Investment Q&A

Q: Good Morning,

In a response to Gabriel on September 21 you suggested BX as a good US income opportunity.

Could you please expand upon BX and the reasoning for your suggestion.

I am interested but is it safe, secure and have growth potential.

Thanks very much.

Q: In a well balanced long term portfolio, with preservation of capital being the first priority, safety of dividend and some capital appreciation being secondary, would you add to BNS or SLF at this time? I have a 2.5% position in each and want to increase one to a 5% position. Would you suggest buying it all now or legging in over the next few months? Thankyou

Q: BNS has significantly underperformed the other Canadian banks over the last 5 years. From what I understand BNS is out of favour and being discounted due to its Latin American business. In the past BNS streamlined the business by pulling out of smaller countries and concentrating on just a few of the larger growing economy countries. Do you ever see them pulling out of Latin America all together and perhaps pursuing a growth strategy in the United States like the other Canadian banks have done? Or perhaps Asia? How much longer will investors, particularly large institutional investors, wait for this International strategy to work out before they demand a change of direction? Many thanks for the incredible service that you provide.

Q: Based on the answer to Douglas about CDN banks (Sept. 21) would BNS now be considered cheap with the metrics you provided?

Thx

Q: What are your thoughts on buying Berkshire on the neo exchange at this time?

Q: Hi - if you had to choose a couple of fundamental metrics in which to determine if the Cdn Banks as whole are "cheap", what would you look at? P/E...P/B, Div Yield, etc? Of course, it's only a general look at things and every bank is slightly different based on other metrics, but wondering if there are a couple of metrics where you say, "hey we should dig deeper on these"?

Q: which do you favour at this time? JPM or MS...
or is there another you favour over both?
ed in montreal

Q: I see you continue to have faith in Goeasy. On the weekend the Toronto Star had an article on potential reductions to the maximum allowable interest rate for the alternative lending market. As a longterm holder, and knowing of your previous position that this has been a potential concern for years, I’m wondering if this time is different. An unpopular government, public anger at corporate profits, a usury rate set when interest rates were much higher all lead me to believe the maximum rate might finally be reduced. Your thoughts please.

Q: What do you think the impact of AIG's Corebridge IPO to its stock price in long term? thank you.

Q: Can you comment on the spinoff news at BAM? Some details were disclosed and it sounds bullish but would appreciate your perspective.

Q: Let's assume that I am convinced that canadian banks will remain an oligopoly over the next 20 years and provide me with 10% CAGR.

Should I buy a basket of canadian bank stocks, or should I place my bet on HCAL or CBNK to obtain leverage ?

Thank you !

Q: Your opinion please. Looks like they hit it out of the park for this earnings report. Once the celebration subsides would you consider it worth investing in?

Q: I currently own the following banks (weightings): TD (5%), BNS (5%), BMO (2%). I'm assuming that swapping BMO (and its 2% weighting) for GSY would be better diversification, correct ?

Would this move create a big exchange of risk ?

Could GSY survive a prolonged economic downturn - eg. is the housing bubble a risk ?

Is today's valuation already pricing in a potential "tough lending environment" ?

In that scenario, would they have an adequate balance sheet survive ?

Q: Hello 5i,

I have a tax loss to harvest in a non-register account with JPM after ex-div; hard to believe considering rates are rising and JPM is what I thought was the blue chip of blue chips. Financials sure are not well liked in the current environment. What would be a good substitute to buy? WFC or BAC or another US bank you might recommend?

Q: Hi,
Your outlook for this company in the rising interest scenario. Is rising rate will be headwind or tailwind for this company? Companies past financial figures are good form investors point of view. In last 10 years it is buying back shares (share count down 50%), increasing dividend (dividend increased to 400%), sales are rising (almost doubled). Can It be considered as a good investment? If not then can you suggest some good alternative?
Thanks

Q: I'm keen to exchange the shares of BAMR for BAM.A, especially before the spinout on one of the "divisions" of BAM.A. Recently in a Q&A, you mentioned now might not be the time to do it. Me, wondering what would be the ideal or right time look like to do this exchange. Thanks for such a narrative.......Tom

Q: Could you provide your opinion of FFH for a retiree's investment please.
I apologize if I sent this twice, I attempted from my phone but I suspect that try did not get thru to you.

Q: I see the premium valuations of FRC and SIVB have fallen substantially. Would you recommend starting a position in either of these two (niche) banks at these levels? Which one would you prefer and why? Thanks!

Q: Current thoughts? Valuation and growth prospects?
Wondering if i should sell or hold.

Q: Can you please provide some analysis of this company and whether you would find it investment worthy at these levels? Is the growth story intact or is it a broken company and a story that will end badly? An attractive entry point if you see one would be nice too.
Thanks!