STOCKCHASE

Higher risk, but a good one to invest in. It will depend on staying where it is and getting better. Had to cut distributions. Have gradually been improving their situation. Still has a problem as to whether they are going to be a REIT or not.

2012-01-06

WEAK BUY

4.240

Cut distribution. Were excluded from REIT status at first when they converted. They are going to re-structure into a taxable corporation. Will take a 30% cut to yield and so stock took the same hit.

2011-12-05

TOP PICK

4.310

Greg Newman

Got pummelled in the summer when the government changed the REITs legislation. Have to convert to a trust, which means tax rates go up and distributions had to go lower. Cut this from $.50 to $.40, which was better than the market expected. Suffering a little from tax loss selling.

2011-11-30

SELL

4.480

Hotel properties. Has had so many problems in the last 5 years. Economic recovery is slow, but more important, tourism into Canada is getting new multiyear lows. They also have to upgrade their properties. Just cut the dividend by 20%.

2011-11-16

PAST TOP PICK

4.480

(A Top Pick Oct 7/10. Down 29.21%.) Lodging. Aeak economy plus they’ve been hurt when they did not meet the REIT structure laws where they couldn't earn more than a certain percentage of revenue from other than real estate. Have restructured and he is still buying.

2011-11-16

PAST TOP PICK

4.120

(A Top Pick Oct 7/10. Down 38%.) Got caught in the law that said if you had real estate, you couldn’t be in other businesses. Will probably have to change to a Corporation and until it does, it is in a cloud. Still a reasonable bet.

2011-10-18

STRONG BUY

4.180

Exclusively hotel sector. Got beat up significantly when the government changed the rules for REITs legislation with hotels no longer qualifying. Hotel REITs will basically become taxable. Huge yield of almost 12%. Net asset value is unchanged. Great properties in Western Canada.

2011-09-26

BUY

4.220

Greg Newman

Likes it for the risk-tolerant investor. Uses Stapled REIT model. It is a way of getting tax benefits of a REIT without being one. They will likely have to convert to a corp. and yield will come down. Believes that if you get GDP growth of 3% you can own this name.

2011-09-22

Comment

5.000

Only Hotel REIT in Canada that has survived at all. Are going to have to go back and change structure to remain a REIT. Feels like a safe yield. Will probably return to being a corporation.

2011-08-12

PAST TOP PICK

6.590

(A Top Pick June 18/10. Up 13.14%.)

2011-07-18

BUY

6.760

Innvest is focused in the hotel center. Have some great properties in Western Canada in Major urban centers. Has a nice yield. Would not hesitate to own. If you own,hold.

2011-06-21

DON'T BUY

7.020

Lower end motel such as Comfort Inn. Completely sensitive to the economy and was over levered, so got hit hard. Now in a lot better shape but is still sensitive to the economy as well as tourism and US tourism has dropped.

2011-01-18

BUY

7.020

Hotel sector. They are a leading indicator in the real estate sector because their tenants have one night leases. This is the best quality hotel REIT in Canada. Strong yield. Great properties in Western Canada.

2011-01-18

WEAK BUY

6.390

Had a week Q3. Revenue per unit came down because of discounting. What you want to see is what kind of visibility to they have – they have said weak going forward. Distribution is sustainable after having been cut. He is not a fan of lodging REITs. 7.8% yield.

2010-11-17

BUY

7.080

Typically he does not invest in hotels but he owns this one. Have high and mid-grade quality properties. Strong management, reasonably large cap, 7% yield. Wouldn’t be top pick but he wouldn’t hesitate to but it.

2010-11-05

TOP PICK

7.100

Really the only hotel group in Canada. Pay out ratio is quite low. Distribution has been cut twice and current yield is 7.1%. Leveraged to the economy.

2010-10-07

BUY

6.720

Only one in Canada exposed to the hotel market that is well run and diversified. Numbers haven't been great but they are survivors and he thinks they will maintain their distributions. 7.7% yield.

2010-09-01

Comment

6.120

Restructured so that the ownership of the hotels is in one trust and the Corp that is stapled to it, manages the hotels and earns the taxable income. Expect they will structure the Corp with enough debt so that there is no taxable income in it. Q3 and Q4 tend to be strong.

2010-07-15

TOP PICK

6.330

They are losing less than they were last time. They know what they are doing. Fairly high yield. A bit too much debt. For someone who wants to take some risk, the leverage in this one is strong.

2010-06-18

BUY

5.920

About the only one in Canadian hotels that looks like a survivor. Cut their payouts twice way back. Should be able to continue making their fairly high distributions.

2010-03-19

HOLD

5.800

(Market Call Minute) Wished he had held on longer.

2010-01-19

WEAK BUY

3.850

Hotels. Charts are starting to look very good on this but it is on promise. They are almost certainly going to cut their distribution. If there is any recovery coming they will be fine but only after a distribution cut, which is built into the price of the stock. (He owns some convertibles.)

2009-09-03

DON'T BUY

3.700

Smaller hotels don’t like recessions. He would buy the convertible, but you would probably be all right.

2009-04-29

DON'T BUY

3.190

Yield of 24%. Expect the cash flow will continue to deteriorate. There are better places for your capital.

2009-03-17

Comment

9.250

Limited service hotels, primarily in Ontario and Quebec. Hasn’t been a big fan of this one. Assets are a little older and they’ve had some operational issues with their Western assets. There are some strategic questions about what they are going to be going forward. Distribution is sustainable and it is definitely undervalued.

