Top Canadian Income Trusts

Since the price of oil has eased off a bit from its high recently, investors have been looking at Canadian Income Trusts, also known as Canadian Oil Income Trusts or Canadian Royalty Trusts. These trusts pay a very high income. These trusts pass through all their earnings from oil and gas wells to the trust holders, similar to real estate investment trusts. There is no taxation at the corporate level since they are structured as trusts. Also, a portionof the dividends may be non-taxable due to depletion and depreciation deductions.
A lot of changes have taken place with these trusts during the last year, including mergers, delistings, and payout terminations.
You should be aware that the Canadian government came out with a plan to tax all Canadian trusts at the corporate level beginning in the year 2011. However, the average yield from Canadian trusts is still higher than the U.S. royalty trusts.
Below is a list of the Canadian Royalty Trusts that are traded on United States stock exchanges.

Harvest Energy (HTE) is a Calgary, Canada company which has paid monthly dividends since July 2005. It pays a yield of 15.6%.

Penn West Energy Trust (PWE), also based in Calgary, has paid monthly dividends since June 2006. The stock has a P/E of 38 and a yield of 15.5%.

Pengrowth Energy (PGH) has been paying dividends since July 2004. The stock has a P/E of 13, with a yield of 15.0%.

Provident Energy Trust (PVX), has been paying monthly dividends since October 2002, and pays a yield of 14.1%.

Advantage Energy Income (AAV), has paid dividends since April 2004. The stock has a yield of 13.9%.

To get an Excel list of all the US-traded Canadian Income Trusts, which you can download and sort, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Author owns PWE.

By Fred Fuld at Stockerblog.com