this paragraph interersting:
Investment opportunities remain in the Alberta power market and are expected to begin with new wind projects and later with the need for gas-fired power capacity required to replace retiring coal-fired plants. TransCanada filed a public submission to the Alberta Government last fall offering suggestions on how to create the right investment environment for renewable energy projects and thermal resources needed to maintain reliability in the province.
TRP is going to go for wind! And gas utilities. While they are pursuing the Keystone lawsuit and trying to get Energy East approved, I think TRP can also see the future, and it is not in the Oil Sands. Not now, and maybe not for a very long time to come.
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by Hogwild »

Sold 125 shares of SmartREIT (formerly Calloway REIT) today.

-Share price was up more than 27% since I bought it, and that was only maybe 15 months ago.
-Add in the dividends, and I was happy to make a nice profit in these rough seas.
-SmartREIT's P/E was passing 21, which is a little rich for my blood. Granted, it is a good earnings grower.

Kept the remaining 125 shares. We'll see what happens.

Maybe I'll do like AltaRed and buy some H&R REIT Series D Convertible Debenture. I'm not sure shopping centres/malls
are the way of the future as much as e-commerce.
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by jay »

Sold out of my small position in BIS (2X short the Biotech sector) at the open at $47 (from $33.67). I had bought it back in Aug last year as a hedge in my RRSP. Freeing some cash.
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by AltaRed »

Hogwild wrote:Maybe I'll do like AltaRed and buy some H&R REIT Series D Convertible Debenture.
For clarification, I bought the straight Series G debenture as a replacement for a maturing 5 year GIC. I don't buy convertibles.
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by Hogwild »

AltaRed:

Thanks for clarifying that for me. I don't want to go too off-topic, but why don't you buy convertibles?
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Re: What did you sell? What might you sell? (2016)

Post by AltaRed »

I believe in pure plays, ie. the KISS principle. If I want equity, I'll buy a common. If I want FI, I will buy FI. Same reason I do not play junior stocks, split shares, options, puts, and anything else on the list out there
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