Investment Q&A

Q: Is this a good time to be investing in banks? Any preference between TD and Royal?

Q: What circumstances are most likely to move GSY both in the short and longer term?
Thanks.

Q: Will comercial real estate and in particular mall real estate keep Brookfield in the penalty box for the forseeable future.This name does not respond when the markets are buoyant ...but has. No problem falling with the general mkt.Are there better sectors to be deployed in until we get some Covid clarity?

Q: Hello 5i Team:

Thank you for your answer about DGRC today. With hindsight, I shouldn't have included VCIP in the same question! Here it is again as a separate question:

I know from your answers to other members that weighting is personal/that bonds despite all the bad news still play a role in one's portfolio/Short bonds are probably better than long bonds.
I have your Portfolio Analytics service and my input suggests 60 40 split. (Inputting data in PA is a work in progress!!)

With this mind, may I ask this question?

What would your suggestions be for retirees: 40% Fixed income .
All in something like VCIP. Or divide them into different boxes? VSB/VAB/VSC etc., Or some other ETFS?

40% is a lot of money to be in one ETF, no? Or these multi layered ETFs offer enough diversification?

Thanks.

Q: On a scale of 1 - 10 (1 low 10 high) what do you think are the probabilities of the Canadian major banks cutting dividends within the next year ?

Q: Can you please provide your outlook on the company? I’m at at 15% loss on a 2% position. I averaged down this morning and bumped it up to a 3% position. Why is it idling while the payment space in is on fire ?
Do you think it’s worth exercising a bit of patience with this one?
Thanks

Q: Can you give me your opinion on this company?

Q: Pow never seems to get much traction-pays a good dividend-why so not liked

Q: Dear 5i Team,

Can you help me understand why Intact trades at such a multiple of book value when compared to other strong P&C / specialty insurers like Allstate which also have a long track record? Is it worth that premium?

Thanks!

Derek

Q: Am wondering if ECN would be a good replacement for GSY for better growth.
Thanks

Q: Hi,
BNS stock price dropped by almost 1.5% today while the other 5 major banks were up. Are you aware of anything that may have led to the decline? Thanks.
Keith

Q: Can I get your thoughts on the Lemonade IPO please, the market seems to eat up all the tech ipo's these days. I couldn't resist myself, but what does 5i think a ballpark fair price would be for something like this?

Q: I sold my business and started investing last year. I am trying to build balanced portfolio and struggling with the bond portion. I don't want to buy individual bonds and was looking into something like HBB for unregistered portfolio and VAB and XSB for registered. Yet, I am very uneasy about buying bond ETFs in the near-zero interest rate environment - the rates can only go up (unless we end-up with negative rates here) and, obviously, bond ETFs will be going in the opposite direction. I was thinking about VSC but almost 35% of it are junk bonds, so no comfort there. With PSA now paying only 0.65%, I am really out of choices for the fixed income portion of my portfolio. Any suggestions (both for CDN and USD positions)? My time horizon is 10 years and I want something safe and tax efficient.

Q: Any cause for concern with the rumoured leaving of the CIO. Thx

Q: I would be very interested in your opinion of companies engaging in the provision of consumer debt. Given the employment, market, and general economic situation would a well-financed company in this space do well? Any thoughts on the relative merits of OMF:US and GSY:CA? Do you have any favourites in this space?
Thanks, in advance, for your invariably thought-provoking reply...

Q: US bank stress test.

I read about the recent stress test results. Apparently results in general are not great.
Apparently Wells Fargo may cut their dividend next quarter and JPM opened the door by saying it was possibility they too could cut in the future. Never heard of such from the Canadian banks.

I have 20% of my total RRSP portfolio in JPM, Bank America, and Bank of New York Mellon.

They big US banks in general performed very well since the financial recession but now I wonder for the future?

Stephane

Q: I have held this trust for 7 years and it has performed nicely for me as I have held it for income only. Lately for the first time it has faltered in unit price and I am wondering how safe the units are and the very nice payout it produces monthly.

Q: I own many POW shares, some as the result of PWF merger. I would like to sell some of the POW, incur the loss and buy something else in the financials stocks. I already have SLF, MFC, FSZ and banks (BNS, TD, CM). And some preferred shares, mostly PWF/POW/ RY in this sector. I am reluctant to replace POW by GWO. Would IAG be a good candidate at the moment? Or take a risk in Us banks thru ZUB for example?.

I might sell FSZ because my expectation for a takeover or merger seems to diminish. Or would you keep it after their recent changes, since I don’t need more losses at the moment.

Thanks a lot.

Q: What is your opinion of MFC as a longer term hold (5 yrs)? I'm looking for safety and a return that is better than today's interest rates. Given its past performance how likely do you think it could be to be top of its class over the medium term?

Q: What can you tell me about Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (BTC)? It has a book value of about $7 and trades for about $11. What fees are associated with that investments? Is it a buy or an avoid?