STOCKCHASE

Likes their management. The biggest mover for them is employment costs. There are ongoing difficulties between Air Canada management and employees and that spills over into this company. Not sure that that difficulty has passed just yet so he is a little cautious with both Air Canada and this company. If you believe the Canadian economy might be a little overextended, there could be a slowdown that would affect this company.

2012-05-09

Comment

3.050

Andrew Hamlin

This is the old Jazz income trust. Has done very well from an income perspective but it is associated with Air Canada and currently is going through a struggle with renegotiating their contract with them. Thinks the 19.5% yield is sustainable but depends on how the end-of-the-year contract with Air Canada gets resolved.

2012-05-02

DON'T BUY

3.500

Douglas Kee

Well-managed company. Dividend of 17% tells him that the yield is expected to go down. Only have one client so it is hard to negotiate. He feels the market is saying it is really a 7% stock. It’s a good business and they are good managers. The distribution is going to be cut.

2012-03-14

HOLD

3.160

Joey Mack

9.5% Convertible Debenture maturing Dec 31/14. Not trading at a premium because of the conversion value but because of the coupon. He is not generally a fan of airline bonds but this one has a fairly low debt levels and good interest coverage.

2012-01-09

DON'T BUY

4.190

Airline with some of the smaller regional Cdn routes. Load factor is quite good. Yield of 14%. Will have to spend money on new planes in the next little while, which will increase their debt. He would prefer Cargojet (CJT-T).

2011-09-15

SELL

4.370

Ross Healy

Doesn’t have much in terms of drivers and is expensive on a price book basis.

2011-08-31

DON'T BUY

4.250

Douglas Kee

Yield of 14% is questionable. A reasonably cyclical business.

2011-08-29

DON'T BUY

4.320

Andy Nasr

Operates some of the regional airlines. It’s like junk air Canada debt. Yield sustainability is based on debt rating of Air Canada. Leary of jumping into it.

2011-08-23

HOLD

5.210

Good yield of about 11%. Paying out most of what they are generating. Reasonably safe.

2010-12-31

DON'T BUY

5.160

2nd largest regional airline in Canada. Over 100% payout ratio. Have to buy 15 Q400 aircraft, which they originally thought they would lease. Prefers Cargojet (CJT.UN-T) that has 50% market share, lower payout ratio and lower debt levels.

2010-12-02

Comment

5.270

Jamie Horvat

Converting to a corp and management believes the distribution is sustainable when they convert. Doesn’t see a lot of growth at a reasonable price. Looking for other avenues of growth, which will delay things.

2010-11-26

DON'T BUY

3.610

Benj Gallander

He did not like this as a income trust. It is folly as having an airline as an income trust. Would not go near this.

2010-06-08

DON'T BUY

4.080

Douglas Kee

Feeder airline for Air Canada. A good business model. They have a contract with Air Canada and as long as they keep costs low they will do a good job. He is generally not a big player of income trusts.

2010-06-02

DON'T BUY

4.300

Ross Healy

Doesn't like airlines in general. Seem to be money pits. This one has nothing but goodwill in the balance sheet.

2010-05-20

WEAK BUY

5.020

Jim Huang

Strong relationship with Air Canada. Given the tough times and lines have been going through, you can expect a renegotiation. Can see some growth through the use of the Toronto Island Airport. Distribution is not sustainable and you could see it get in cut by half but it would still be pretty good. High risk.

2010-04-19

DON'T BUY

4.710

David Baskin

Airline industry has a history of poor results and he is not a fan. Very difficult environment. Pay out will go down when they convert to a corporation.

2010-04-08

SPECULATIVE BUY

3.600

Prakash Hariharan

Have a reasonably watertight agreement with Air Canada. You have a good idea what will happen for the next year or two. Trading at 2 or 3 times free cash flow, which is good for a distressed debt investor. But what happens if Air Canada goes bankrupt and the agreement doesn’t hold up – in the hands of the bankrupts court. So speculative.

2009-09-29

DON'T BUY

3.520

Think they'll have trouble maintaining the dividends. Have to negotiate their support agreement with their parent, Air Canada.

2009-09-17

DON'T BUY

3.450

John Zechner

Concerned about distributions at current levels. Wouldn’t be a buyer in it.

