Investment Q&A

Q: Retired, dividend-income investor. Sitting on roughly 5-6% cash for topping up existing positions to, over time, hit Asset Allocation targets.

Candidates = BCE, GSY, HHL, HMAX, XST, ZUT. If I was deciding to deploy funds to create the largest total return over the next year or two, from their existing valuation, a) in what order would you deploy the funds and b) a short qualifier for each position?

My view = buy in this order:
ZUT = good momentum, room to run before hitting earlier peak
GSY = good value, $150-155 should be excellent value
XST = graph against 50 and 200mda...very tight chart....could buy anytime
HMAX = good value, banks should run
HHL = healthcare stocks should get over their fear of their new boss in a few months....or not. Give it some time.
BCE = last on the list. Just rebought after cap loss capture. Give it even more time.

Thanks for your help....Steve

Q: Retired (70 yrs old), dividend-income investor. Been meaning to ask this question for a long time. We run a concentrated portfolio of roughly 10 ETFs and 10 stocks, plus fixed income on top. Our pro-rated MER for the equity ETFs is 0.64 and for the entire portfolio is 0.38.

I use the ETFs above that are sector ETFs (like HHL, NNRG, XIT) as my proxy for the sector and am ok with the trade off of paying fees for a sector ETF instead of having lots of stocks.

I then add my individual stock selections to achieve my targeted Asset Allocation for the entire portfolio (like AD, BCE, FTS, GSY, RY, NWC, PBH, TRP, WSP, etc). I weight each of these relative to my risk tolerance.

Does this make sense to you? Does my "sector ETF" make sense, especially with a potentially large weighting in one ETF. Virtually all of my ETFs are capped at around 7% of the equity portfolio and the stocks are capped at 5% max.

Your thoughts on my strategy and on my MER....thanks...Steve

Q: Do you know if there is a consumer staple etf that trades on the TSX?

Q: Can you share your top picks for Canadian and US ETF's that would cover the relevant sectors (e.g. tech, industrials etc.)? Please take as many credits to answer this as required.

Q: Good morning all,
When I took a look at my portfolio this morning I noticed a 50% discrepency in XST's share price. Can you confirm if a split occured and/or was announced? And is there a website (Blackrock had nothing on the ETF page) that can indicate such a situation.
Thank you.

Q: Hi...kinda laughing right now. Lately XST has been trading over $100/share. Today (Aug 09/24), it is trading $50.87....three different sources...ditto. I checked the main 4 co's in the ETF...all normal, no big drop. To me, it is obviously a glitch of some sort?

Agree?

Q: 5i’s opinion of XST for a 5-yr hold in RESP?
I see its 5yr & 10yr returns are 10% & 12%, its 3 largest holdings (ATD, Loblaws, MRU) total about 60% of the fund, and it has 11 holdings.
I would basically purchase for diversification as opposed to buying the main holdings individually and paying commissions. Thank you.

Q: I am pretty close to full positions on LIFE, XIT and XST. Also, I am sitting on <5% cash, being basically fully invested. Over the next few months I plan to top up these 3 ETFs.

In what order would you add to each of these 3, based on their current valuations, compared to their historic valuations as well as their potential?

My thoughts were LIFE, then XST, then XIT (although I suspect your order would be XIT-LIFE-XST). Please include a brief "why".

Thanks for your help...Steve

Q: I own a variety of dividend ETFs , only utilities ETF and reit ETF are at a loss actually (5-9%), reits ETF being the lowest.
Is it a good time to "add on" in those 2 sectors and if not, what sectors for a revenue objective would be the safest considering the volatile markets and numerous world uncertainties ??

Q: From a value perspective, where the current price is compared to it's historical price range and it's future potential, in what order would you add to these equities (NTR, FTS, XIT, XST, ZUT) to reach asset allocation goals?

I understand it is not apples to apples, due to some of the equities are stocks vs ETFs; and some are conservative vs aggressive.

When looking at both the technicals and fundamentals, I would suggest that NTR and ZUT are undervalued and could be earlier purchases, compared to FTS, XIT, XST. Purchases will be spread out over several months.

Your thoughts on the order?

