Investment Q&A

Q: Read u latest comments on SLF.How did it do in Asia?Do u think that MFC will continue its strong performance in Asia in the forthcominq Q on Feb 19. Is it buyable and a good entry price?.Thanks for u usual great services & views

Q: Could u rank these co. from most prefer (10) - in terms of dividend + growth - to least prefer (1) in the next 12-24 months ? Would an ETF in this sector do just as good?

Q: Hello,

Is there a material total returns benefit over one year of switching from Sunlife to Intact Financial, if there are no tax considerations?
Regards
Rajiv

Q: Your thoughts please on the Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Result... and perhaps on the outlook for 2025. Thanks!

Q: Hi 5i Team,

I'm curious about your thoughts on sentiment turning against US equities in the coming months. I'm already exhausted seeing all the foolish tweets and news clips coming out of the Trump administration and I have to believe many others are too. Trump 2.0 seems much worse than 1.0! Also, I've been hearing that European markets are already outpacing the US market so far this year and I'm wondering if the US market deserves its current valuation given the increased volatility and increased risks?

I own many US stocks (e.g., 5 of the Mag 7, COST, ISGR, HD, TT, SYK, RS, ZS, HON, V) and I'm thinking for the first time of selling/trimming some of these. I would look to increase my dividend-paying Canadian stocks to generate more income. I'm also thinking about European dividend payers?

I'd appreciate your general views along with any comments you might have related to selling/trimming some of the stocks I've mentioned above. I'd look to sell into the end of this month and buy favourite TSX dividend payers (e.g., ENB, SLF, CNQ, BEP.UN, BIP.UN, T) or others you might suggest after the next tariff decision in early March.

Like many members, I have to thank you again for the wonderful service you provide. Your Q&A section and market reviews are fabulous, especially during difficult times! I also realize this is a long question and the answers are worth more than one credit.

Lisa

P.s. I had registered to attend this week's webinar which may have answered some of my questions. Unfortunately, something came up over lunch and I missed the webinar. Please let me know if there's a chance of catching a replay.

Q: Hi Peter and Team,

Across all accounts, our holdings in the Financial Sector include BN, FFH, GSY, MFC, SLF, and the CEW ETF. I feel that this is a fairly good representation but realize that the Canadian banking sector is quite low, and the US banking sector is non-existent in our portfolio. Portfolio Analytics indicates that we need more exposure in this sector.

Several questions; please deduct question credits accordingly.

1. TipRanks shows that BN has a P/E ratio of 125.13. Can this be true?

2. A recent question from a 5i member asked about Sagicor SFC, which prompted me to investigate it further. I realize that it’s a small-cap stock, but noticed that for the 3 month, 6 month, and year-to-date periods, it has excellent momentum (which I know you like) and has a really low P/E ratio of 1.51, which I assume to be correct.

3. Because I feel that Trump tariffs are more of a possibility than not, I’m in the process of adjusting some sectors but not all, in case the tariffs don’t happen.

4. Would you endorse a small holding in SFC, (say a half-position) using proceeds from the sale of more tariff-vulnerable stocks?

5. Finally, could you suggest some Canadian-domiciled ETFs that would give us needed exposure to both the Canadian and US banking sector?

As always, thanks for your assistance that helps us to make informed decisions.

Q: On Jan 7 25 you advised: Our current top 5 Canadian dividend growth stocks are BAM, FTS, ENB, SLF, CNQ. Could you provide an additional 15 Canadian equities with annual dividend growth as I want to set up a portfolio of mostly CAD dividend growth stocks. Please exclude any equity that does not have at least $250M in market value. Thanks

Q: Good morning all; I've a two part question for you, First, the listed investments are in a RRIF. The current plan is to extract only dividend income, and have some modest stock growth.

I have funds for one more position and I'd like 3 of your suggestions that would add decent dividend income with modest growth of stock value.

Second question is about XLB. It was originally purchased as a post-inflation investment looking for some appreciation as rates declined. While Canada may get a bit more downward adjustment I believe Trump policy will be inflationary. What would be a sound replacement, meeting the dividend and growth goals for the account?

Thanks as always.

Dave

Q: Hi 5i Team,

I invested in MFC and GWO roughly 2.5 years ago amongst a fairly diverse portfolio. I originally purchased both as a dividend play with potential for modest appreciation, but they have far exceeded my market value appreciation expectations over this time frame. I since purchased a smaller position in Sun Life roughly 3 months ago. For the first two, I likely need to trim for rebalancing / concentration sake.

My question(s) is as follows (and please deduct how many points as necessary):

- At a high level, what is your outlook for the Insurance space over the next 1-3 years and what indicators do you look at when making this assessment?
- Amongst the three companies listed, how would you rank them in terms of expected growth over the next 3 years?

Thanks and really appreciate the advice from 5i.
Erick

Q: What would be your 3 top picks from the 5i Income Portfolio right now?

Q: Are the California wildfire losses expected to have any impact on Canadian insurers, possibly as reinsurance partners?

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: 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: Hi Peter and all at 5i. Wishing you the best of the season!

Peter, first of all, I really enjoyed your last article in the National Post. Your financial stories were highly entertaining.

I manage a RRSP for my daughter-in-law. She has approximately 24K in cash due to a GIC that recently matured. (She got 5.16% interest).

She has these commission-free ETFs: CEW, QQC.F, XHC, XIT, and XST. She would have to pay a $10 commission on the following stocks and ETFs: BCE, BNS, FTS, PBH, SLF, WSP, ZIN, and ZRE.

Question 1. In what order would you suggest she uses the cash to purchase more of the commission-free ETFs?

Question 2. If there are compelling reasons to do so, in what order would you suggest she uses the cash to purchase more of the stocks and ETFs where there is a $10 commission?

I’m hoping that this question can be answered before Christmas if possible. Please use as many question credits as you see fit to provide a comprehensive reply.

Thanks as always for your valuable insight.

Q: What are your current thoughts regarding plaza reit as an addition to the income side of my portfolio? If negative, do you have any suggestions for stable high-dividend Canadian stocks that I can investigate? thanks, J

Q: Yesterday I asked you about a group of stocks with respect to trimming our positions to reduce our overall stock exposure.

Now I would appreciate it if you could categorize these stocks with respect to your opinion on the impact of Trump's election. Perhaps the categories could be: positive, negative, neutral, or not sure.

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

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: Good afternoon. I'm wondering what your top five picks would be for both industrial and financial stocks. I'm looking for 10-15 year growth with medium risk.

Q: I am thinking of adding/increasing my position in an insurance company and have found that the combined ratio for both MFC and SLF are more than 100 while CB and TSU’s combined ratio is in the low 80. Does that mean MFC and SLF are not as profitable as CB and TSU? Which is a good buy currently? Thanks,

Q: Ignoring portfolio weightings, Can you give some advice on when to sell your winners? For example MFC has had a nice run. It seems fully valued. I am an income investor and am consider shifting to SLF for no other reason than the pick up in yield. There are other ‘winners’ I have that appear to be fully valued and I could shift elsewhere to boost income. What are the right things to consider re timing on when to sell?