Investment Q&A

Q: Can you comment on BNS and the large short position that is currently out there, as well as the $375-million pre-tax restructuring charge announced on Monday? How do you feel the stock will perform in short term. I would like to take a position in it but am wondering when to do it.

Q: Hi Team ... I am up nicely on BNS and will be selling some in order to maintain a proper weighting within my portfolio. I'd like to redeploy the proceeds within the sector and am looking for a company offering a nice yield as well as good growth potential. I'm leaning towards Fiera Capital (FSZ) and would appreciate your thoughts. Also, any other candidates I could be considering?

Q: With today's low interest rates, what would you recommend to retirees to achieve a relatively low risk 5% return? I really appreciate your service.
Thanks,

Q: Hi Peter,Ryan et al. My daughter age 32 has $32K to invest in her TFSA. My initial thought was a half position in CAO and KXS along with full positions in BNS. ATD.B CTC.A,PBH,
and HCG. Any suggestions and comments would be appreciated for at least a 3 year time frame.
Thanks in advance.
David

Q: Good Morning
I hold 4 Canadian banks CM, TD, RY and BNS in an unregistered account. The bank stocks comprise just under 20% of my portfolio and each has approximately a 50% capital gain. My only other financial stock is a 2.5% position in PWF. Capital gains in my account this year will likely be taxed at 15%. I am considering selling one of the bank stocks (perhaps CM) and investing the proceeds in SLF. I have chosen SLF for it's relatively low valuation and secure dividend.
Is reducing the allocation to Canadian banks appropriate, or does the tax which has to be paid cancel the benefit?
Which bank would you sell?
Is SLF a suitable alternative or is there another company that you would prefer. I already have full positions in CNR and BAM.A.
Thanks
David

Q: Hi, I’m a young professional and just getting started in ETF/stock investing. I’m hoping that you can recommend one Canadian ETF, one international ETF and one stock (preferably one of the big banks or another high dividend paying option). My risk tolerance is medium considering that I may want to sell in 1-3 years for a down payment on a house. Thanks!

Q: When researching dividend stocks I always check the "payout ratio". Most of the time this information is not available. Is there a web site that includes this information when researching a stock without doing it mathematically?

Thanks.

Q: In an earlier reply on BNS you said it was up 12% over the year well ahead of other Canadian banks. Looking at 1 year chart from TMX shows BNS -1.29 over 1 year, BMO 3.91%, CM 6.25%, TD 3.49% and RY -1.5%. This data does not include dividends. Also looking at 10 year data you see significant differences in performances between Canadian banks and this was the same 15 years ago. Unfortunately, I could not paste the graph to prove my point but you can easily compare stocks using TMX Money over various time periods.
Steve

Q: Referring to Edwards question, as I am a shareholder as well--
Today is x-dividend for BNS which I think has a bearing on Stock Price

Q: Some pundits seems to push BNS and TD as the 2 best banks. But, when I checked this morning, I found BNS had dropped much more than the others. BNS-1.14, BMO-.17, CM-.09, RY-.28, TD-.10.
I just do not understand the enthusiasm for BNS when so many of its branches are in very unstable countries; Mexico, Central and South America. The thought would bother me if I had a position in it. Comment?

Q: I just saw an article probably announced by the Feds in the latest budget that there will be new legislation on "Bail-In" for banks. I don't know too much about the details, but from my understanding the current framework is that the gov't will step in if the economy is bad enough to help support the banks from collapsing or failing.

The latest change will make it that the creditors of the banks will be on the hook and will have an option to swap their bonds to equity?
Is that correct and what is your take on how this will affect the risk of Canadian Banks?

Q: I'm ready to buy into a Canadian Bank. It seems like the stock prices in the last two years have fallen to the point where buying it makes sense to lock in some juicy dividends.

But while I've been waiting around, there is this nagging feeling that the Canadian Banks have some bad loans on the books. I know there is a lot of talk about their Oil and Gas loan book and potential defaults. In the last 4 quarters it seems there hasn't been any sign of it yet (so far) that's significant on their top or bottom lines. But my concern is that while their commercial loans aren't significant, their domestic mortgages are significant.

In the event that more job losses are coming and the majority of Canadians might feel this loss in work, are there not contagion affects to residential real estate that then affects the mortgage loan book of Canadian Banks including Scotiabank? If that does happen, how will Scotiabank's business be affected by a prolonged housing market downturn?

Q: I have been given the honour of looking after my 83 year old in law's TFSA accounts currently harboured in GICs. This money will never be needed in their lives .
I am limiting myself to "safer", "Canadian" , and dividend" stocks and ETFs ...
Guessing BNS , SLF or GWO , BCE or T ( or are they dying ) , ENB or TRP , VGG ....ZZZZZZZ...
What would be your 5-8 choices ? All sleepy Bluechips ? Thanks

Q: Really appreciate your endorsement of BNS & the other big 5 can.banks & calming influence.So much negativety & fear mongering leading up to their 1st Q reports stated Feb 3 & ended Mar 1 with BNS,that it was unnerving.Moodys on BNN stated in a severe stress scenario ,can banks may even need to cut dividend or issue more shares to raise money.As far as I can recollect the big 6 have never cut dividend.Moodys & the other rating agencies endorsed the sub prime pakages buy US banks in the 2007-2008 financial crisis.John Aiken of Barclays Capital cut the target price of the big 6 by 20%.After graduation,he workrd for National Bank,then Dundee & since 2009 for Barclays,ranked 3123/3730 analysts & rated 1/5 with 1 being the weakest.4 of big 6 increased div(CM,TD,BNS & RY) & 4 beat convincingly( CM is the best--$2.55 eps beat $2.41 expected) & 2 were pretty closed.BNS had the biggest appreciation after release--up 5.97% @ close Mar 1.Re my Q on Feb 19,the big 6 are amongst the strongest & safest banks in the world CM leads in T1 capital @ 10.6 & BNS @ 10.1.Big 6 performed better than the US banks

Q: Do you think BNS will meet expectations when reporting this week? And would a sale make sense before or after their numbers are released??

Q: what is 5I position on bns exiting the asia market ? Was it not for bns foreign exposure the basis for your recommendation?

Q: Hi,

For the "buy and hold" investor, what jumps out at you as good buys right now. I'd like to make a few last-minute purchases before the RRSP deadline.

Thanks,
Robert

Q: How serious is the risk of competition from financial technology companies? If competition becomes a threat, would banks like bns not just buy the fintech companies? I would appreciate your thoughts.

Q: The big 6 Canadian banks are amongst the world's strongest & safest banks.BNS rated 18th in 2012 & 7th in 2013 strongest ,whereas CM is the only one to appear between 2012 to 2015(3rd,3rd,15th & 18th respectively).All @ historical low PE.eg BNS @ 9.7(trailing) & 9.3(forward).Majority of guests on BNN opined that there are short term headwinds plus "short" by Americans,but recommended hold for 2 years or longer.They have generated decent & stable returns over timer expect for last year.Please advise if the negative factors including the effect of sharp drop in oil prices & its knock on effects are priced in.Each stated that the loan exposure to oil is no more than 2% & it is manageabl.,All report next week with BNS on March 1.

Q: Would you still choose BNS if this was the only bank you were to hold or would should suggest another bank? This will be the first stock for a TFSA that has $4000.00 in it and will be holding and adding to it monthly.
Thanks