Investment Q&A

Q: I just became aware of CIPF (Canadian Investor Protection Fund). One Million coverage per brokerage account in case your broker has an issue like bankruptcy theft etc. Would you advise limiting the amount held at any one brokerage less than on million. And once you reach one million do you split the money into two accounts to keep it under. It seems this would make sense to take full advantage of this protection. Similar to limiting the amount invested in a GIC or HISA to $100,000 to take advantage of CDIC... Or am I just being paranoid?
Man

Q: Hello Peter and Team.

I’m an income investor and currently have 27% of my portfolio in cash.

The other 73% is distributed as follows:

US Tech 11%
Oil & Gas 4%
Consumer 8%
Cdn Banks 12%
Utilities 26%
REITs 12%

I’ve been in and out of the Telecoms and think they are somewhat expensive right now. The Cdn Banks on the other hand look like an attractive sector to add to and I can collect the 4% dividend while I wait. I have a full position already in BNS and would like to add Royal and TD. Maybe 6% in each? or should I just stay in cash and wait for a further pullback? I’m worried about the US markets correcting which will just take everything else down with them regardless.

What do you think?

I know I need to work on better diversification but I don’t want to put new money to work just for the sake of diversification as I view this to be a ongoing discipline. Right now the CDN banks are the only thing I see as a strong buy aside from O&G which is interesting but still a little too risky for me to commit new money to vs. the Banks or am I missing something?

Thanks as always for your excellent advice. Scott

Q: Re Gerald's comment today (RY - Royal Bank) and his discovery of D-Series funds available thru RBC. I'm sure you will find this to be true for all banks as adverse to their affiliated Discout/Self-Directed brokerage's.
IE at TDDI (TD Direct Investing) they also offer D-Series funds.
I would suggest though that Gerald check-out their eSeries Index Funds. Out of the 17 listed on their Website 12 have MER's below 1% and NO Commisions to buy/or sell.

Q: Does it make sense to hold td on the american side currency gain/

Q: For James, I too received the TD dividend (and a CXR one) in my WebBroker account showing "Trade date" Feb. 2 & "Settlement date" Jan.31. Because the payment date of Jan. 31 was a non banking day, a Saturday, the next banking day, Monday is the actual credit day to appear in the account. I know banks love to nickel and dime us but had James written a cheque for the 31st on the strength of the dividend being deposited and the bank bounced it because it only showed in the account on the 2nd I believe he would have a legitimate beef. Anyway, any profit made by banks in this fashion will eventually be returned to the shareholders, us, via dividends.

Q: James asked on the 3rd about TD dividend not being paid as he expected. For my RBC Dominion account it came through on the morning of the 2nd. Please share with him (if you wish) as maybe there is another issue related to his account.

Q: As of tonight, February 2, 2015, TD still has not paid its dividend which was promised to its shareholders for January 31st. I wonder if any TD Waterhouse members received their dividends on time? I wonder what TD would charge me if I was late paying them for a loan of $50.00 (roughly the cost of one share)? I wonder if my service provider will record the dividend as being received on Feb when the dividend finally arrives or will it back dated to Jan 31?

Q: Hello 5i team

TD is close to itès high for year. I am up over 15% and it now represents 12.4% of my portfolio.

Would you advise I trim this holding back to 10%... my original allocation

Thanks for all you do

Gord

Q: Peter, with banks earnings starting early December can you give us what to expect from the six banks? Which bank will raise dividends? Do you expect good results and what to watch from their earnings? Thanks in advance as always.

Q: Hi Team. This is a follow up to Carl's question and your answer. "Is it time to start picking away at good stocks?" and you answer "the smart money should start picking at good stocks". I have had TD for at least 10 years. My Financials weighting with BNS and others from your PFs was about 17% 2 months ago. By good stocks do you mean even the ones "in the red" in my PFs or "in the green" because with your guidance I know they are ALL good stocks. I have BNS in 2 PFs and one of them has really gone down due to when I bought. The other down (in the red) but not as much. Thankyou for your on going "KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON" guidance

Q: hello 5i team

read an interesting article mentioning the Graham number for TD based on earnings and book value at $47.47 which means at current prices, the stock is over valued by approx 13%.

