Investment Q&A

Q: Could you please comment on NA's earnings report? What does the market not like about it?

It's disappointing that Scotia Bank has for the second year now not raised its dividend.
Comparing stock charts of BNS to NA over any period, be it 5, 10 or 20 years, NA has consistently outperformed by a long shot. Would you find a switch from BNS to NA problematic (other than the "bigger, safer.....")?

Q: 1) My 20 ry old son wants to invest his money and seems to have high risk tolerance.. I'm generally more confident in the US mkt rather than the CDN. Is he better off...
a) transferring his CN money into US and taking the 24% hit and selling in 10 years the exchange rate might be...?
b) buying US stocks in their CDN version which is usually hedged?
c) or buying a US stock in a CDN acct and losing the exchange fee when buying and selling?

2) Can you pick 6 stocks that you think should do well for the next 5 years?

Q: My husband is 8 years away from retirement and wants to buy dividend stocks to leave mostly alone (not checking daily like me!) - he'll check in on it now and then. This is the list he's come up with - slightly higher positions in BCE, BPF.UN and slightly lower in AW.UN, CAR.UN and OLY, otherwise fairly evenly split. Do you see this a good list for his purposes, and is there anything you would leave off, or add? Any other alarm bells? Thanks!

Q: I need to sell three or four of these holdings from an unregistered account in the second half of 2024 starting now.

Can you please recommend a sell sequence and provide rationale.

Thanks,

Jim

Q: Just wanted to make you and your readers aware. BNS indicated they will not be raising their dividend for the entire year. They will not be considering an increase until 1 year from now. This bank raised twice a year for years. Then, in 2022 they only raised once by a small amount. Same story in 2023: only 1 small raise. Now, no raise at all for the entire year.

Please note that dividend increases are important to retirees.

Q: Dear Peter et al:

You can call me a "Nervous Nellie" if you want (!) but I am older than you and know that sometimes the story like TD to play out can take a looong time!

If one is sitting in a small loss position in TD, worth switching to another bank like RY or BNS? Or move into a riskier stock like GSY or an insurance co like SLF? I know it is comparing Apples VS Oranges. Nothing against TD. I am sure it will bounce back. But I can "see" it moving sideways for a while. Just an old man's opinion.

Q: BNS - Stock Charts on 05/28/24 as the next earnings, Yahoo Fin. has 03/01/24 as ex div. payment. The question is, if I sell on 03/02/24 will I receive the div.

LMN - I'm thinking of buying more of this stock. It appears to me that this is a good time, for it has traded sideways for the last week.
Question what is the outlook for this stock in 24/25 yrs.

PRL - Bruce Murray was on BNN Mar 19/24 and commented about Propel Holdings Inc. PRL-TSX. I checked on Yahoo Fin. and they indicated full year earnings 7 days ago beat expectations, but it doesn't appear the market was not impressed. What can you tell me about this company. Yahoo indicated some red flags.
So I would greatly appreciate your input.
Thank You very much Appreciate your service

Q: Which has the better overall potential return for the next 3 to 5 years and why?

Q: Can i have your perspective on the relative merits ( payoff) of private wealth companies like Blackstone, Carlyle Group as opposed to banks in either Canada or the USA such as a BNS or JPM , for example. ie would you expect better performance from the private wealth management or banks.

Thanks

Q: Hello - I am an income investor. My view has been to construct my portfolio with companies that pay growing dividends as a way to offset inflation. With BCE’s announcement of reduced expected dividend growth in the future I am considering shifting that portion of my portfolio somewhere else. Can you please provide the stated expected ranges of dividend growth (as a %) of these companies? Please take all the credits you wish. Thank you

Q: I am overweight in financials with BNS, TD, SLF, POW, Visa and underweight in Utilities. I was thinking of letting POW go. Thoughts on this?

For Utilities, I looked at TA with its very low P/E but it is still stuck in non-renewables at the moment. Thoughts on this? What utility (ies) would you suggest?

I am just asking for thoughts/suggestions.
Your advice is greatly appreciated.

Q: Have the following in a basket. Closely weighted. Looking to add a new similar weighting equity, want to buy and leave for 10 years. Can you provide top 3 suggestions please. As always, thank you.

Q: Down 17% on BNS. Would you sell for a tax loss or stay the course? Thanks for your support in 2023.

Q: Happily I do not hold either BNS or TD.

What I find very shareholder unfriendly is the bank setting aside $2 billion and $4 billion respectively for emplyee bonuses.

That is billion.

YTD BNS stock is down 8% and TD stock is down 6%.

Not sure why shareholders accept this type of expenditure.

If my math is right thats a $44,444 bonus for every one of TD's 90k employees and a $22,222 bonus for everyone of BNS worldwide employees.

Pretty excessive if you ask me, given their stock performance.


Sheldon

Q: I seem to recall one of the "Market Masters" saying the time to load up on Financials is after they have been crushed. I know you don't necessarily like the expression "load up" but if you wanted to increase your Cdn bank exposure are there one or two you think stand out as having the biggest bounce potential from here, or would you forget about trying to be right on one or two securities and just buy the ETF if you believe the whole sector might recover from these levels? Thanks for your thoughts.

Q: I am finally going to dump my AQN holdings and would like to redeploy capital to get similar dividend yield. I hold hold postions in all of the other stocks listed. How would you rank order them in terms of value/upside and are there any particular standouts which you would recommend for a buy now. Thanks

Q: Does BNS still have a good exposure to Central and South America ? How much and in what areas ? Is it still one of your preferred Cdn banks ? Than you.

Q: hypothetical question on loss provisions: should these provisions that are set aside (or at least a portion of them) ultimately not be necessary in the future, does that mean there is a potential for them to be reflected as revenue on future earnings and thus, result in a seemingly excellent quarter, year, or whenever this situation could happen? How is viewed from an accounting perspective?

Q: Here is a situation which is prevalent in many parts of my portfolio. for example, I have BNS at an average cost on ~$72. It closed yesterday at $64.50. If I go with 'timing the market' I should probably exit the stock. If I go with 'time in the market' I should continue to hold and collect the dividends.
Is there are 'rule' one can use and does that rule vary for large cap stocks like BNS or a small cap stock like PNE which I also own?

Q: With major concerns over Canadian mortgage debt, how stable are the major banks to mortgage defaults? How will they be able to withstand such losses?