skip to content
  1. Home
  2. >
  3. Investment Q&A
You can view 3 more answers this month. Sign up for a free trial for unlimited access.

Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: Thank you for your reply this morning on my question about ZWB and HMAX . In your reply you indicated a preference for ZWB because of the upside potential being greater . Am I right in assuming that if that is the case HMAX would be the less volatile of the two ?

Also in 2018 I asked 5I to crunch the numbers on the big five banks over the 18 years { 2000 to 2018 }... I would assume that is a long enough segment to determine an average annual return of dividend plus capital gain. The answer I got ranged between 11% on the low end { TD } to 14.3% on the high end { RY }...... Please correct my reasoning but to me it looks like HMAX with its' current 15.1% dividend based on today's cost of the ETF is going to slightly beat those numbers annually, have less volatility, and give me diversification as an added bonus ? ..... Please advise if my reasoning is sound .....Thanks Garth .....
Read Answer Asked by Garth on March 29, 2023
Q: Morning, GSY makes us a total of 3.4% (or did lol) of my portfolio with half in a non registered account. My thinking is sentiment will be bad for a while and the true impact of the budget will need to be assessed. I'm contemplating holding the GSY in the registered accounts while tax loss harvesting the non registered. If it were your account would you do it differently?

Rhetorical question - how much of yesterdays selling was leaked information from the budget vs the potential $41M loan loss?... I'm feeling like the latter was a key driver in the 9% fall yesterday.
Read Answer Asked by Don on March 29, 2023
Q: In a couple of previous questions you have mentioned that the drop in GSY's share price on Thursday was due to the Canada Drive news. There is something else that needs to be considered. I saw a post on Stockhouse on Thursday at 2:35 p.m., well before the close and the budget news, indicating there was a rumour the federal budget was going to include an interest rate ceiling of 35% and this was why the stock price was going down. The poster stated the rumour was likely true as it had apparently come from an unnamed staffer. Obviously the rumour WAS true as the exact ceiling % was mentioned.

Seems to me this is the main reason why GSY's stock price dropped so much on Thursday - some people had this inside info and were selling the stock as a result. I know there is a lot of nonsense on Stockhouse, but occasionally you get something important.

In any event, after reading the press release that GSY put out last night, do you have any change in your opinion on the desirability of GSY as an investment? Does the stock still look cheap?
Read Answer Asked by Dan on March 29, 2023
Q: The last couple federal budgets have had measures that increased taxes on banks and insurers. Personally, I don’t like taxation based upon the nature of a business - I think it’s bad policy - but banks will always be viewed as targets for government revenues. Do you think it is reasonable to reduce/divest bank holdings based on the last few budgets tax targeted measures and concerns of this continuing in the future.
Read Answer Asked by Mark on March 29, 2023
Q: Could you please comment on TRI, its valuation and why it defies gravity seemingly independent of its peers? Does it have comparables and what is future growth potential?
Read Answer Asked by Peter on March 28, 2023
Q: There have been some some media reports today citing a federal source who says today's budget will include plans to go after predatory lending. I've seen some speculative chatter suggesting this could mean lowering the maximum interest charge rate possible from 60% to 30%. In your most recent report on GSY you state they originate loans up to $45,000 with rates between 19.9% and 46.9%. Is it known how much of their loan book is above that speculative 30% threshold, and how much of an impact might this have on their overall business if this 30% ceiling were to occur?
Read Answer Asked by Peter on March 28, 2023
Q: My TD Waterhouse account shows ZWB { yielding 8.2% } and HMAX { yielding 15.1% } . Could you please confirm both yield numbers at today's ETF prices ? And why one might buy the lower yielding ETF considering that HMAX has nearly double the yield and a little more diversified { 75% banks } ? ...... { I'm not concerned about the short history of HMAX } ..... Hypothetically, if it were " you " and you wanted a covered call financial ETF which one would you pick and why ? { Of if there is another one you would prefer over both }
Read Answer Asked by Garth on March 28, 2023
Q: Hello,
I already have a large position in TD and a small position in BMO, and would like to add to one or two more banks that won't keep me awake at night. Its quite clear that banks have trillion of dollars in loans . Last report that I read $4.12 trillion. And $1.5T of loans come due in Canada by January 2024. So even if 2% default, we have $30B in losses. And that's just Canada. Therefore, of the Canadian banks, which ones have the least exposure to the US. ? Today which ones are your recommendations?
Finally, in terms of deposit insurance, is it $100K per bank account or per individual taxpayer.? Brokerage account like RBC - Direct investing, the $1M is it for the total portfolio or just the cash? Again, per account or per investor?

Thank you
CR
Read Answer Asked by Carlo on March 28, 2023