What did you buy? What might you buy? (2008)

[Mike Schimek]

Sold off a really tiny position in Chesswood @1.49, bought some more XCeed Mortgage at 0.63 per share.

* XCeed has been on a tear from 0.42 to 0.63 in the past week
* Buying some more anyway because the ABCP issue appears to be resolved
* Book value 3.00, cash on hand 0.40 per share +/-
* Was profitable last quarter (0.06 per share, 0.09 excluding 1 time charge), annualized this is 0.36, or a forward P/E of 1.85ish.

Caveat: Is in the mortgage business, has exposures, some of which I have to admit are hard to understand and create a risk of unexpected bombs going off.

Seems worth the risk because of the above.

Sitting in this and Sandvine now, and going to kick back and see what happens.

[kumquat]

Bought some more WMK on TSX venture. Play money at work

[Rickdl]

Bought 2 Preferreds

BAM.PR.J at 11.52
and
YPG.PR.B at 10.51

YPG.pr.b surprised me by dipping to 9.89 today at one point, but I missed the opportunity to buy at that.

[brad911]

Last trade for 2008: TD @ $39.95

[TheElegantInvestor]

Bought some BFI Canada:

Been looking at this one for a while, looking for the stock to stop going down before touching it.

With this one, people worry about balance sheet on the U.S. side of the biz. A few things to consider:
- Canadian operations generate enough cash to cover dividends.
- Management has a few options to help with U.S. balance sheet: move some cash from Canada to U.S., delay some capex to pay down some debt, U.S. is free cash flow positive so can pay down debt anyway if they do not make acquisition, monetize some assets, and renegotiate covenant to give them more breathing room.

Overall, I thing the price correction is over done for a company that generates free cash flow.

[Joe Clarke]

Added more BNS.PR.N at ++7% yields.

I have a completed a strategy to book some cap losses in bank stocks and replace them with varying bank preferreds going into the new year. I am increasingly a Cdn bank preferred believer with inflation but a fantasy and yields through the roof.

My rational mind cannot turn away from those hugely tax-efficient yields in this economy with that absence of risk. I can book almost $80k of this kind of income before I pay penny one of tax. What's not to like?

[iluvnascar]

Added more BNS.PR.N at ++7% yields.

I have a completed a strategy to book some cap losses in bank stocks and replace them with varying bank preferreds going into the new year. I am increasingly a Cdn bank preferred believer with inflation but a fantasy and yields through the roof.

My rational mind cannot turn away from those hugely tax-efficient yields in this economy with that absence of risk. I can book almost $80k of this kind of income before I pay penny one of tax. What's not to like?

When something is too good to be true.....it often is! That being said, I'm holding National Bank preferreds with yieldsof lose to 9%; and BCE preferreds with a yield of 8.5%

The yields on almost everything are just as crazy as the low yields on T-Baills and Government bonds......UNLESS the market knows something that us peons don't understand.

[iluvnascar]

I bought some Penn West O&G Trust today - a yield of 31% and it goes ex-d on Monday. I also sold Jan 13 calls just to give me a bit more downside coverage although I'm inclined to ask just how low can PWT go?

I also sold covered calls on X (TSX); T (Telus); and BCE. And I bought some TRP, RY, and NA....and sold deep in-the-money calls to try and grab some dividends while protecting the downside. Very conservative strategy...I think??

[uhoh]

And I bought some TRP, RY, and NA....and sold deep in-the-money calls to try and grab some dividends while protecting the downside. Very conservative strategy...I think??

I bought some TRP today, too.

[patriot1]

YPG.PR.A @ 17.00
YPG.PR.B @ 10.50

[investor99]

I initiated a position in SYSCO Corp. (SYY) today at $22.51.

[Joe Clarke]

Tough to buy anything this week. Looks like there's some tax loss money looking for safe (dividend paying) havens. I'm in the same mood but will wait out the exuberance for a bit.

[Joe Clarke]

Added some CM.PR.D in the low 19's.

[hotgo]

Bought 1000 BLD @ $1.25 yesterday. Hoping for a short term gain of 10-20%