Investment Q&A

Q: Hello 5i team,
What would be a good Canadian preferred shares ETF with a decent dividend?
Thanks,
Andrew

Q: To add to your response to Carl's question "why would anyone ever buy pref shares" - Hymas Investment Counsel specializes in Pref Shares and has a number of publications available on their website including "Why Invest in Preferred Shares" and "Security of Income versus Secrity of Principal". These might be helpful. www.himivest.com.

Q: Income investments - preferred shares
On Jan 4, you posted an answer for an income investor, expressing approval of ZPR (BMO Laddered Preferred Share Index ETF). I am somewhat cynical about preferred shares, their being subject to the interest rate sensitivity of bonds, lacking the upside of common stock and generally lacking a fixed redemption date or any other assurance of capital preservation. I wonder whether, even on a reset date, they would necessarily trade at their face value. If I am right, I can't understand in what circumstances they would be suitable (without fixed redemption or as an interest-rate play with a high coupon). What am I missing?

Q: Regarding your answer provided to Carla today on CVD and CPD, I understand your comments on CVD, but I am still not clear on how rising interest rates can impact CPD. How do rising interest rates affect a preferred share ETF such as CPD? Should I be cautious about buying at this time? Thanks for all the awesome info you provide.

Q: Hello,

Are the distributions for CPD and CVD considered dividend or income? Which would be better in a TFSA and which would be better in a non-registered? My understanding is that both of these ETFs should do well in a rising interest rate environment.

Best,

Carla

Q: I wish all 5i staff and they families Season's Greetings' I hope 2017 sees our portfolios grow ever healthier.

I want to gradually add some preferred shares to my portfolio, partly in lieu of some fixed income. In looking at potential candidates, I am attracted to the above three ETFs, particularly ZPR with its laddered feature. Do you have any thoughts? Are all distributions of such ETFs taxed as dividends? Thanks, Bill

Q: Hello and Merry Christmas to all at 5I.
Moving forward I have new funds to add to my portfolio in the fixed income sector. My RRSP portion is fully utilized for fixed income using CBO and XBB so this is new fixed income funds outside of a sheltered account should I still use XBB/CBO or is there some other fixed income source that would be more beneficial that I should consider.

Q: I manage my husband's and my TFSA's as if they are one account so we do not duplicate the stocks in the 2 accounts and can have a reasonable size of position. We have a similar weighting of ALA, REI.UN, SIA, WSP, ZEB, BEP.UN, CGX, and HR.UN and PKI, and a double weighting of CPD and CDZ. We currently have about $110K in the two accounts and $20K of that is in cash. Can you suggest what we might add to or change in the above list, considering that we prefer income paying securities with some growth prospects and want the TFSA's to act independently of our other investments as a relatively conservative growth vehicle.

Q: Hello Peter, Manulife, Enbridge, Royal bank have been offering preferred-shares. Would appreciate your help selecting the best and their trading symbols. Should I also consider I-shares and or Horizons preferred shares? Your opinion of their vulnerability in view of future interest rate increases is greatly appreciated. Many thanks,
J.A.P. Burlington

Q: In the first few days after the Trump win the pref ETF's moved up. Now they have dropped below where they were pre-election. Do you anticpate a continued drop and another bad run for prefs in 2017?

Q: I see that a number of very interest-sensitive vehicles are still included in your income portfolio such as CPD, XHY and BEP.un and a few others.
Given what happened last week and right now with interest rates should we be lightening our position on these types of investments? Put another way, is it your call that medium and long rates will keep on going up?

Q: How would you suggest I invest $100,000 in fixed income today, or would you recommend I hold the cash position into December? My only fixed income holding at present is a $200,000 5 year GIC ladder. Thanks, Barrie

Q: Hello,

What would be your current 3 favourite rate reset preferred shares?

Regards,

Robert

Q: Hi guys,

My portfolio is $500,000 with $450,000 in equities and $50,000 in fixed income. I just changed my asset allocation from 100% equities to 90% equities and 10% fixed income. I have $50,000 cash to invest in fixed income and I put my first tranche of $10,000 in CPD for the yield and to gain from rising rates if and when they occur. I was reading some previous questions and you talked about having ETFs as a minimum 5% weighting because of the number of securities they hold. In this case with CPD, it is currently 2% and I will add to it as opportunities arise. I debated splitting the 5% between CPD (3%) and HPR (2%), which is an active traded preferred share fund. Is this recommended for a total weighting of 5% in preferred shares or should I just stick to CPD. My other 5% weighting will be in a laddered corporate bond ETF since I think it provides better protection against rising rates that a government bond ETF and also has a better yield. Agree?

Thanks for your help,
Jason

Q: Hi 5i Team, can you please explain the impact of interest rates of CPD. I understand that last year the rate cut had a negative impact on the ETF and that a couple of years ago talk of rising interest rates hurt preferds. Can you please explain the impacts of either rate increase or cut on CPD?
Thanks

Q: Dividend 15 Split Corp. Preferred Shares DFN.PR.A has been rock steady for the last ten years or so (except for a plunge in '08-'09), paying 5%, while CPD and ZPR took a plunge starting in 2015. Why the steady performance of DFN.PR.A? How much would you recommend buying it? Thank you.

Q: Hi Peter and team, If interest rates go up in US but down in Canada what is the likely impact on CPD. Also, in a broad market selloff of greater than 10% how strong is the correlation of CPD to the overall market. Thanks

Q: What do you think of taking a position for a 5 yr hold in either of these? If you would take a position, which would you choose?

Thx, Carl

Q: I have these prefs in my rrsp,they are down a lot,paying between 5.5 and 6.4%,would I be better off holding them and hope they recover or selling them and buying etfs such as cdp,zdv or cdz.Any suggestion you guys have would be greatly appreciated.

Q: Hi !! It is me again. Would you consider it be time to invest in preferred shares again? If you would you recommend straight preferreds or floating rate? Could you also recommend some? Cheers, Tamara