Investment Q&A

Q: My long-term interest in VZ was partially founded on it's extremely low correlation with almost every other equity and fixed income category. I am "off" VZ due its recent issues and am curious as to whether you are aware of any similarly low correlation, reliably high income alternatives?

Q: I need to increase telecom portion of my portfolio, so I am considering buying one of these four: BCE, Telus, VZ, and VOD. Can you please rate these companies at the scale of 1-10 in terms of anticipated total return and safety (I am a conservative investor) over the next 5-10 years. Please disregard tax credit and US withholding tax consideration as I am in a high tax bracket and, if needed, can free up some room in RRSP. Thanks.

Q: Telecomm seems to be performing well, relatively speaking. How would you rank these telecoms for growth, dividend safety and inflation-resistance, in general? Are there other telecoms you prefer? THANKS!

Q: Regarding Ivan's Mar. 28 question about these ADR's: They are all UK domiciled corporations, and the UK has no tax on dividends. Therefore there is no dividend withholding tax, even in a non-registered account. This is one of the reasons I prefer to hold ADR's of UK-headquartered stocks for foreign content - I currently can't make use of the foreign tax credit. (BTI is another one.)

Q: Hi Peter & 5i, The above ADR's trade on US Exchanges among others,
whose dividends are passed on to Canadian investors without the dreadful withholding tax, even in taxable accounts. How would you rate them from good to not so good. Also your input on these and others that you can think of, would be appreciated. As always thanks for the great service. Ivan

Q: I’m interested in the French telecom ORAN. Does it have enough exposure to be considered a play on population growth in Africa? Would VOD be better? Also wondering if it’s a 5G play as well. Thanks for your thoughts.

Q: While very interested in the dividend and the very positive impact VOD has on the diversification of my portfolio, is the dividend sustainable? Is the stock capable of turnaround?

Q: There are a lot of prices outside of Tech, that are higher today than 2 - 5 Yrs ago. The ratings on a lot of these individual stocks, can also vary from "strong buy" to "overvalued". Given what we are going through with Covid, this has me concerned.
I really just want the dividend's and the original investment back, in say 15 Years. How ill advised would I be, to drop down to the above and maybe a few more like them. I will not out live hydrocarbons.
Thanks

Q: Which of the above has the most upside potential and safety
Thanks

Q: Can you please give me your opinion of VOD

Q: Revisiting a question asked in February by Paul.
Vodafone?

Q: What's your assessment of Vodafone. It now trades below BV and has a dividend of >9%.

Q: In view of the PROBABLE acquisition by AT&T (T.us) of Time Warner, would AT&T now appear more pretty in your eyes now than it seems to have been in the past? (I am unable to see some past responses) . OR do you believe that political and regulatory uncertainty over the AT&T proposal is such that T.us is still not attractive enough to hold, notwithstanding the Time Warner possibility. AT&T's attractive dividend is all very well but not if growth is unlikley.

I have both Vodafone VOD.us and AT&T (T.us) in a registered account. VOD gives me Europe and India exposure. VOD has also been strong past couple of days, but I am not clear why.
Given my comments above , which one (IF ANY) would you sell and PLEASE your reasoning would be greatly appreciated. Thanks


PS: Previously on your site there was a link to questions one has asked oneself. Is that feature still available? Not critical for me, but was handy when I didn’t get émail that my question had been answered.

Q: I have a question about 2351. What can you tell me about Vodafone? Is it worth a speculative buy? I can tolerate moderate risk.

Q: Hi Peter, I bought some VOD stock recently, primarily for dividends. Are dividends paid to Canadians in Registered accounts taxed in UK? Also, what about non-registered accounts and capital gains. Thank you.

Q: How do Canadian telecoms compare to US or European telecoms? If attempting to build a globally-diversified portfolio, which region would you suggest an investor go to for telecom exposure? Which companies would you recommend? Thanks in advance!

Q: Would you view this as a good entry point for a 3+ year hold? The stock price has not been this low since early 2013. At this level, there appears to be some potential for price appreciation along with the dividend.