skip to content
  1. Home
  2. >
  3. Investment Q&A
You can view 3 more answers this month. Sign up for a free trial for unlimited access.

Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: Any idea why ppl which currently yields 5.27% was down last week while the above other defensive stocks were up?
Read Answer Asked by Terry on March 09, 2020
Q: It looks as though utilities, and renewable utilities in particular, have taken off, while Canadian pipelines, which are also traditionally stable investments, are either flat or dropping.
Do you have any comments on whether:
1. this is a short term disparity or a fundamental shift,
2. whether one group is better than the others at current prices, and
3. If the recent drop now otherwise creates a good point of entry for any or all?
Read Answer Asked by Peter on March 09, 2020
Q: In this market turmoil, with a bear market and very low yields, I would expect the safest stocks both for yield and low price volatility would be REITS and utilities. Both will benefit from low interest rates. I figure utilities will likely benefit from low natural gas and oil prices too. Neither is likely to see profits and revenue impacted due to either the virus or the oil war. Still, both are falling heavily today, anywhere from 5%-9%. I'm assuming these falls are mostly index related, and that over the coming days as the panic selling fades they will start to head up again as people seek safe, reliable yield. Please critique my thinking. Are there REITS and utilities which are Alberta focused you think would diverge from the rest?
Read Answer Asked by John on March 09, 2020
Q: Retired, conservative dividend-income investor with a "buy-and-hold & trim-add around a core position" strategy. At times like these, I take a fresh look at my holdings and ask two key questions. #1 = are there any of my equity holdings that have alarm bells going off? #2 = how safe are the dividends (knowing that no dividend is 100% secure)? The portfolio capital may rise or fall, but it is the continuation of the dividend that is more important.

For asset allocation purposes related to individual stocks (as opposed to sector allocations), I use the following:
5% targets = AQN, BCE, BNS, PBH, RY, TRP, WSP
4% targets = AD, AW, CSH, NWC
2% targets = LNF, MG, NTR
ETF targets = roughly 3-7%

Q#1 = are there any of these equities that you hear alarm bells?
Q#2 = are there any of these equities where you foresee dividend risk?
Q#3 = any thoughts on how I have my asset allocations set up (knowing it is a very personal decision?

Take a bunch of credits. Thanks for your help...Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on March 06, 2020
Q: Thoughts on the CN banks? Low rate environment; Cdn economy hampered economically due to low oil and lacklustre mtg/productivity . How does this factor for growth in our banking oligopoly? I would think the 4-5% dividend yield is relatively safe but I cannot see where the stock price growth would come from other than wealth management divisions and perhaps trading which is somewhat risky. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Richard on March 06, 2020