Investment Q&A

Q: I am interested in your opinion relating to the safety and sustainability of the dividends on the company's preferred shares. The Preferred "F" shares reset in 2017 at + 317 basis points - thanks for your feedback

Q: Peter and Team,

Just a follow up on the question asked by another member just a bit earlier. You suggested CBO as a good ETF for corporate bonds.

Here are my questions:
1. If you buy a bond ETF, does the ETF price go down if interest rates go up or is it unaffected because the ETF manager will hold the bonds to maturity any way and get paid par?
2. Will this offer protection against rising rates (and maybe inflation?) due to the 1-year out maturities getting rolled into new 5-year maturities ever year?
3. Is this a better choice than owning a few bond positions outright along with a stock portfolio (assume diversification)?

Just as a comment, in my ideal world, I want to buy bonds that pay me back my money at maturity and give me yield along the way. I want to preserve capital with these choices and am not trying to hit a "home run."

Thanks!

Q: Your thoughts on this investment please and on Bombardier in general. I have held this for many years. Thanks

Q: Hi Team,
I am looking to buy shares of the Magnum Hunter preferreds. There are 3 series- C,D,E. I am relatively new to buying pref shares- is there a way to quickly assess the difference between series. Is there one you could recommend of the three? I plan to hold it for 3 years. Thank you

Q: Hi Peter and 5iResearch Group,
As you have noted that interest rates will likely remain low for sometime, would you recommend using ETFs for medium and/or long-term bond portfolio positions vs. purchasing individual bonds. Also, should both US and Cdn. bonds in each/either category be purchased? Thank you. Linda

Q: Good morning,

Husky Energy issued a 4.50% rate reset (3.13%)preferred this am- what is your opinion on these new shares?

Thank you
Brad

Q: Now that this bond has recovered, would you advise continuing to hold it or sell it. My portfolio is based on your growth model, and it represents about half my assets. I also have a pension that I live on as a retired person. Many thanks, Peter and 5i team!
Ellen

Q: I own the Vicwest convertible debenture. The conversion price will no longer be of any consequence after the takeover. Do you know what will happen to it once the takeover of Vicwest is complete?

Q: I bought Argent EN-B CV 6.5% 31 Dec. 18 I paid $9000 and it is down 39% since purchase. Will I still get all my money back at the maturity date? They are still paying the interest each quarter. I assume if they go bankrupt I won't but what if they stay solvent.
Many thanks, and I will keep recommending people to your site.
Sincerely, Al

Q: Would appreciate your opinion on the above two reset preferred, the yield to reset looks high to me for the risk on these preferred? Don't understand why?

Q: Gents,

I have room in the "speculative" part of my fixed income allocation and was considering the convertible debentures of CUS. I realize you do not like the common shares at the moment but how do you feel about the debt side?

It's a simple question with a difficult answer. Do you think CUS will have the resources to pay off the convertible debt in 2021?

Regards
John

Q: Hello 5i,
I will be building out the bond part of my portfolio in time. My thinking is to structure that part of the portfolio with BB- to BB+ bonds that have a time horizon of eight years max.

What do you think of this strategy?
Thanks,

Q: Are there any convertible debentures that you would recommend at this time?

Q: A portion of my overall portfolio is perpetual preferred shares (down 4.5%) and I am considering selling and replacing with rate-reset preferred shares. I would appreciate your comments on the two types of preferreds and your recommendation for 4 or 5 rate-resets. In addition to the BCE.PR, I currently hold BAM, GWO, MFC, and SLF preferreds.

Q: Hello;

I am wondering what your thoughts are on TA preferred shares. Most of them are well below par but offer a nice yield at these lower values. So, is there any chance they could return to par, rate re-set is in 2016 or this a value trap in light of company conditions of late?
Thanks for your opinion and great service!
Jerry

Q: I was looking for fixed income alternatives back in 2012 for my RRSP account. I invested in a convertible debenture FTP.DB which I planned to hold to maturity, Dec. 31, 2016. I thought its coupon rate at 6.5% provided a good return relative to other fixed income investments. As you know the price of Fortress Paper's common shares and its convertible debentures have dropped considerably since then. Do you think I have legitimate concern on whether the company will be solvent in 2016 to buy back the debentures? Would it be better to cut my losses now?

Q: PWB is issuing a series of preferred shares. Can I please have your take on what your comfort level would be with these?

Q: I find preferred shares a very complex area (other than perhaps fixed date callable/retractable). Could there be some catches to them requiring a review of the prospectus.

For resets, I don't suppose that yield to maturity takes into account whether the reset provisions result in an equivalent security e.g a change in spread to Canada's relative to the spread on original issue date. Or can one depend on such a change not occurring.

Q: Aside from cash, money market and buying bonds and holding the bonds until maturity where do u suggest one puts cash/profits?
1) an ETF for 3 to 6 months
2) ETF for 6 to 12 months
3) ETF for 12 months and longer
4) Any other things u might recommend - preferred shares?

Thank you.

Q: In my portfolio I have 15% in preferreds, thats my fixed income, 8% of that is in Great West Life GWO-R, Fortis-J, Power Financial-S,all of which are straight perpetuals. The other 7% is in CPD,Claymore Preferred. I paid $25.00 for each of these Preferreds, so am down on each one, they pay a dividend of 4.7%.
With the news of interest rates about to rise, should I sell these? Thank you and cheers to Peter!