Investment Q&A

Q: I own half position in the 3 financial companies noted as well as some solid banks (BNS as an example). I am down in both CBL and GSY while doing alright in ECN. GSY has been on a move in the right direction lately, is it worth selling cbl with loss and go full position in GSY (I am down some as well)? Should I stay the course. My weighting in financials is at max. A little trimming would be OK too

Q: I currently own TD and SLF in financials. I am very dissapointed in SLF's performance. I thought it would do well when interest rates increased. We've had two rate increases and I'm down 5%. I was thinking of replacing it with BNS. That means I'd have two banks, one with US exposure and the other with international exposure. What are your thoughts on this?

Q: How do you think the hurricane destruction of the Caribbean will affect BNS? I know that they have operations there but how much revenue/business comes from that area of the world? Do you think it is worth holding off buying for the moment or do you expect the hurricane to not have a material impact?

Q: Hello
Are there any pure auto insurance companies to invest in, my thinking is that with the use of sensors etc accidents will be greatly reduced and insurance companies will not be passing savings on to consumers.

Q: What is your take on the safety of the dividend with GMP.PR.B? Why is it poorly rated by the agencies? GMP Capital doesn't seem to have much debt. The dividend yield and chance of a higher reset in a rising interest rate environment seems attractive.

If you don't like it, what rate reset preferred would offer a better combination of risk/return?

Q: Good Day All,

Looking at the group of people who are involved with this company, I see some qualified talent here. I am wondering if you would view this company in the same light as you do GUD, where it appears that it is only a matter of time before a significant catalyst appears.
Thanks

Q: What do you think of buying Equifax Inc. (EFX) on the dip. They have lost 15% value due to a hack. It seems like an event the company will rebound from after enough time for people to forget what happened.

Q: Would you know what exposure our Canadian insurance companies have to the Hurricanes in Florida and Texas? How much of their P&C and reinsurance business is in the southern US?
Thanks

Q: I have BNS, RY, SLF and FSZ in equal amounts in my "Financial" basket and need to add another name to get my financials weighting to 15%. Can you suggest a new stock and/or a etf (CDN or US stock / etf) to compliment my current holdings OR would you just add to the 4 stocks that I have? Thanks

Q: Can you explain the recent weakness?
I would like to increase my position size and wonder if this is a good time. Thanks.

Q: Admittedly the BoC only raised rates yesterday, but aren't lifecos supposed to do well in rising rates environments? Anyway, where do you this sector going over the next 12 months? Thank you.

Q: Increase in interest rate due to strong economic growth(latest GDP 4.50%) is normally beneficial to financials( esp.Banks & lifcos)Yet TTFS(capped financial index)is down 0.68%,BNS 0.76% & SLF 1.13%.Please help me to understand.Thanks for u great services & views

Q: Your comments on recent report please.

Thank you

Q: Hi 5i,

In this trend of BoC rate hikes which Canadian Banks are better positioned ? I would like to add 2 to my portfolio. Could you please comment on this ?

Thanks !

Q: Can you please comment on their results.
Would you recommend as BUY, SELL or HOLD?

Q: I want to buy BMO in my RRSP account on its current dip.
is there any disadvantage of buying it on NYSE as CAD$ is fairly strong as well.

Q: I'm a retired, income-oriented investor. I own PWF, GWO and IGM in a diversified income portfolio. All three pay decent dividends (IGM highest at 5.5%). PWF owns the other two and has European exposure through Pargesa. GWO is my only CDN Lifeco holding. Is IGM likely to be impacted by new CRM2 rules about fee disclosure? Should I keep all 3 of these? If not, which should go? Your opinions/suggestions are requested.

Thank you,
IslandJohn

Q: I want to give my take on DFN, a split share investment vehicle. I realize 5i and probably every other good financial advisor does not favor this vehicle and would not buy this for their clients. Yet people are buying this product every day.

Please let me know how sound these thoughts are or if you have anything to add.

As an investment DFN is a road full of potholes. For one thing, the dividend could be cut off completely for as long as two years, although DFN has never discontinued its dividend. Along with that, the share price could plunge 30% or more. As well, the share price will probably degrade over the years.

Who would benefit from DFN? Someone who absolutely needs the 11% dividend every month in order to pay the bills.

However, they need to be cushioned against the potholes. They need a mental cushion that will allow them to withstand sharp drops in the share price, as well as survive a disappearance of the dividend for possibly as long as two years.

Therefore, besides the right mental attitude, they need a cash back-up that would replace an absence of the dividend for two years. On a 100k investment they would need about 20k in cash to replace two years of cancelled dividends.

They also need to realize that at the end of the day, perhaps only half of their original investment may be passed on to heirs.

I can see people in their 70s and 80s who are prepared for the aforementioned potholes buying DFN, so there may be a demographic tailwind holding up DFN for the next several years. Thank you for allowing my view to be heard, and I appreciate your response.

Q: Hi Peter,

ZEB & ZBK were recommendatons in August to cover Banks.
1. Is this strategy valid today for an RRSP (1/2-full position) or would you opt for direct investment in TD/BNS instead of ZEB (based on concerns with BMO and Royal).
2. Is another option for US banks recommended?

Thank you
Jerry & Debbie

Q: The share prices of TF and FC have been diverging over the last year with TF performing better. Is there a simple explanation for this ? Joe