Investment Q&A

Q: Hello 5i,

Thanks for the detailed and quality answers during these "interesting" times. I know predictions are pretty much "off the table", but ... I wonder if you could ponder the chance over the next few years of a dividend cut at the Banks. (1 = impossible, 10 = possible if things get really bad).
Knowing that such an action would be a very tuff call for the banks to make. All Canadian banks in general, but specifically TD and BNS (which are some of my TSFA holdings and used to generate retirement dividend revenue.

Q: Hi Chris, With today's blood bath, please advise if you think of screaming buy high conviction stocks for growth and dividend. If possible price range too. Thanks

Q: Hi 5i Team,

You have in the past been very positive of BNS. I have held it for dividends (dollar cost averaging) and long term growth. It is also "Canadian". It has fallen in price since late last year, especially compared with TD. I would be interested in your opinion going forward and if you would be OK with adding to my position (new $$$). 3 to 5 year horizon.

Q: I have lots of interest income and I know, although the money is 100% safe, I am paying top tax dollar. Do you have safe dividend alternatives to suggest??

Q: Perhaps am looking for unicorns. I have some money to deploy and I am looking for companies that have the balance sheet to ride out the current situation whether it lasts another two months or >12 months. My basic criteria were those potentially undervalued, dividend over 3%, div growth of at least 5% and a decent payout ratio. Any suggestions appreciated, thanks for your help.

Q: Hi Gang,

If you had 40K CAD to invest in an unregistered account for a short 2 yr old.. given the environment in which we are in....Where would you invest? Sector is irrelevant - CAD stock is a must (I can't stomach the hit on conversion) UNLESS there is a CDR you would recommend although I know you prefer the real deal. Can be one or multiple. Goal is to maximize growth while preserving capital. Thank you!

Q: 18% loss on paper with already .Would you rate this stock as a "sell,buy,or hold" ? please name 3 probably safer cdn dividend stocks, your feedbacks are always very appreciated, JY

Q: I am an 80 year old income investor with some growth. I have $20,000 to employ. The above is a list of my losers out of 50 winners in a portfolio of mostly the Income Portfolio plus 15 yield maximizer ETF's like UMAX. Should I:
1. wait for your monthly advice before acting
2. distribute evenly accross the losers
3. add to the winners
Any other suggestions would be appreciated.
Please take as many credits as needed.
Thank you

Q: I believe the current market downturn provides opportunity. I would like your insight into the following two questions; along the lines of "be greedy when others are fearful".

First, recognizing a 2-3 year hold is very, very short term thinking, what are 3 companies with dividend bearing stock that you feel would be in the top 10% of performers as the market recovers.

Second, what 3 companies do you feel provide the biggest stock price recovery and growth opportunity for a 5+ year hold.

Thanks as always,

Dave

Q: Can you please describe how you approach "swaps" in a portfolio? By that I mean swapping out one company for a very similar company in the same industry. You did this somewhat recently in removing Sun Life from the BE portfolio for Intact. (In that case I recall it was due to a better growth profile.)

My general sense is you have liked CNQ better than SU for a while now, for example. And TD better than BNS. Feel free to correct if this is not how you see it.

Appreciate there is a benefit to a certain amount of stability in the portfolio, so you won't bouncing stocks out every time the wind changes. But I'd interested in your thoughts on how you think of this aspect of portfolio construction. For example, in what circumstances might precipitate a swap in these or other cases? When would you hold still even if you like an alternative stock slightly better?

Thanks very much.

Q: Hello,

I hold BNS:CA for dividends. It has been dropping in price recently and I am looking to add to my position. I seem to remember it is a long term favourite within the bank stocks. Given the current Canadian and global "uneasieness", would your opinion change or would shift to TD:CA or XXX:CA (a bank) be in order. I have read the recent Q/A re: BNS:CA in the database,

Q: I hold these large Canadian Companies.. I realize there will be continued volatility in the market but given that these companies have pulled back, some significantly, what order would you buy these names? Are there any you would not buy?

Please deduct appropriately…

Thank you
Tim

Q: With the recent sale of some of it’s South American assets, what percentage of it’s revenue/market cap would be coming from its non North American positions?

Q: Thoughts on the quarter please?

Thx

Q: Worst case scenerio how much downside do you think the banks have in the next four years. RY,BNS and TD are all oversized positions. Thinking of lightening up in non taxable accounts or should I just sit on my hands ? Crystal ball gazing I know !

Q: I have owned RY inside my RRIF for over 20 years and it has done very well. However it now seems to be trading at a premium to the other Canadian Banks. I hold it primarily to generate income, so I am wondering if I should sell it around the $180 level and invest the proceeds into another Canadian bank. I already hold TD, BMO and BNS and wonder which of NA and CM would you prefer? Or would you stick with RY despite its premium pricing and lower yield?

Q: These 9 stocks were approximately equally weighted in unregistered dividend account before NPI and BCE took a big dive. The overall yield of the account is around 4.8% which I have been happy with, but the loss of capital in the 2 mentioned is troubling.

Objective of the account is to generate retirement dividend income for the next 5 to 10 years.
Other accounts provide pretty decent diversification by sector / geography / growth etc.


Question 1. Should I take the loss on these two and redeploy into the other holdings?

Question 2. Any glaring omissions in this account which you think I should add in here?

Q: BNS has been trending down since the new year and more so recently since their announcement of divestitures of more Latin American holdings to Colombian bank Davivienda for a 20 percent equity position in the bank. They are also booking impairments of 1.7 billion on this deal. All that being said, would you consider this recent drop a buying opportunity? Also, BNS did not raise its dividend in 2024. Do you see the bank raising its dividend in 2025 and going forward on regular basis like all other Canadian banks. Thanks.

Q: Hi 5i

Please as many questions as needed.

I am heavily invested in stocks and want to raise cash, putting more money into bonds. I have about 10% in Canadian oil and gas, 5% gold stocks, and about 13% in uranium stocks. I am going to hold my gold and uranium.

What allocation would you suggest for a retiree in terms of portfolio holdings of gas and oil?

I am concerned about the possible coming tarriffs and the effect on the Canadian ecomomy. Most of my holdings are Canadian. A lot of these are in dividend stocks. I have held them through the past few years but I do need to increase the allocation to conservative investments. I plan to reduce most by about 20% or consider outright sells. I currently prefer to reduce downside risk than worry about the upside.

Can you help me decide from the viewpoint of possible tarriffs and effect on the Canadian economy which are at risk the most. Could you class these as hold, reduce or sell. I will hold all my U.S. stocks which are about 15% of my portfolio and haven't listed those here.

Thank you for your very helpful advice.

Q: I'm over allocated in Financials at 23%. Recognizing BN represents a diversified holding and Visa could be considered Consumer. What changes would you make if this was your account. Most of the 1% holdings are in my unregistered accounts with BN, Visa, JPM, BAM are split RRSP/TSFA. Long term investments +10 years with a tilt to risk/growth. Retirement in 2035.

BN 11%
BAM 2%
Visa 3.6%
JPM 2%
GSY 1.6%
PRL 1%
TD .8%
BNS .8%

Happy New Year and thanks for all the help in 2024!

Don