Investment Q&A

Q: Can you provide a current view on Ameriprise Financial?

Q: Hi 5i, the last question on Definity, back in Feb, asked about the possibility of DFY being acquired. Since then Swiss Re has taken an almost 10% position. What are your views on this stock going forward. Thx.

Q: Good Evening,

I bought some shares of CM a couple months ago as part of a buy and hold strategy to receive the dividends (expecting the stock price to trade flat or decline) and was surprised to find the stock up 25%. Do you think I should realize the capital gain, hold hoping for a bigger capital gain down the road (couple months maybe) or maintain my original strategy of holding for the dividends? If the recommendation is to sell do you have any recommendations of safe dividend paying stocks to put the money into?

Thank you very much.

Q: Hello Team,

The Canadian banking sector has been fairly muted for a while now, notwithstanding higher rates which have been beneficial in boosting interest income. And, soon, rates are expected to decrease. Is that going to hurt their earnings or help due to an overall smaller delinquency in loan repayments? If it will help, from a choice of buying and holding some of the smaller Canadian on-line only banks or the traditional ones, say for the next five years, which would you recommend?

Q: I believe the recent weakness in GSY may also be partly the result of Stephen Smith merging Home Bank and Fairstone to create a stronger competitor to GSY, plus all the noise about Propel.

Q: Are you considering adding this to the growth portfolio? What do you still need to see for this to happen?

Q: Hi 5i
BXSL has had a nice run up.... and still generates a 9.8% yield.
Is this a best of both worlds kind of stock? BX is something of a powerhouse company.
BXSL ok for both reliable income and decent growth?

Thank you.

Q: Hi could you please provide an update on your thoughts on ALLY? Last comment was November 2022. Has had a significant run up in share price since then, what's changed?
Thanks

Q: Hi,
I'm wondering what's up with GSY lately - or should I say down? It had a good jump in Feb and now is threatening to drop below that. Are you aware of anything of concern that is driving shareholders to sell? As always, I look forward to your opinion!
Thanks,
Dawn

Q: I just read your report on propel holdings. They sound like a good takeover candidate for GoEasy. Will give GoEasy an entrance and exposure to the US consumer, as well as Propel’s AI program. What are your thoughts on this?

Q: Regarding Sheldon's question about the drop in GSY on March 25th, a consumer credit lender, CURO Group Holdings, filed for bankruptcy today. There are more details in the press release. CURO now trades for 7 cents, down from $20 two and a half years ago, so it's been a long slide into insolvency, the opposite of GSY, but it makes some people nervous enough to sell.

Q: Could you comment on a bit downturn and on results

Q: In an earlier response to Olympia Financial Group regarding a 1% interest rate increase/decrease having a 33% increase/decrease on the companies annual earnings you said:
"this sensitivity to interest rates is common for financial companies that earn interest on a large investment holding (such as brokers, insurance) "
Please name 5 Canadian companies more sensitive to interest rates (on earnings) then Olympia Financial Group? I want to track a basket of these stocks.

If you expected rates to be revert to 3-4% for the next 10 years is Olympia still a good investment at these levels today?

Q: In comparing total returns of the respective banks from Pre-Covid and then from Mar 16 2020 to present why does 5i continually endorse BNS - is it simply the DY ?

Q: Hi 5i,
I've held GSY for a number of years through both steep increases and steep drops, and currently am up 24%, including dividends. I've been heartened seeing it recover from the $90 range to its current $165 or so, but wonder if it's got much more in the tank...?
Maybe just an itchy trigger finger, but I'm mulling over selling 1/2 of my GSY and using the proceeds to purchase PRL - the rationale being to spread the investment risk allocated to such lenders between two companies rather than having it all with one, and also for the prospect of greater capital appreciation and dividend return over 3 years or so for the share of the funds put with PRL.
What do you think - wise move or unnecessary fiddling with a good thing?
Thanks.
Peter

Q: Where can I find any information or the best write up you've seen on Mastercard or VISA's "value added services". Stuff outside of their payment network everyone knows about.
I basically only ever find information on the payment network and then descriptions of the value add stuff is super short and surface level only.

Q: How the above insurance companies rank in comparison to one another for total return?

Q: What is your opinion of Money Lion? How do its prospects compare to, for example, SQ, STNE, PYPL or PAGS?
Thanxx!

Q: What are some of the negative outlooks of GWO? Is it worth investing in as of today and if so is it primarily for the dividend or growth? And how come lots of analysts are reiterating a hold? What insurance company would you recommend over GWO?

Q: Hello,

If you had to chose between OWL vs ARCC, which would you chose. Thanks

Dave