Investment Q&A

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

Q: Hi Peter, Would you advise on to buying more of BNS/TD ( recent strength) or pick up BMO instead to take advantage of its price as it lagged recently ( Yield @4%). I am more inclined towards BMO as they perform similarly over the longer term. Please advise.
Thanks.

Q: With the decline in the stock price of CBL my weighting has come down to 3.5% from a full 5% position. Would you buy at current levels to get back to the 5% or would you suggest a wait and see attitude for the next few quarters before doing anything?
Thanks for your help

Q: If you were a HCG shareholder would you vote in favor to let Berkshire Hathaway purchase their second tranche of share at $10.30 per share?

Q: of the 3 companies on your new feature chart watcher, he was most pisitive on agf, but you do not seem to like it, it keeps hitting 52 week highs, could you comment. dave

Q: Echelon-EFH. You last provided info on this company May 19, 2016 and I wondered if your opinion has changed. Things look better at the company, volume have been in the high side. Do you think this company might put themselves up for sale or be a takeover candidate?
Thank you.

Q: How do earnings look?

Q: Could you please rank the following US banks based on valuation in a rising rate environment
And what's your thoughts on the US raising rates going forward until December 2018. How many rate rises do you see by that time
Thank you
Kevin

Q: I have a position in Visa. Analyzing the historical chart I can see that this stock just doesn't seem to go down. The only extended pull back since 2009 that I can see was in 2014 and it basically went sideways for about 10 months. Since than it has grown at least 25%/year. The yield is small, but with this kind of growth it doesn't really matter. Also, the use of Visa will only expand as tech companies fight for transaction fees, and with inflation their revenues can only go up. It seems to me only an extended recession can effect their growth. For these reasons wouldn't Visa be a good place to go "overweight"?

Q: Greetings 5i,

I currently hold positions (slightly more than a half position each) in both TD and BNS (TD for their American exposure and BNS for their international exposure). In your opinion, is it necessary to own two Canadian banks? Do they complement each other well, or is there too much redundancy? If the latter, would you recommend one over the other?

I have a long term horizon (I am 35), am fairly conservative, and prefer long-term holds. In the Canadian financial sector, I also hold SLF and BAM.A.

Thank you.

Q: Hi Team,
Would you kindly comment on Fairfax's announced sale of Singaporean insurer First Capital Insurance Ltd. for US $1.6B and it's ongoing strategic alliance with Japan’s Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Do you have any thoughts about how significant this deal is and how it will improve Fairfax's prospects for the future?
Thank you, Michael

Q: CM reported good results today similar to RY's yesterday--beat expected eps by 0.11,increase domestic banking(by 8%),mortgage volume(12%) & US wealth management(76%) with decline in provision for loan losses,but capital market decline 10%.Please help me to understand why it dropped 2% today after an initial spike of some $1.19.Thanks for u usual great services & views.Is this a good entry point?

Q: do you think either of these is a buy now?