Bell Aliant Inc.

On my other blog I am today writing about what to read for novice investors. I think that if you want to learn about investing today I would suggest reading some blogs rather than any particular book. The blogger I am talking about today disagrees and have given me a number of books he thinks will be helpful to Novice Investors. Today I am blogging about the My Own Advisor Blog continue...

I do not own this stock of Bell Aliant Inc. (TSX-BA), but I used too as I got some shares from BCE. Problem is with BCE whenever they do anything like issuing shares when spinning off a stock, they issue shares in odd lots. When BCE distributed Bell Aliant shares in 2006 they gave you 0.0725 trust units of BA and also 0.915 shares of BCE.

Other companies manage to do shares issues and splits and all sorts of things without everybody ending up with odd lots of shares. The exchange was quite complex, as you could not end up with partial shares. In any event in 2008, I sold all the BA shares. I sold at a loss as I sold them below the ACB (adjusted cost bases) of my shares.

I am suspending my reviews of this stock. Last year I did not review it because the accounting seemed confusing to me. The problem is that if you just analyzing the account for BA fund, I do not think gives you a true picture of what it is you have when you buy BA stock.

Yes, I know, I like to get figures from the annual statements and just slot them into my spreadsheets. However, that does not mean that I do not think about what it is I am doing. Not all company's account records co-operate. I often have to so extra things and I do if I think it is worth it. Now I am addressing the real problem. I do not think that BA is worth the trouble.

You cannot get a satisfactory picture of the BA stock by just analyzing the accounting records for BA Aliant Inc. The annual statements for this company also give you annual statements for Bell Aliant Regional Communications Inc. This helps. However, I do not think you get the full picture from these accounts either. And, you cannot really mix and match accounting from two sets of books.

I do not think that the answer to the question of "What sort of company do I own when I buy BA stock?" is an easy one. I cannot see me buying this stock at a future date. I follow other stocks when I do not have or will not be buying, but they are all easier to analyze.

And, this is what it comes down to. I do not think that I can bet a good fix on the values and statistics of this company and I do not think that this stock is worth the trouble to properly answer the question "What sort of company do I own when I buy BA stock?", at least not for me.

Aliant is one of North America's largest regional communications providers serving customers in six Canadian provinces with information, communications and technology services, including voice, data, Internet, video and value-added business solutions. Through their information technology division, xwave, they also provide IT professional services in Canada and the United States. Its web site is here Bell Aliant.

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on twitter.