Investment Q&A

Q: My wife and I are mainly dividend investors. We tend to hold our stocks for many years. Due to the significant increase in the value of our stocks this year, we are considering reducing the percentage of some stocks in our portfolio by about 10%.

Could you please give your opinion as to which of the following stocks you would reduce. Would you reduce one or two selected stocks, or perhaps reduce across the board? All of the reductions would be in registered accounts. You can assume the stocks are all about the same percentage of our portfolio.

The stocks are:
BAM
BEP.UN
BIP.UN
BCE
EMA
FTS
NA
RY
SLF
TD

Q: With the Canadian dollar being so cheap and the share price so low, is a buyout of BCE possible? Can Americans buy BCE or does it have to have Canadian ownership? I know the privatization attempt in 2007 failed in part because of the 2008 stock market crash. It could save a huge chunk of cash if it did not have to pay dividends. A company could take it private, clean it up and then take it public again with a much better balance sheet .

Q: Four members of Bell Canada’s board of directors took advantage of the telecom giant’s stock drop to buy shares. CEO Mirko Bibic purchased shares worth just over $200,000, while Louis Vachon, former CEO of National Bank, acquired shares worth nearly $390,000. Calin Rovinescu, former CEO of Air Canada, invested close to $350,000, and Jennifer Tory, a former vice-president at RBC, over $170,000.. They must see future potential gains in the share price since the only reason to buy shares of a company is to make gains.

Q: Since it is very difficult to maintain or increase market share in mobile telephony. Isn’t it a good idea to turn to fiber optic network like with the recent acquisition of Zippy Fiber to maintain a stable source of income and free cash flow?

In your answer dated Nov 19, you write`` it seems to have lost its way a bit, with selling assets to pay down debt and then making a big acquisition. ``

Your view on this would be appreciated.

Thanks

Yves

Q: hi,
I own both BCE and T - both down a bit now. can I get your latest thoughts on these 2 as a buy, sell, or hold. all else being equal, do you see the purchase of assets in Pacific Northwest USA as good for growth, eventually. and what do you see as the risk for a dividend cut for BCE and Telus? finally, if selling, where would you suggest to look elsewhere for some growth ( slightly beating inflation ) and good dividend yield?
cheers, Chris

Q: My top holdings right now are (these are all primarily in an open account, but small portion in registered)
MSFT @ 9.18% of the equity portfolio (up 487%)
AAPL @ 7.47% of the equity portfolio (up 496%)
BCE @ 4.89% of the equity portfolio (down 16.52%)
Thinking of selling some of MSFT to rebalance and possibly AAPL to rebalance and selling some BCE for tax loss to offset some of the gains.
In the present market does this seem like good options? What could be purchased instead? I do rely on the BCE dividend for some income and might want to replace this. Will also be looking to transfer cash and/or stocks to TFSA's in the new year.
Are there better options in my situation? (the rest of the equity portfolio is fairly balanced except an over amount in financials)
Thanks,
Steve

Q: Do you feel that BCE is near bottom? It appears for the past two weeks the stock is trending sideways.
What is the risk of cutting the dividend?
Are they making progress on reducing debt and expenses?
Is revenue staying constant, growing or falling based on quarterly reports for past two years?
What is managing forecasting going forward?

Would buy, hold or sell at this point and why

Q: Hello,

Could you comment on now that Ontario has partnered with Elon, how does the provincial subsidization of fixed costs for installation of internet, etc. bode for BCE, Telus and other "hardwire" "maybe "fiber optic" providers?

I frequently drive along Hwy 7 and see trees fallen down on the Bell lines - so maintaining this lower margin asset is not a top priority.

How much of a moat is fibre optic vs Starlink?

Elon's satellites have a lot of operating leverage vs copper or fibre optic installation.


Thank you

Q: For long term hold and safety of dividend
Bce or Telus, and why
Thank you

Q: One member, Auftar, mentioned that they plan to keep BCE and Telus in their soon-to-be-converted RRIF portfolio because the high dividend yields from these stocks will help manage the RRIF withdrawal rate. With BCE and Telus offering dividends of 10% and 7% respectively, assuming no cuts, these stocks can provide a solid return for annual RRIF withdrawals.

My question is: Is holding high dividend stocks in a RRIF a good strategy in both stable and volatile markets? Even if my portfolio value drops, I will still receive dividends for my RRIF withdrawals each year. Am I correct?

Q: I have decided to buy a large position in BCE
after x div date Dec 15th. Technically it shows no signs of recovery yet.
I belive its pays a higher divident and has as much upside potential as Aqn,Spb and Pgi.un which I will sell.
On the negative side, my fear is that companies like Att ,Vodaphone and Telephonica have been a loosing investment for 20 years.
What are your comments.
Thank you,
Joe

Q: You have beaten down on all the the pro's and cons about tel, and bce. My situation is the fact that I have to convert my rrsp to a riff. I am way down on bce and tel, I have no plan to sell, this is my reasoning. the value that I use for with with drawls is the current price and not what I paid. As such my return is 10% and 8 %. My goal is to make enough on dividends to be higher than 5% so I am not taking out for money than I make, since I don'd need the money, and hope a little capital gain thereby not depleting my rrif. Since bce has allready said that they will not increase the payout, I think that tel has a better chance of increasing the pay out, thinking of adding some more. I have some piple lines that have gone up a lot and I am getting a good return on them. Looking to buy a solid company that has a good dividend. What say you, is my plan make sense?
Thanks

Q: What ETF would you consider as a proxy to BCE with the goal of getting a somewhat higher payment of either dividend or interest, within an RRSP.

Thank you

Paul

Q: With BCE’s dividend yield now at 10% following a sharp drop in its share price, do you think the management might decide to cut the dividend soon? I’d appreciate your thoughts on this.

Q: Just sold BCE this morning (Nov 08/24). Please confirm the earliest date I can rebuy, should I decide to get back in? I get a bit confused due to the weekend impact on Date of Record, which would impact the minimum 30 day CRA requirement.

I assume the DOR for selling would be Monday Nov 11/24. Therefore, use 19 November days + 11 December days => DOR for buying would be Dec 11/24. This would mean that I could consider rebuying on Dec 10/24.

Am I correct? Thanks for your help....Steve

Q: Can you please give your opinion on which of these two companies will be most negatively affected going forward by:

- disruption

- competition

Which has the best outlook for its:

- balance sheet

- business growth

- dividend growth

Ultimately if you had to sell one or choose only one for a long term investment, which would it be?

Q: Hello team,

I'm considering selling Apple at a large profit and deploying elsewhere.
I want to offset some gains with some losses.
Losers in order are:
DRX
SGY
BCE (small amount held in my non-reg)
Selling all is fine with me so I can balance out my Apple gains. What do you think about selling these names and what are a couple of your favourite US and CAD stock for new money?

Q: More brisk selling today.
Time to sell now or take an aspirin and sit tight?

Q: I know you have had mixed commentary on these two. Questions:

1. On BCE, do you think the dividend on common shares is "safe" (I own it for the dividend ... capital appreciation is less of a concern) Would I be better off simply selling my common BCE shares and buying some BCE preferred shares (and if so, which one). Or should I sell it and buy something else with more upside ?

2. SPB announced a major cut to their dividend this morning. And based on my reading, the latest quarter was less than staller. What are your thoughts on this one overall given this news?

I hate being reactionary but I'm down over 20% of both of these ....

Q: Tax question
If l sold Bce for a 30,000 dollar loss and also sold
Bip.un for a 30,000 gain would that offset the capital gains ?
My Concern is bip.un is milt national company and that the same rules apply