2008-02-29

DON'T BUY

9.350

Limited service hotels. Recently did a transaction, which helped privatize Legacy REITs. Portfolio is in a state of flux. Not a core name for him. Go after the blue chips instead.

2008-01-14

Comment

10.150

Largely limited hotels in secondary markets, more in Ontario and Quebec. Recently participated along with the Caisse and a US group, to take Legacy REIT (LGY.UN-T) private. The question is, are they going to focus on high rent properties, run a diversified portfolio and where are they headed strategically? Thinks it's worth more than what it is trading for, but you may want to diversify into another sector or another name. 10.9% yield.

2007-12-07

DON'T BUY

10.350

Kevin Hall BComm, CFA

One of the few remaining hotel focused trusts left in Canada. Upgraded their portfolio by acquiring some assets from the former Legacy Income Trust. Suffering from the headwind in the economy and the strong Cdn$. Tough to get too excited in the short term.

2007-12-04

HOLD

10.280

Michele Robitaille

(Market Call Minute.) There will be more cyclicality with the acquisition of Legacy, which increased their exposure to mid-level hotels.

2007-11-28

Comment

12.500

Chris Rankin, MBA, CFA

One of the cheaper, larger hotel REITs. With the acquisition of Legacy (LGY.UN-T) they will own 11 hotels and will have about 26% of the acquisition. Expect all the hotel REITs will be taken out over the next couple of years.

2007-07-13

DON'T BUY

14.100

Own about 180 lower tier hotel properties. They have tremendous ability to increase their accommodations rates. The problem is that capital expenditures to maintain the properties is very expensive. Also, the stronger Cdn$ is killing the US traveler.

2007-05-17

BUY

14.320

Based in Ontario and Quebec. Great management team, but they don't do much with them. Their properties are starting to get old which is a slight concern, but otherwise has no problem with them.

2007-05-05

Comment

13.700

Non-service hotels. Room occupancy is down, but room rates are up. Yield is relatively high. The sector has a lot of uncertainty in it.

2007-04-11

BUY

13.910

Primarily limited service hotels. Focused in the GTA. Strong management team.

2007-04-03

BUY

13.850

Medium level hotels across the country. 8% yield, which seems to be sustainable. Probably slow growth.

2007-01-12

PAST TOP PICK

13.170

Ben Cheng

(A Top Pick May 19/06. Up 10.4%.) Did well and has a good management team. Looking to expand in the limited hotel space. Not sure if some of the hotel REITs will survive. Sell.

2006-12-01

TOP PICK

11.990

Ben Cheng

Operate Travel Lodge, Holiday Inn, Radisson, etc. limited service hotels. Concentrated in southern Ontario. Focused on controlling costs.

2006-05-19

DON'T BUY

11.950

Robert Lauzon

Off because one of their convertible debentures is being redeemed which has probably created some short selling. The hotel industry has performed pretty well the last 3 quarters. Would prefer others.

2006-05-18

TOP PICK

12.150

Owns half of Choice Hotels. Likes it for the downside protection. A good defensive REIT. Yield of 9.1%. Suffered some margin compression in the last quarter because of higher energy costs, wages and salaries. His only concern is the distributions over weighs the funds from operations.

2005-11-17

TOP PICK

12.500

Doesn't think anything is cheap, so his Top Picks are names that have underperformed and can be looked at. This one has about a 9% yield. Tourist industry downtown has been down, but the suburban area has been doing very well. High yield. Need to internalize the management.

2005-08-08

BUY

12.310

Gail Mifsud

Accretive which is good.

2005-07-05

DON'T BUY

11.150

Gail Mifsud

Nightly tenancy can be a problem when there are major events. Currently experiencing the high Cdn$. The RevPar growth (revenue per available room) is highly correlated to GDP growth. Although in a recovery stage, doesn't expect their performance to outpace GDP.

2004-12-10

VAGUE

11.020

Gail Mifsud

Hotel REIT's are the highest risks because of nightly tenant leases rather than long term leases. Feels distribution is safe.

2004-10-22

TOP PICK

10.950

Paul Harris, CFA

2003 was a difficult period, so they cut costs and in the last couple of quarters average room rates have been going up. Revenue per room and occupancy have been rising. 10% yield. Lots of upside.

2004-09-17

BUY

11.050

Has only returned about 2% this year. Have very good partners and sponsorship. Will be affected by the Canadian$ and tourism.

2004-08-20

TOP PICK

11.000

Paul Harris, CFA

(Past top pick Mar 26/04. No change.) Has good brand names. 10% yield. Cut costs and pushed technology forward. Hotel business is improving.

2004-07-23

TOP PICK

11.240

Ben Cheng

Feels the hotel industry in total is going to see very good fundamentals over the next 12 months.

2004-07-15

DON'T BUY

10.700

Allan Meyer

Have to be careful on real estate, because the yields have been bid down to a low level. Any interest rate increase could hurt. Expect volatility because of short leases.

2004-04-12

TOP PICK

11.050

Paul Harris, CFA

The largest owner of hotels in Canada. Good brand names. Expects the hotel industry will be much better this year. Have a better cost structure now. 10% yield.

2004-03-26

TOP PICK

9.180

Seeing some indications that the economy is improving a bit.Expects they will be the hotel chain, which will hang in there.12.25% yield

2003-08-01

TOP PICK

9.460