Hank Cunningham Brookfield Office Properties BPO-T TOP PICK Feb 11, 2015

Floating rate Preferred shares. Yielding about 3.7%. Rated P3. If interest rates go up, the yield goes up. The one downside is the concentrated real estate, but their portfolio is so large and diversified, it is hard to think that they would be hurt. That is the only negative thing he can think of.

(A Top Pick June 14/13. Up 32.72%.) This no longer exists (Still listed, so don’t understand the comment.), but you can now own it in the form of Brookfield Property Partners (BPY-N) or (BPY.UN-T) (Not sure which one.), which he likes, and is trading at about $22, and is a $3-$4 discount to his NAV estimate. Gives you about a 4.5% yield. Thinks there is 20% upside in this name.

W, X and Y series preferreds. He likes the floaters. An illiquid preferred share, however.

(A Top Pick Jan 29/14. Up 3.1%.) 5.29% bond maturing April 25/17. This was part of his “rolling down the yield curve” strategy, to take advantage of the steep yield curve. You buy 3, 4 and 5 year corporate bonds, and as they get shorter in term, they fall in yield and up in price, because they're getting closer to maturity and the spread narrows also, because there is less credit risk as the bond shortens.

(A Top Pick Jan 29/14. Up 3.9%.) 5.29% bond maturing April 25/17. There were 2 reasons behind this pick. Brookfield is one of his favourite credits and seems to be undervalued in the bond market. It was a good cushion against a rising yield. (See Top Picks)

(A Top Pick Feb 11/15. Up 4.42%.) 4% bond maturing April 16, 2018. Brookfield is an undervalued investment. He likes the bonds very much.

Preferred Shares. Use this as a GIC? This company has a huge presence in the preferred share market, with several different types of structures. He is a little hesitant on this. There is a newer one with a floor feature, an investment grade product. However, there are some out there that are still quite volatile, vulnerable to a change in an interest rate environment. He would recommend that you really know the specific issue that you have. You want to be really careful in your selection, and possibly get some professional help. He is underweight holdings with this company.

Strongly advises investors to avoid rate-reset preferreds. Reason: traded horribly when rates went down, and horribly when rates went up. Relatively illiquid. Not fixed income, not equities. Nothing against BPO, just the preferred shares.