Investment Q&A

Q: Help me understand what the 2or3 key reasons are, to continue holding ECN, in addition to economic recovery and lower interest rates. Is economic recovery and lower interest rates the dominant reason to continue holding ECN? In your experience looking at a companies whose business was similar to ECN, how long will it be to see a share price response, to these reasons, if properly executed?

Q: If a person was looking at income with some growth, long term would you prefer FIE or another financial ETF or one or more banks. If banks, which are your top choices.

Q: Master or Visa ?

Q: Hi 5i Team,

What are your thoughts on Horizons ETFs, specifically BKCL? I'm in search of high quality covered call ETFs ( US, Canada, and International) with good distribution yield.

Best,
Matt

Q: Hi: a reader wrote recently that BNS has lagged behind the others for the last 10 years. You replied “Typically, underperforming banks tend to 'catch up' in the Canadian sector”. Isnt 10 years enough time to “ catch up” ?

Q: hypothetical question on loss provisions: should these provisions that are set aside (or at least a portion of them) ultimately not be necessary in the future, does that mean there is a potential for them to be reflected as revenue on future earnings and thus, result in a seemingly excellent quarter, year, or whenever this situation could happen? How is viewed from an accounting perspective?

Q: your thoughts please on the quarter

thx

Q: Given the poor performance of this Brookfield subsidiary since the spinoff do you see the possibility of BN taking it private as they did with Brookfield Properties? I believe BN felt that Brookfield Properties was not valued correctly by the market and saw an opportunity to take it back in house. Could the same scenario play out with BBUC? Thanks for the great service that you provide.

Q: These are my wife's holdings in her non-registered account. Held these for very long time. EMP.A I bought for her maybe 5 years ago when down a lot. Sitting on a fair bit of cash. Thinking of adding to banks at some point (recession?) or adding BCE and EIF? T is small holding at 2000 shs. Comments/suggestions please. Oh, own ETF ZUE for quite a while also. RRSP has other banks +++

Q: Propel and Goeasy seem to be similar with good growth prospects .Is there advantages to owning both instead of one ,if not which one would you pick ?

Q: 5i team: a 10 years comparative chart of these 4 banks reveal a strong tendency of BNS to lag the rest and NA to grow faster. Is BNS having challenges in its management , or is Latin America investments pulling them down ? , Will they ever recover ? , would you recommend instead NA for a better growth ?, what is the downside of owning NA ?, thanks !!

Q: Hello could you comment on Affirm quarterly results

Management seems to be keeping a "tight ship" in a bad economic environment?

Thank you

Q: Retired investor looking to reduce bank holdings. Currently have ~1/2 positions in TD and BAC and full positions in NA and RY. I would appreciate your input. Could you rank, giving rationale, ATS, CLS, ABT, HST, LEN, for upside potential? Would you recommend starting 1/2 positions (or easing into) any of them at this time? Please take credits as you see fit. Thanks.

Q: i got some BNRE:TSE share from my holding in BAM.A. Its an exchangeable share into BN:TSE share and get the same distribution as BN:TSE per share. Is it a good move to sell all shares of BNRE:TSE and buy the same about of BN:TSE though the price is $1 less as per today's closing price? (BNRE:TSE $45.18 and BN:TSE 44.17) It does not make sense because though the business of BNRE is insurance but paid our is based on BN:TSE which has some different mix of business. Need your general answer not based on individual based.
Thanks
Piyush

Q: I just saw a notice of AGM and Special Meeting in mail and there is one resolution:
to Authorize the company to issue up to a maximum of 101,899,808 exchangeable shares where by holders of BN:TSE class A shares could be exchangeable to BNRE:TSE in the ratio of one for one. Is this a kind of financial engineering? Is there any chances that CRA or related GOVT. authority can come after the company and shareholders pay the price when the stock price fall in future? Your views.
Thanks
Piyush

Q: I have all these names in different on my accounts. I am looking for the best total return (capital gain and dividend).
I think BN represents the best total return opportunity in the next five year.
Is it wise to consolidate into BN now.
Your opinon please
Raouf

Q: Do you see CURO as a competitor to GSY? How do you like CURO as a risk/reward opportunity? Is there profitably on the horizon? Ty, Chris.

Q: Thoughts on Dominion Lending Centres and Q2 results? Is the dividend safe and is it investable at these price levels?

Q: This came across my desk today:

"According to research compiled by UNITE HERE, at least $5.8 billion of Brookfield affiliates' office and retail loans are either in default, have been surrendered to lenders, or are at risk of default according to analysts and industry press.

The financial health of Brookfield's commercial real estate holdings may be of particular interest to current or potential policyholders of American National Insurance Group, the Texas-based insurer acquired by Brookfield in 2022. UNITE HERE's research has uncovered over $1 billion in debt instruments that appear to be related to Brookfield's real estate holdings on American National's 2022 sworn Annual Statement. These include bonds issued by three entities related to Brookfield Property Partners (formerly BPY), which Brookfield took private in 2021 after BPY suffered over $2 billion in losses in 2020; and bonds issued by Canary Wharf Group Investment Holdings, the London office complex jointly owned by Brookfield and Qatar's sovereign wealth fund and which had its bond rating downgraded to junk in June 2023 by Moody's. "

Wondered what your thoughts are as it relates to BN.
American National Insurance Group, the Texas-based insurer acquired by Brookfield in 2022. The majority of these investments are listed on American National's sworn annual statement as "unaffiliated," despite being classified in other filings as affiliated investments. The investments were classified as "unaffiliated" after the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) approved, with certain conditions, a Disclaimer of Affiliation filed by Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE: BAM

Carl

Q: Earnings not good for TD but fine for RY. Can you explain issues with TD and what you see going forward. It seems RY is cutting costs and this seems to be reflected in results. Is this something TD should be doing also. Would you add to TD at this point?