Investment Q&A

Q: I am currently break even on my BCE holding. What is your current opinion on the stock given it's recent strength despite the general market weakness? I am certainly expecting a dividend cut starting with the July payment. Would you regard it as a hold or sell?

Q: Hi Peter, I have 100 shares of BCE both in my RRSP and TFSA accounts both at a loss of course. I've been using it as income. Would it be wise to sell and buy back after a month my break even point is around 47.00 and 49.00. If you would replace what are some stocks that could replace BCE. Thanks

Q: Relate to my earlier question on BCE, to fund a single lot buy of GOOG after selling BCE, to fund the gap I need to trim or sell one or some of my existing USD holdings: BN, BAM, BEP, BIPC, BIP, SHOP, VGT, PLTR, ICLN, PRMB. I like them all. What order would YOU consider in selling/trimming? Most have some tax implications due to lengthy holding periods.

Q: Can you explain your reasons for keeping BCE in the income portfolio?

Thanks

Q: To maintain comm sector exposure and to raise some USD thinking of selling my BCE holding in my USD cash account to buy one of the other two. Which one would be your choice today?

Q: Given all the interest in tax loss selling for BCE. What do you think of the reverse trade (buy BCE before end of year)? Or is this another Nortel?

Q: Interesting potential entry point below $35 CAD today. 11.4% yield usually a sign of a dividend cut in the near future. I know the company has communicated that it intends to maintain and not grow the dividend over the next year.

What’s your take on the risk to the share price of a dividend cut at current price levels? Ie. is it mostly priced in here at $35?

Q: Like many others, I’m very frustrated with the performance of both Bell and Telus. (Bell is held in a non-registered account so could be a tax-loss candidate. Unfortunately Telus is held in my RRIF.)

Due to the decline in both BCE and T, Portfolio Analytics indicates that I'm underweight in the Telecom sector - not surprising! With such headwinds in this sector, do you see the need to replace Bell with Quebecor to stay in the same sector, or should I accept that being underweight can be a good thing?

The reason I’m considering QBR.B is because we recently switched from Bell to Freedom for our mobile phones. As well, their chart looks a lot better than either Bell or Telus.

Would you sell BCE to buy QBR.B or would you use the proceeds to buy into a sector with some tailwinds?

What sector(s) do you feel have tailwinds going forward?

Your comments are valued greatly. Please deduct as many questions as you see fit.

Q: I bought my first 100 shares of BCE on Oct 22, 2014 at $47.79. Ten (10!) years later it is $38.94/share. I estimate that over those 10 years I have received $32.34 in dividends - so that helps. But holding a stock whose share price is down 20% after 10 years is not something to be proud of.

I am torn with what to do with my BCE shares. Sell all, sell half, buy more? I am trying to maintain a diversified portfolio by having exposure to the Telecom Sector, and I am not interested in replacing BCE with Telus, Rogers, etc. I already own Telus, and am down on that as well.

Telecom stocks make up about 7% of my portfolio today (my target was 8%), so if I sold BCE my % in Telecom stocks would decrease further.

If I sold any or all of my BCE, the first choice would be to replace it with something in the Telecom sector from the US (not Canada!) to keep it from falling too far away from my target of 8%. What US telecom stocks would you suggest that are performing better than BCE, T? The Telecom sector has NOT been the place to be this year, and the future does not look any better, so it is hard to maintain my sector diversification target.

For a moderate growth investor with a medium risk tolerance, what % of the portfolio would you suggest be in Telecom stocks? Is an 8% target too high?

Q: rating

Q: Given the news today and the share drop, would you be a buyer of Bell today?

Q: What are your thoughts on the c rating downgrade ? Dividends are currently over 100% of FCF. How do they maintain the div under this situation

Q: I suppose you are now used to your subscribers thinking you have the answer to absolutely everything financial and often otherwise. It's partially your own fault because you do such a good job of replying to the questions. So let me join the club of way-out speculators seeking your views on this headline in the Financail Post today:

CRTC expands ruling to allow smaller internet providers access to Bell and Telus fibre networks

Can you put your gage on this throbbing issue and speculate on the financial impact on the two internet service providers?

Many thanks.

Q: Hi team. I have ZWU as my main utilities holding @ 11% and I also have positions in BCE and ENB on their own. ZWU has both BCE and ENB in their top 10 holdings. In your opinion am I participating in "di-worsification" by holding BCE and ENB outside of ZWU. Would you sell both BCE and ENB and fold the funds back into ZWU? I'm ok letting ZWU go to +/- 15% of my portfolio. Appreciate your thoughts. Bill.

Q: Seeing as BCE is down, would it make sense to reduce BCE and enter into RCI.A and QBR.A. ? They seem more cyclical and are down as well. Or ride out BCE?

Q: We always heard Buy Low Sell high. Will this apply to these two companies , being at their 5 yr. low? If they were to cut their dividend by 30%, their dividend will still be 4% +, and the price will drop even further. Would then be another time to scoop up some more?

Q: I like ATS but am down a bit over the past couple of years. PA suggests I boost my US positions. Im not optimistic about Canada's medium term growth prospects when compared to the US so this might be a good time to make some portfolio adjustments. I'm considering selling ATS and buying a US industrial, perhaps URI. Your thoughts, please. In the same vein, I am looking at Canada's telecom sector and I'm down in both BCE and T. Of course, both pay hopefully sustainable dividends. The US telco sector doesn't look much better. I'm considering bailing on the telcos and adding QCOM as a quasi-surrogate. I know it's rated as tech but telco's are all giving me headaches. Your thoughts please. Al

Q: Hello team,

I have all four of these in my income portfolio. The telco's for the divs and Park Lawn and BEP for income and growth. All four are down substantially (20-30%) from purchase in fall of 2022. The news out on BCE is less than flattering, while there has not beeen much on PLC. The other two I assume are biding their time, and should/might rerate with a drop in interest rates. I am a long term buy and hold and am quite satisfied with the income aspect of my portfolio, but my finger keeps getting itchy each time I see a drop in SP, for no reason at all.

My question is, will these Companies need rate cuts in order to rerate, or is their business that bad that their SP continues to stagnate. I know the other shoe about the economy improving, but that applies to all stocks, and have taken that into consideration.

Thanks for the service, I'd be lost without it. My former finacial advisor, not such a big fan!

Q: Hello, if one had to sell one of the above stocks which one would it be and why, my time frame is 2-3 years.

Thank you

Q: A dividend account, BCE down 16,%, BIP.Un down 14.5%, BEPC down 23%, DOO down 23% as well. Also own BN and BAM. Brookfield entities are 17% of the portfolio.
Do I sell my losers, knowing they're suffering from higher interest rates or simply stay patient?
Do you see concentration risk ? How high would you let the Brookfield entities run? I think DOO is a good firm but it could go. Please deduct questions as you see fit. Thank you in advance. David