Investment Q&A

Q: PPL just announced a 36% increase in capex for 2015 and sound quite sanguine on the future. Don't they know the oil price is imploding? From your knowledge of management would you consider their judgement sound and worth giving the benefit of the doubt?
Thanks
Mike

Q: Would you consider Brookfield Total Return Fund: HTR-US a good- reasonably safe investment in the current market situation. Also, do you think the dividend is safe at this level (approx 9% yield)?
Thank you.

Q: Hi.
Would you consider KEY good value investment at this price level for a 1-3 year or longer term hold. Is this a good time to buy when there is panic or would it be better to wait for price stabilization? would you prefer PPL or IPL?

Thank you

Q: I have held Key and Ipl for many years. It is falling
rapidly. Should I sell or hold? Is this panic selling?

Q: I dumped a bunch of shares in these companys on friday and over the weekend heard someone say that this energy pullback will not affect the pipelines but I see they are all down again this morning . Should I buy them back now or wait for a few days to see where they go from here .

Q: Peter When I perished the press release for this quaternary I thought it was good and expected a jump in share price and the opposite happened .What am I missing?
Thanks for all you do
Denis

Q: Hello Peter and Team, I have a telecom sector exposure of 12.5% in my registered aggregate portfolio. This exposure is made of 3 companies: AT&T, Telus, and Bell(BCE). Is 12.5% expposure to telecom too high? What do you think of AT&T? It certainly has an interesting dividend of 5.3% Thanks, Gervais

Q: Hi Peter and team,

Could you please suggest several investments for a portion of a portfolio, in a non-registered account, where capital preservation and income (as frequently as yearly or more) are a priority?

It would be important to avoid the risk of losing capitol over a 5 year time frame. A distribution/interest/dividend/etc payment is also important for this investment.

With GIC rates being so low, I'm struggling with what to do.

Could you please recommend a few ideas which would yield more than a GIC while also minimizing risk and taking into account the tax implications of it being in a non-registered account.

Thank you very much for all of your helpful answers.

Q: I have parked US$ in a money market fund that pays 0.2 % pa. (RBF2014 in my case). That is a negative real return and money rusts away while you wait wait for the US market to cool its overheated jets. For parking C$ I use iShares CBO. Are you able to suggest any US$ short term* non-hedged US$ bond ETF? (* meaning 1 to 5 year). Funds would be required as and when reasonable prices are found or if US markets pull back. The holding period could thus range from several weeks to months.
Thank you. Best, Adam

Q: Hello Peter & Co,
In the fall of 2008 (I was then 65) I converted my RRSP portfolio to cash with the intention of taking over the responsibility of managing the investments; the objective was to generate a 7% compound annual return with the assumption of a 3% annual inflation rate on the income for the next 25 years. My retirement would have been 60% from the RRSP (now RRIF) portfolio and 40% from fixed/guaranteed sources such as CPP, OAS and a very small private pension.
Since the portfolio's inception date of June 30, 2009 (I am now 71) I have managed to get a much higher compound annual return of 17% (all in equity at a low beta volatility of 0.4), which has allowed me to double the RRIF income (vs the original plan) and assuming a reversion to the original 7% compound return for the next 20 years.
As a consequence, the original income split of 60/40 will now be 70/30; in light of that, I a wondering if I should reduce the equity portion of the portfolio to arrive at 60/40.
Would it be wise to do so?
Thanks,
Tony

Q: In the event that the Trans Canada Pipeline gets approved, which company names do you believe would best appreciate? Trp?

Q: I welcome thoughts on PPL after this pullback from $52.Is PPL indirectly pulling back with the rest of the energy space? How tied to commodity price is PPL?

Q: Hi, could you please tell me what you think about XEI as quick place to add funds during a market sell off? It's for my income portfolio (40% fixed income, 60% equities)
I like the 4+ % yield and the holdings. I believe iShares lowered the MER on it as well.
My equity portion is made up of the following:
XEI Index 2%
Consumer 3% CTC.A , L
Banks 19% BMO , BNS , NA , RY , TD , TMC , MTG
Insurance 11% MFC , POW , SLF
Utilities 8% EMA , FTS , TRP
Telecom 13% BCE , MBT , RCI.B , T
Prec Metals 6% AEM , TCK.B , SLW
Energy 14% CNQ , CVE , CPG , FRU , SU , ERF
REIT 13% CAR.UN , CHP.UN , HR.UN , REI.UN , TCN
Tech/Industrial 10% ET , MG , MDA , RUS , WSP, MRE

Thanks as always

Q: Hi, I have held ATCO in my RRSP for about 3 years and have done well. I am now approaching retirement and am looking for higher income in my portfolio. I have a strong tilt towards the dividend growth and income strategy I am considering switching the ATCO to CU or EMA or FTS for better yield. Despite the lower dividend I feel CU will do better than EMA or FTS because they are primarily in Alberta. CU also has had better dividend growth than EMA and FTS in recent years. What are your thoughts on this plan.
Thanks, Manfred

Q: hello 5i:
please give me your opinion on this company. Interested primarily in dividend growth and safety.
thanks
Paul

Q: This has limited partnership after it.Does it or others with LP have tax implications

Q: PS, why have the utilities rallied so much this week.

Q: Hi team:
Is there a seasonal trade for the utilities stocks like FTS, EMA and CU?
Does it peak in the winter months like Dec and Jan ? my 2nd question is that CU trades at a lower P/E (16) as compared to Fortis (23) and EMA (19), the return of CU is lower, is there a fundamental reason for CU for the relative poor performance ? Thanks for educating us

Q: Hi Peter,
Down about 20%+ on BTE,thinking of selling and replace it with WCP(better growth and safer dividend) or ARX.What do u think?
Also,is HNL at these level a buy?
Many Thanks

Q: Further to 5i's response re: David's question on Nov. 19th about Potash Corp. It might be useful to note that the world's largest Potash producer, Russia's OAO Uralkali had a shutdown at one of it's mines within the last few days that seems to coincide with POT's pop(as well as Mosaic's in the US). Though preliminary, it appears as if the mine closure will be an extended one. The mine in question supplies roughly 20% of Uralkali's total production. This could be viewed positively for the potash market as this drop in supply may help keep near term supplies tighter.