Investment Q&A

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan & Co.
Capital Power is selling a new issue of preferred shares (Series 11). They are rate-resets with a 5.75% coupon. As a dividend investor, I like this yield, but am wondering about the strength of CPX's balance sheet. Can you please comment on the company's overall debt load, strength of the balance sheet, and riskiness of this particular issue? Thanks!

Q: I currently hold Royal preferred RY.PR.AZ series which Royal is offering to convert to floating rate non cumulative series BA., which will pay a quarterly dividend of 2.21% over T bill rate. If the Bank of Canada decides to lower its rates, will this not affect the dividend? Should I just stay with the AZ series for another 5 yrs? They are held in a RRIF

Q: Hi. I'm looking for some 'safe', high yield income for the next 2 years. Do you like any of these split-share corps. for my purposes? If you could please explain you answer. Thank you.

Q: Goodmorning All at 5i! What are your thoughts on split preferred shares as a conservative investment?Any caveats? Cheers, Tamara

Q: Preferreds declined in Nov-Dec and haven't come back. With interest rate peaking or flattening, is there any chance CPD or HPR will come back?

Q: Dear sirs,

Any insights on the new Surge cv debenture ( 6.75%,2024) ?
thank you

Q: to further clarify a question asked yesterday, what is the longer term (7-10 year) outlook for the capital(par) value of rate reset prefereds issued by enbridge, TransCanada, Brookfield and others issued in the 2014-2016 period that had reset rates without floors in the 2.6-2.7 % range plus bank of Canada 5 yr bond rates. is it worth holding onto them hoping they will appreciate if interest rates go up and the economy holds steady? what is the weight you would give them in a portfolio lasting at least 20 years... thanks

Q: what's your opinion on a 5 year reset preferred at 5.10% from BMO?

Q: What is your opinion on Dundee Corp Pref. E that currently yields around 13%.
Is it safe to invest in this?

Antony

Q: Can you tell me what am I missing what is the point in investing in Preferred’s his has lost 40% of its value since 2007 the chart looks horrible If you could time the market you could do better. You could be better off with just blue stocks and bonds.

Q: Are preferred shares suitable for the retail investor?
I admit to not fully understand them but it seems to me that:
- value is primarily impacted by interest rates, so constitutes an interest rate speculation
- the positive or negative effect of an interest rate change will vary depending upon the particular issue
- even on a reset date, an issue will not necessarily trade at par
- the characteristics of individual issues varies a lot, complicating comparisons
- thinner market for individual issues, making for bigger spreads
- trading prices are not transparent
- a pref share ETF may be a better choice
Comments?

Q: I would like to understand better why preferred shares, as represented by CPD, plummeted in 2007-2008 and again in 2013-2016. They dropped about 35% in the first (recession) episode and about 36% in the second one. Most recently, between September 1, 2018 and now, they have dropped about 13%. How vulnerable would CPD be to another huge drop if the economy continues to weaken through 2019?

Q: I have accounts with Wood Gundy and Investors Edge, so consequently had a mishmash of preferred share holdings. In an effort to build a better yielding, laddered, preferred share portion of my portfolio, I sold all current preferred positions and am planning a ladder with the above noted shares in a non-registered account. These will constitute about 20% of my total portfolio. Do you have any concerns with the choices, or rate resets in general ? I rate resets have not performed well, but the yields are quite attractive.

Q: Good Morning: I asked this question a couple of days ago but perhaps it got lost somehow. I hold two different PPL preferred shares and rec'd a few days ago an invitation re both of these to vote on whether or not I am in favour of the decision to sell more shares in each. I have to assume the purpose is to raise more capital even though the original no. of shares was probably capped. I confess that I have no idea whether as a current holder this is a positive, negative or neutral prospect. I'm hoping you can shed some light on what's at stake here for me and how I should therefore vote. The prefs in question are ppl. pr. c and ppl. pr.e. Thanks, Don

Q: Good afternoon 5I.

When I bought CPD I thought it would hold its value better then it has. I did feel better when I looked at your income portfolio I see its down 20% and you still hold it.
What will it take to make CPD change direction?
Do you still feel like its a good position to have in a income account?

Thanks

Q: Greetings,

i am trying to clean up my US 401K _ i own both of these for income - do i need both and will they act the same?

Thanks

Q: What do you think of this as a stable short term (matures 11/28/19) income security?

Q: I currently hold both.

Re ECN.PR.A
1. Reset Dec. 5 , 2021
2. Rate cannot be less than 6.5%
3. Protection against rising rates, but with rates neutral and/or falling there is an increase likelihood of redemption at $25.
4. Price of Pref. Has trended along with ECN. Cibc has a target of $5.00
5. Reset at 5 yr Canada plus 5.44 (1.523 + 5.44 = 6.963). My book value is $23.57 for a yield of 6.9%
6. Relative to ZPR the price has dropped.
7. I’ve been unable to see the trend on volume.
Question is to make sense of all this, Sell hold or sell half position and keep the cash for other opportunities.

Q: Hi, I can obtain 7ish% yields on various preferred share issues of INE, TA, NPI, CPX, ALA, BPO, Could you please rank these purely in terms of relative security of divided payments? Thanks.

Q: We’ve owned six rate-reset preferreds for close to 10 years. What an experience! One (RBC) was just recalled. Here’s our present status:
Book Market
BNS..PR.Z $238k $228k $10k
BMO.PR.Q $123k $114k $ 9k
TA.PR.J $125k $91k $34k
BAM.PR.R $121k $76k $45k
ENB.PF.E $112k $75k $37k
I worry less now about our preferreds as our IA predicts most of ours will get recalled. Your thoughts please? I 'think' there's a place in our portfolio for some blue-chip preferreds even if not recalled. Having said that, I still don’t grasp preferreds nearly as much as I should, eg what the principal amounts will be if not recalled. Your thoughts please? The huge gap for three of our five also causes me to worry a bit about what’s happening to retail holders like us. Thanks.