Can you comment of this and the Graham Number principles and it's accuracy?

Thanks for all you do

Gord

Q: Kudos Peter and Team !

Besides SLF, could you give some ideas for companies that will benefit in a rising rate environment. Does this include the Banks ?

Thank you.

Q: Hello Peter,
From my understanding, the Canadian Banks typically are considered good value when their PE ratios are under 15. I am noticing that the ratios are getting close to 15 (i.e TD). From a technical standpoint, the RSI is still good (under 70) so am wondering if you would consider the banks approaching full value on fundamentals. I understand there is more to considering full value (ROE values etc), but when the banks approach PE of 15, is it time to reduce the weightings. Thanks for your advice. umed

Q: I hold 6.25% TD.PRK-T preferred shares which will mature on July 31. I have the option of converting them into Series L, non-cumulative, floating rate issue 4.33% + the average previous 90 days T-Bill rate. Can you please advise me if this is a good choice assuming that interest rates may begin to rise in the next 1,2,3 years. Under what market circumstances would the shares drop below the $25.00 PAR value, and would this be a major concern given that inflation is now hovering above 2% and that interest rates will remain at their current levels this year and potentially be on the rise starting sometime in 2015. For a preferred share, can you suggest a better alternative that would provide similar returns but offer a lower risk.

Also is it too speculative to buy ECI now that a takeover offer has been made and even assuming that the takeover does not take place.

Thank you for your advise,

Joseph

Q: According to my G & M watch list, TD has a roughly 34% dividend payout ratio, which seems very comfortable. BMO and BNS, however, both have negative payout ratios of 118 and 134. Does that mean they are making that much more than they pay out? and does itmean they are a better "bang for the buck" than TD? .
I own all three and don't plan to sell any. Just wondering Thanks again for your wonderful service. I can't overemphasize how much I appreciate it.

Q: An observation for TD Waterhouse accounts. Others may follow the same practice.

I noticed that my "Account holdings values" from the market close to the next day's pre-market opening, change. The morning security prices do not reflect the closing price from the previous day's market close. Seems strange as the values reflected the market close and change to something less overnight. The following is TD's response. (they use the last Bid Price)

" TD Direct Investing updates client portfolios on a nightly basis (during floating periods between midnight and 7:30 am eastern Monday-Friday; as late as 11 am eastern on weekends). This late period is chosen because there is less activities on the system that allows the account to be updated over the morning hours in a batch process.

Your holdings are updating using the previous day's <b>closing bid price</b> (or NAVPS in the case of mutual funds). In the case of equities, we do not apply the last trade (or closing) price because the closing bid price reflects a more accurate and realistic picture of what your holdings are worth on the market."

Q: re: Canada's big banks

Seeking Alpha commented today that Moody's lowered Canadian Banks outlook to negative.

"Affirming the ratings of Canada's largest banks, Moody's cuts their outlook from stable to negative, thanks to the government's plans to implement a "bail-in" regime (i.e., creditors to take a haircut) for systemically important lenders."

I have a 5% position in TD and have done quite well with an excellent dividend. Is this something I should be concerned about moving forward?

Thanks for all you do

Gord

Q: Hello Fivei Team

As a relatively new suscriber I have found the site very useful and a fresh perspective.
My question is a round real return bond funds. I have held the TD RR bond fund for several years. Last years talk of tapering and interest rate bump pulled them back pulled them back about 10%. YTD on the same fund is up 8.4% with little inflation although the ten year bond has come down since last year.
Can you explain the correlation here as I have always understood these RR's do well in more inflationary times.

Thanks
Jerry

Q: Further to the question from Terrance this morning, TD is not overbought according to RSI today. It is currently at about 61, really, a pretty good score. This number changes daily and, like any of the other momentum indicators, should not be considered a buy or sell signal in isolation.
I agree with 5i, technical analysis is another tool along with fundamental analysis. But, don't buy anything unless the fundamentals are favourable (that's why I subscrible to i5 Research). And, don't worry about the technicals unless you understand the whole picture.

Q: Was reading where it says TD is entering overbought territory with a RSI value of 73.5,could you explain this