Thanks...Steve

Q: I was updating my asset allocation model and took a closer look at XST (Consumer Staples (ETF).

RBC has it as 75% Staples and 25% Discretionary. What are your thoughts...should I use 75-25 or 100-0? My model is very easy to update.

Thanks...Steve

Q: Retired, dividend-income investor. I have funds available over time to invest in / top-up some of my positions to meet long term asset allocation targets. I plan on continuing to invest these funds over a number of months...as I have been over the past 8 months.

The question is = in what order do I buy the following = XST, XIT (several BNN-ers say to avoid adding to technology at this point), BCE, BNS, LIFE, ZUT.

One method is to wait for these securities to hit my price targets (based on hitting a combination of fundamental and technical targets (a little bit is kind of bottom-feeding).

A 2nd method is looking at setting the order of buying, based on where one thinks each security is relative to their historic value.

Ignore asset allocation...these are smaller amounts and the AA is reasonably good right now.

My suggested order, subject to where each security's price is at (please shoot holes in my plan):
Sept = BNS,
Oct = XST-#1 (in 2 tranches-spread out),
Nov = ZUT-#1 (ditto),
Dec = XIT-#1 (ditto),
Jan = XST-#2,
Feb = ZUT-#2,
Mar = XIT-#2,
As each hits their price target (minor adds) = BCE, LIFE.

Please state your order and why.
Thanks...much appreciated...Steve

Q: I manage my daughter and her husband's investments. They currently own the above equities (except XST), plus fixed income. I would define them as conservative investors.

Regarding their asset allocation, I am still in the process of building out their portfolio. They are a little light on Consumer Staples. I was trying to find a suitable ETF and came up with XST.

Q#1 = What are your current thoughts on XST? The constituent holdings actually look pretty good. The various rates of return also look good.

Q#2 = Are there other ETFs that I should consider? I couldn't find a BMO version. I have read the past questions on XST and it appears to me that XST is the front runner (compared to VDC and XLP), when looking at past performance.

Thoughts? Agree?
Thanks for your help...much appreciated...Steve

Q: My portfolio analytics says I'm low on consumer staples.

I'm considering the above companies but also wondering if the ETFs listed might be the better way to go.

Please comment and rate these companies and ETFs.

Thanks as always for your insight.

Q: These are my holding inside my TFSA. I am 25 years old and would like to know your opinion on this Portfolio and if you think these are good longterm holdings or if they could be replaced with a better investment (please indicate what company you would replace with). Also witch companies would you consider a Buy in 2023 from these holdings for my 6,500$ contribution room.

Thanks

Q: I am a retired income investor. All my income except CPP comes from my investments. Right now I am quite well diversified and I did not go to much cash so far nor do not intend to. However, I am now thinking that I should make some changes to be underweight some sectors and overweight others. Right now I am overweight ENB (I consider it a utility), BEP.UN, T, SLF, the Cdn banks and BCE. I also own a lot of the various BMO covered calls ETFs. Two areas I am light is Consumer Staples which the gurus say will hold up well now and I hold no US stocks. One can argue whether we are now in recession or it is coming but I am sure it is or will be real especially since our government says it does not think about economic policy. I am thinking of reducing the covered calls and increasing my exposure to stocks because I believe the stocks will perform better during and as we come out of this. This will further skew my diversity but these are not normal times.
I would like your thoughts on this and a recommendation for "safe" income producing Consumer Staples and a US ETF.
Many thanks

Q: Hi.

My portfolio analytics says I'm low on Consumer Defensive. Can you give me 1-2 Canadian stock suggestions and maybe 1-2 ETFs in the US and Canada.

Thanks,
Robert

Q: What are the Canadian equivalents to the NYSE's XLP? I'm looking for an ETF on the TMX which has decent liquidity and market cap.

I'm thinking it might be better for me to simply buy several Cdn consumer stocks and 'build' my own ETF.

Thanks...

Q: Hi,

I am interested in $Cdn ETFs that are designed for inflation and where the underlying securities have pricing power? If any, do you have a favourite? If you have a favourite, the reasons why?

Many Thanks,
Derek

Q: can you recommend a US and Canadian defensive ETF and a US healthcare ETF?
thanks