Investment Q&A

Q: Hi :
I noticed that CM is selling at low P/E (9.2) and analysts are very pessimistic with 12 on "on hold". I do not like CIBC and most of the time I own TD and NA. , but, sometimes being contrarian could be the right approach by considering the regression to the mean effect. I am very low on banks and financials now because I feel we are at the end of the cycle and banks have betas that are a bit high for me. Investment horizon is 5 years at least. Would you buy now ?, or wait until it feels like it bottoms ?, what criteria would you use to get in ?.
thanks

Q: I currently owned both CM , TD and ZBK in a non rrsp account. I would like to sell CM. My total % holding in ZBK and TD are quite low . If I buy ZBK I still maintain the financial allocation but increase my US holding. I know I would lose the dividend that CM pay as ZBK is quite low, or would it be better to buy more TD and increase the weight of this stock.

Thanks

Q: Over the years I have seen statements like “Picking bank stocks is always tricky, as under performers tend to revert to the mean over time.” However banks like CM have been under-performers for well over a decade and BNS has been flat for over 5 years- yes you were paid dividends but that’s all. In the meantime TD has provided much higher returns. Isn’t it better to stick with your winners rather than wait for an under-performer to revert to the mean- with CM your time scale would be decades.

Steve

Q: Good morning - I have watched CIBC with interest recently as I am a long term investor and have positions with most of the Canadian banks. Earlier this week, analysts were forecasting muted returns for CIBC and indeed this turned out to be accurate. The bank narrowly missed projections and offered a downbeat view of the rest of the year. No surprised there.

What perplexes me is why the shares went up the day before the earnings report then dropped so dramatically yesterday. This, in spite of the fact the news was not unexpected. Yes, growth is going to be modest but who exactly was buying the day before and who was rushing to sell yesterday? Surely it's not small investors like me who are likely more prone to panic but if it's institutional money managers why the rush of selling? Surely they could read the obvious tea leaves. Is this program trading or just one of those mysteries of market life?

Q: At today's price around 105.40, is there good value here for a conservative buy ? I like dividends.

Q: What is reason for a near 4.5% drop to the share price today (May 22)? Looking at the quarterly results, I didn't think anything was that alarming. May be I missed something?

Q: Good day,
I have positions in both of these Canadian banks. I do have a long term investment timeframe ahead of me. I am sitting on cash in my portfolio. Do you recommend continue buying at these levels? Or should I wait until the market uncertainty clears, or buy into another sector?
thank you.

Q: Thank you for for answer yesterday about setting up my parent's investments. To summarize, they are very conservative, above 80 years old, and looking for safety and income.

I would now like to ask you about the distribution of the equity component of the investments (composing only 17% of the total, the rest being in bonds, preferred, and GICs). Those below are all in equal weight. What do you thing?

BEP.UN, BCE, BNS, CM, CU, ENB, TRP
XHC for healthcare exposure
IWO for US growth
VGG for US exposure
XEF (in a half position) for international exposure
VEE (in a half position) for emerging market exposure

Could you please suggest some more to round things out? I need another 5 or 6 stocks.


Also, do you have any objection to using ZAG and HYGH as bond substitutes for their conservative portfolio? I am buying individual preferred shares for that component.

Thank you once again,

Fed

Q: I've been researching large cap high quality dividend growth companies with a >2% dividend yield for cash positions in registered and non registered accounts. For the most part the Canadian banks are the only ones that are attractive on valuation, but I currently have a 20% position. I've love to buy more of CNR, T, FTS, AQN, CAR.UN, TRP but they have run up quite a lot. One strategy is to keep buying the banks to a 30% weighting and reduce back to 20% once valuations get to 13x forward earnings. Two questions, 1. what do you think about this idea 2. In case I have missed some ideas, what are 5 Canadian names outside of the banks you would recommend with decent valuations? Thank-you.

Q: I currently own a combined 25% share in Canadian financials. I love the dividend, but I know it is heavy and I am concerned about the negative news I read about the banks. Is the future really that bleak for the banks. Thanks.

Q: Have any of the big 6 Canadian banks ever cut their dividends and if yes can you please provide specifics as to when, by what magnitude.
Many thanks for your service,
Stevr

Q: confirmation of stock purchase and ex dividend date

the ex dividend date coming up for CM is march 27, so if I buy on the 26th, does the purchase go through fast enough,that I am the owner of record on the 28th so that I get the dividend payable april 29 th ?

Ernie

Q: Hi 5i Team,

I hold about 5% in each of these companies, with the rest in indices (XAW, VCN) and cash. Do you have any recommendations for other companies I should be looking at to diversify? Thanks for the help!

Q: With the possible exception of BMO, the Big Five banks seem to be hitting a plateau. At the same time, there's talk of moderating interest rates. But shouldn't lower rates be a stimulus for banks' business - mortages, etc.? I thought it was the insurance companies that benefited from higher rates. Or is the apparent tapering-off of banks' growth just a reversion-to-the-mean phenomenon?

Q: The short and long term performance of Royal Bank has strongly outpaced CIBC. Would it be prudent to sell my CIBC shares and buy Royal Bank with the proceeds?

Q: Buy, sell or hold? Is your long term outlook unchanged?

Q: Hello Peter and Ryan,
We picked up a few shares of BNS on the drop yesterday. After searching for value stocks with a decent dividend we could not find a Utility, Telcom, or Financial stock that was not over-priced with the recent rise. ZUT or VPU also appear to be slightly over-priced for the moment.
If we are looking for value, dividend, and a little down-turn protection which stock is preferred; BCE or CM? Do you have another value stock in any sector that would be preferable to BCE or CM?

Thank you
Debbie and Jerry

Q: 2:10 PM 1/29/2019
Hi: I am concerned about deteriorating trade relations between Canada and China. Could you please indicate which of the big 6 Canadian banks and big 3 Insurance have business in China and what percent of their entire business is located there.
Thank you.......... Paul K

Q: Can you please rate these four banks in terms of growth and least affected by a downturn.
.

Q: I would like to add to my finance/dividend group. I already own TD,BNS, GSY and MFC. Which should I add or add to and why. In particular why do you prefer SLF over MFC?