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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: RBC and a number of the other banks have recently issued preferred shares(series BM ?) where the dividend rate will reset every five years at a rate equal to 4.80 per cent over the 5-year Government of Canada bond yield. Do you think these are a good buy for income and safety? If yes are they available now and what is the symbol of the Royal Bank version ? Thanks Ken
Read Answer Asked by Ken on March 23, 2016
Q: Because I am primarily a dividend investor , I don't really have a "sell discipline" for bluechip stocks and simply ride the ups and downs while dripping dividends. This has been painful for pipelines and REITS and banks etc, some of which are down substantially. Some would say it's wiser to sell at breakdown points such as 200 day average, or sell a portion when the stock is up 50%. I have only sold rarely for re-balancing and so have taken some lumps lately. Any words of re-assurance would be appreciated.
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by richard on January 18, 2016
Q: Canadian banks have all dropped in value YTD by up to 6%. I understand that this is due in part to concerns about energy-related loan losses as well as high consumer debt levels. What is your call on what will cause the declining trend to stop, and when that might be ? From a technical point of view, where is the support level for RY ?
Read Answer Asked by Don on January 14, 2016
Q: Just wondering about your take on the Canadian Banks going to the yearend. I bought them in the spring for a long term hold and am down about 10%. I know short term trades are mugs game but am considering them for some early tax loss selling and buying back later on in the fall, after 3Q earnings and the election. Doesn't seem to be much catalyst for them to go higher and with all the uncertainty I wonder if they'll drop some more.
Read Answer Asked by Lloyd on September 15, 2015
Q: 1:10 PM 26/08/2015
Hello Peter
I am interested in buying one or two of RY, CM, TD, SLF, GWO, MFC. Would you comment on the robustness of their balance sheets and provide some numbers on their Debt/Equity and Debt/Cash Flow ratios, Dividend growth rates, and possible "Black Swan Events". I look at various financial website sources and the numbers for these companies are all over the shop.
Thank you. Paul K.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on August 27, 2015
Q: I received a lump sum and for a short time I would like to put the funds into some stable stocks who pay a quarterly dividend and who's X dividend date is from now until the end of April. I would like an annual yield of 3.5 - 8%. I will then bleed the money out into a dividend growth model of 5i stocks. I have looked at 28 stocks and only found 2 Ry 4/21 & pot 4/9 x dates. The stocks I have checked are Ala, bus,td, bce, enb, xtc,and,ipl, key,pki, ppl,stn,vet,ten,win, syz, ago, cox, bin, dh, slf, wsp, t, wsp,van,tcp. Thank you very much, your site has incredibly valuable information which I check each day. mike
Read Answer Asked by Mike on April 02, 2015
Q: Hi guys,

I want to limit exposure to the financial sector to 20% of my portfolio. I currently own TD and BNS and with the recent pullback in the major CDN banks, I'm thinking of adding 2 additional banks and I'm thinking about BMO and RY. I don't want to invest in an insurance company since no one can be sure when rates go up and I'm not sure about Home Capital Group since it is more concentrated in its business than the major CDN banks and the yield on the major CN banks are twice that of HCG? Your thought? It is risky to hold 4 major CDN banks in my portfolio if overall exposure is capped at 20%?

Thanks,
Jason
Read Answer Asked by Jason on March 16, 2015
Q: Hello, I have recently reviewed the management fees on RRSP accounts I have with an investment firm. I have reviewed the funds that They have me currently invested in and have found similar mutual funds with RBC, all D series funds. I have calculated the loss due to higher MER and am shocked by he difference it would have made in my accounts. While I have money that I invest on my own, I like the idea of having some stashed away in managed funds (I like doing my research on smaller companies and trust the bigger names to the professionals). The "d series" funds with RBC have considerably lower MER. Is that the best way for me to reinvest my mutual funds once I move them over to RBC? Is there a better or cheaper way to invest those funds? ETF's you would suggest? Is there anything out there that would suit my needs better than the RBC D series funds? I have approx 1/3 of my investments tied up in these funds at this time with my current investment firm. For what it's worth I suggest anyone who has Mutual funds with an investment firm look at the MER for each fund they are invested in. There are cheaper ways to have your money managed, the best I found so far are RBC D series funds. If you have a better suggestions, I am all ears.
Read Answer Asked by Gerald on March 13, 2015
Q: I am developing my portfolio to be an income generator and like many Canadians, have a significant portion of my capital in Canadian banks. What do you feel is a suitable % range for Canadian banks in an income portfolio? I am certain I am too heavily invested today in the banks but the recent drop was too inviting so more had to be bought. Thanks in advance.
Read Answer Asked by Mark on February 09, 2015
Q: Hello Peter, I wish to better understand why P/B ratio is important. What is the ideal P/B ratio for a big cap company? The P/B ratio of Royal Bank on TMX Money is 2.36, and the same ratio for National Bank is 1.96, which one has the best P/B ratio? Thanks, Gervais
http://web.tmxmoney.com/quote.php?qm_symbol=RY:TSX
Read Answer Asked by Gervais on May 26, 2014