2009-09-08

Comment

3.220

31% distribution indicates market is expecting a cut. Has a CPA agreement with Air Canada that provides them with a minimum amount of block hours. Amounts to about an 85% payout ratio so there is not much danger of a cut. Starting to look better as unions have ratified an agreement allowing Air Canada to operate outside of bankruptcy proceedings. Have also renegotiated bank lines. Starting to look at this and may Buy shortly.

2009-07-13

DON'T BUY

2.800

Michael Sprung

Company under a lot of stress. Higher energy prices would put them under more pressure.

2009-04-22

Comment

3.550

Gavin Graham

Not subject to the pressures that other airlines are. It sells blocks of time to Air Canada (AC.A-T) for a fixed price. They are only on the hook for controllable parts such as operating the planes and logistics/backups. Yielding 29%, which tells you the market thinks Air Canada is going to chop the amount of time it buys.

2009-03-23

DON'T BUY

4.070

Sandy McIntyre

Doesn't like the airline business so doesn't invest in them.

2009-02-24

PAST TOP PICK

5.340

(A Top Pick Sept 5/07. Down 22%.) Has been unfairly treated. Too much concentration on their ability to meet distributions. Had to make some capital expenditures last quarter. Have an older fleet. 100% payout. Doesn't think they will cut distributions. Still likes.

2008-09-24

Comment

5.000

Regional airline. Benefiting from lower fuel prices. Have an agreement with Air Canada. 18% distribution. Generally speaking, he does not like airlines.

2008-09-19

Comment

4.970

Gavin Graham

(Market Call Minute.) Have a fixed price contract with Air Canada so they are not too exposed to the unpleasant things happening in the airlines. If you want to be in an airline, this and Westjet (WJA-T) would be the ones.

2008-09-17

DON'T BUY

5.720

Benj Gallander

(Market Call Minute.) Would stay away from this one.

2008-09-15

SELL

4.970

David Baskin

Typically uses turboprops and regional jets but it is tough times for all the airlines. This company serves some fairly low occupancy routes, which they will probably be cutting.

2008-07-03

Comment

7.200

Bruce Campbell

Air Canada pays their fuel costs and the market tends to forget this. Parent of all these guys is Ace Aviation (ACE.A-T), which is selling all their Aero Plan and Jazz so there is ongoing pressure. One more crunch to come, probably in the next 2 or 3 months and then the pressure will be off and there might be a recovery. Would sell on a rebound.

2008-05-26

BUY

8.010

Bill Shaw

Performing relatively well. The agreement it has with Air Canada is solid and provides some upside.

2008-02-19

Comment

7.300

Bruce Campbell

Ace Aviation Holdings, which has a part of this, announced that they are collapsing the structure and selling off their portion. This is part of the reason for the drop. He would play this with Jazz Technologies (JAZ.A-T) instead.

2008-01-23

BUY

7.320

Canadian Airlines, particularly this one and Westjet (WJA-T) have been painted with the same brush as the national and regional carriers in the US. This one operates outside of the major hubs, catering more to the regional destinations, which are not as economically sensitive. Have been somewhat sheltered from the rise in jet fuel costs.

2008-01-21

BUY

7.810

Patrick Kim

Transportation space can be fickle, but this name is a relatively conservative way to play the airline space.

2007-11-02

TOP PICK

7.750

Ridership and capacity had been setting new levels. Operates under a capacity purchase agreement with AC. Like a glorified 12% bond. As long as they keep costs, mostly labour, under control they will continue to have stable cash flow. (Labour contracts g

2007-09-05

PAST TOP PICK

8.330

(A Top Pick Nov 24/06. Up 4.2%.) Running the planes full but he is not as keen on this now. Consider it as a Hold.

2007-06-20

DON'T BUY

8.160

Andrew Guy, CFA

High yield which is synonymous with high risk. Very dependent on the health of Air Canada, which at the moment is doing very well. Airline industry is very volatile.

2007-04-09

PAST TOP PICK

8.200

(A Top Pick Nov 24/06. Up 2.4%.) Sold it a little higher than where it is now. Likes the company but moved into other things.

2007-02-26

Comment

8.480

Gavin Graham

Airline business is just about the worst possible business as an income trust model. Have a guaranteed agreement with Air Canada to sell a number of seats to them. It depends on how well Air Canada does. If you’ve made money and you think the economy might be slowing down, you might want to consider taking some profit.

2006-12-28

TOP PICK

8.010