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: Hello Peter,

Can you provide your thoughts on SLF latest earnings? Do you see the US weakness as something the company can manage through or is it time to make a switch to another insurer? Ideally, I would like to add to my position in this 2nd quarter in a row of weakness with the long term view of higher interest rates.

Thanks for all the great work and advice,
Angelo
Read Answer Asked by Angelo on May 10, 2017
Q: Hi, I'm looking for growth companies in the Financial sector, either Canada or US. I already have major banks covered, and not a big fan of the "payday loan" type companies that finance at very high rates such as gsy. Do you have any recommendations here, in the context of likely 2 small interest rate hikes per year in the US for the next couple of years, and generally positive economy?
Read Answer Asked by Kel on May 02, 2017
Q: My son is currently 39 years old and is trying to develop a solid diversified portfolio. All of his holdings are in his RRSP except for some money in a Tangerine International growth fund which is in his TFSA. He has some new funds to add to his holdings. Could you please recommend some companies from your model portfolios that would add more diversification to his portfolio keeping in mind his relatively long investment horizon. As always, thanks for your advice.
Read Answer Asked by Les on April 18, 2017
Q: In our combined RRIF's, my wife and I have a 10.88% weighting in Financials (TD, BNS, PWF) of which PWF is 2.7%. I would like to buy more lifeco shares and wonder whether I should sell the PWF and put the proceeds into SLF, or just buy SLF to make up about 5% of total portfolios weighting.
Read Answer Asked by John on March 17, 2017
Q: In a previous answer, you wrote:

"SLF cites that a 10% downturn in real estate assets would lead to a $175 million decrease in net income. With operating net income in Q2 of $474 million, while a real estate decline would 'hurt', we do not think it would be a company ending event."

The figure you cite here represents a 37% loss of net income in a 10% downturn. I've heard a number of times that a 40% downturn is possible, or worse, so wouldn't that mean SLF could find itself in very serious trouble? If so, are there any other insurance companies (Canadian & US) that you might recommend as a way of capitalizing on rising rates, which could weather a severe real estate decline more easily? The names I've been considering are POW, MFC in Canada and AIG, MET, PRU, CB of in the USA. Thanks for any thoughts on these or other companies.
Read Answer Asked by Brian on March 06, 2017
Q: Hi,
I have a few thousand dollars to put into something looking for high potential growth. I have many years I can wait, don't need income (but all drips available are being utilized). Without considering portfolio weightings which of these would you consider to have the most upside? I'm totally ok with risk, as I have the well balanced, safer part of my portfolio in place. If not any of these could you offer a few other names please. If you like the names I've listed could you rank them in order of preference for high growth?

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by david on March 01, 2017
Q: i currently only hold bns for financials. It has been very good over the last year. I'm thinking about adding slf (to hedge against potential interest rate hikes) and fsz for some extra upswing potential to balance against the security of bns. I'm 31 years old, they're all held in my tfsa, I'm thinking long term and am ok with risk. Do you have issues with either of these two? Is there others you'd prefer to accomplish what I'm looking for? Do you think rate increases will push bns down enough to make it cheaper to add to or is trying to get the timing right with that not worth waiting for?

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by david on February 21, 2017
Q: Could you please confirm for me that the following stocks qualify for the dividend tax credit.
$BAM.a, $CGX, $ENB, $WSP, $SLF, $BCE, $CNR, $MG and the ETF $CEW.

Thanks as always,

Vater
Read Answer Asked by Valter on January 24, 2017
Q: From what I understand insurance companies should do well if long term interest rates rise. If these companies hold longer term bonds in a rising interest rate environment would any increase in income from higher rates be offset by capital losses on the bonds as long as interest rates increase? How does this affect the stock price?
Read Answer Asked by Jerry on January 24, 2017
Q: If Canadian interest rates remain the same (or even go down) this year, while US interest rates rise, what effect would this have on Canadian companies/stocks in the telecom (T), insurance (SLF), bank (BNS), and utility (BEP.un) sectors? Thanks in advance!
Read Answer Asked by Jonathan on January 19, 2017