skip to content
  1. Home
  2. >
  3. Investment Q&A
You can view 3 more answers this month. Sign up for a free trial for unlimited access.

Investment Q&A

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

Q: I have all 5 big banks and the 2 telecoms in my Margin Account for income purposes. I sold FRU and IPL because the dividend was reduced significantly. So I have some cash available to top up.
Given the Banks have Yields and Pay Out Ratios as follows (BMO 6.34% - 46.83%; BNS 5.90% - 44.47%; CM 7.49% - 36.67%; RY 5.25% - 44.84%; TD 5.82% - 44.76%) I am considering CM as the best yield and lowest Pay Out. Would you concur?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Brian on April 27, 2020
Q: Hi,
Could you please comment on commercial impaired loan growth with respect to the Canadian banks prior to the Cov 19 crisis ? Have they increased their reserves appropriately ?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Dineth on April 27, 2020
Q: How much of an influence do American investors have on the price of our banks? Many Canadian investors have bank stocks and rely on their dividends for income.

Steve Eisman of "The Big Short" was talking about how an interesting short he sees is Canadian banks and that he has been short for some time. He says the Canadian banks have not had a credit cycle in 30 years, they are extremely unprepared for it and will have real problems.

What is your opinion?

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Mary on April 24, 2020
Q: I would like your help putting together a yield portfolio of between 15 and 20 names.
This would be the entire investments for my wife and I. We are both retired and now live full-time in the U.S. And at some point I expect my Canadian newspaper pension to disappear, so I am looking to replace that money.
I would like your opinion of the above names with regard to safety of the income and overall diversification.
I would also appreciate some additional ideas and would like to know if I`m off base on any or all of these names.
I am currently only invested in CM, BNS and BMO and DIR.UN.
Please take 20 credits (or more).
Thank you in advance for your invaluable assistance.
Read Answer Asked by Kyle on April 21, 2020
Q: Hi. I see in many responses related to Canadian banks that when you reply that you prefer bank a, b, c over bank X, is the a, b, c in order of preference? Sometimes the order changes from different responses.
Would you be able to list the Canadian banks in order of preference for a 5-10 year hold. I understand that in 6 or 12 months the order may change, but I'm looking today what it would be. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Marco on April 15, 2020
Q: How do you rank these stocks for an investor starting a position in Canadian banks (minimum 5 year horizon)? Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Ben on April 13, 2020
Q: I have just read that the European Banks are going to stop paying dividends and that the US banks are under a lot of pressure to follow suit. Do you think that The Canadian Banks will also suspend dividends?
Read Answer Asked by shirley on March 31, 2020
Q: Hi Peter & 5i,
Thank you for all your professional advice with your years of experience and calmness during this market turmoil.
My question is about bonds.
I have a portion of my fixed income in CBO.
Currently a retail investor can pick up some fixed income bond/debenture from the above mentioned banks with longer term maturities (say 2028 to 2030, they are callable between 2024 and 2026) with a 4% interest rate at current valuations (which are below $100). Even if they did get called then you would get the capital gain and the better interest rate for 4 to 6 years.
Do you think it would make sense to sell a bit of CBO and buy a few of these bank instruments in the current environment?
Your opinion is much appreciated. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on March 23, 2020
Q: Retired dividend-income investor. I currently own BNS and RY. I was planning on topping up BNS, then read an answer about harvesting capital losses. I had already take enough losses to cover my gains to look after 2020 income tax implications.
I selected BNS for its international diversification and RY for its USA diversification.

I am now considering harvesting my new BNS capital loss and was considering either CM or BMO for immediate replacement, wait a bit then do my original top-up later. Which bank to you consider the better replacement?

Thanks...Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on March 23, 2020
Q: I am a buy and hold investor with 5 to 10 years of time horizon.
Have the following 7 stocks in Canadian financials in the order of their weights in our portfolio. Financials makeup roughly 7.5% of the total portfolio including cash positions and we like their dividend. TD, RY, BNS, BMO, SLF, CM, and MFC. I like to reduce exposure to financials and also like to reduce number of different shares. Two questions:
1. Is 7.5% a reasonable weight considering the current situation?
2. Which one of these I should sell to reduce financial weight and to reduce the number of shares in financials?

Read Answer Asked by Naren on March 23, 2020
Q: Dear 5i team,
Would you have concerns to buy a really small number of any of these, say 50 shares, none are in my portfolio. The prices seem very attractive and I have not sourced key info that would say ‘no’ but I’d like to check in with you in in case I’ve overlooked something.
Which would you say is best, and no worries if you consider them all a ‘no’ right now.

In the energy arena, in light of several posts about bankruptcies, could you enlighten further please:
- are there any that stand out as being at greatest risk of that happening
- for big/medium names like ENB, CNQ, SU, KEY for example, would you consider them solid enough to be ‘immune’ to bankruptcy (assuming they are not in your group of ‘greatest risk’)

As a dividend investor, do you as a team ever produce a list of stocks most at risk/greatest likelihood of cutting dividends? Are most investors surprised by dividend cuts or is there a set of clear indicators that a cut is coming?

Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by Hilary on March 19, 2020
Q: Which Canadian bank looks most attractive right now?
Read Answer Asked by sean on March 17, 2020
Q: Are you aware of any research that provides detailed analysis regarding oil patch exposure of the big 5 banks?
Read Answer Asked by Tom on March 11, 2020
Q: What would be the top 3 Canadian banks have the best/quickest rebound potential ? thanks
Read Answer Asked by Marco on March 11, 2020
Q: Appreciate your report today on recommended stocks to track in this time of turmoil. Above is what additionally interests me and can't believe BMO @ $75.00 Could you review your thoughts for each going forward & thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Bruce on March 11, 2020