Investment Q&A

Q: Good day and happy New Year to all the 5i staff. This is my first, and hopefully last multi stock question.

I am really beginning to take Trump seriously about tariffs. His reasons don’t hold up, but I believe he has unstated reasons of his own for wanting to do so. I don’t usually jump quickly but I have a bad feeling and am thinking of selling some Canadian holdings and buying US. I am wondering what you would think of this?

Even if my fear is justified, though, some of the stocks I am considering may do well under Trump’s regime, anyway. The above stocks are the ones i am considering and i would appreciate your views on whether they might do alright under Tariffs? Any other Canadian stocks you might think will react particularly badly?
Thanks for your great service

Q: Hi, I have these two stocks in my rrif account. Thinking of selling my two losers DIR and TELUS, and putting it in ZMI.
DIR and TELUS don’t seem to be doing much, while ZMI has US holdings, is steadily increasing in price with a good dividend.
This would be for a 5+ year period.. your thoughts please.

Q: Happy New Year to all at 5i and fellow members as well,

For this year's 7K TFSA contribution, I'm considering adding Alphabet. Due to the decline in both BCE and T, we are very underweight in this sector. Also, we're underweight in USA holdings as well. Would you endorse this strategy? Thanks as always for your insight.

Q: Hi 5i Team,

I have held DFY for awhile and have doubled my investment. Experience has taught me to take some money off the table when one of my stocks has reached this point. I'm thinking about selling 1/3 of the position and reinvesting the rest in 2 or 3 of the following stocks:

I have partial positions in BCE, EIF, NWC, WCN and X
I have full positions in T and TD and open to averaging down

My questions are:

1) Would you trim a position in DFY given current market conditions?

2) How do you currently rank the 7 other stocks listed

3) Would you add to existing positions in T and/or TD given their current outlooks or look elsewhere?

These are a held in a TFSA and are planned to be 15-20 year holds

Thanks for the Great Service and Happy New Year!

Colin

Q: I own three major Canadian Telecom stocks, BCE, Telus and Rogers. They all have done poorly in the Y 2024. I have all three for some time, they all are negative with BCE and Rogers losing more than Telus. BCE and Telus are paying good dividend. I also own AQN which is losing money and paying decent dividend. Should I take loss on these and move? I do not have need for cash. What are their chances of turn around? How safe is dividend for all three? If I decide to take a loss, which ones to keep?
I also own BEPC and BIPC, if I want to keep only one of them which one has better potential? If I decide to sell both of them, what would you suggest to replace them with? I do own other utilities: EMA, ENB, FTS, TRP and PPL.

Q: Im a retiree in late 60's, focus on Income with a growth potential down the road.
Further to Nancy's question on Telus on its current dividend of about 8%+, and a free cash flow almost 2x of dividend, will this be a time to buy given that the interest rate is coming down, and the banks GIC is about half of this return. I have some idle cash looking for a steady return like GIC. Do u forsee any dividend cut ? Thanks again

Q: Hello,
I have some Telus stocks. Should I buy more, sell or hold?
Thanks!

Q: Telus Payout is242%,Current ratio .70,Dept to Equity 1.83, ROE-2.26, ROA 1.63. Is this not grounds to sell as its dropping a lot?

Q: I would like your thought if it make sense to replace BCE with Rogers or Telus at all, or there are better alternatives , even in other sectors. Please suggest a few alternatives if outside of the above. Thank you as always

Q: Just wondering if you saw any reason for the big drop today? I did see the volume was up by nearly double.
Thanks! Paul

Q: Telus appears to be diversifying itself with Telus Agriculture and now Telus Health. What would be your opinion on these initiatives and their potential?
What kind of timeframe should an investor have in mind for them?
Jack

Q: What are your thoughts on buying Telus right now ?

Q: Hi 5i,

All these questions about BCE and it's dividend has me worried about the other two in the industry. Could you comment on T and RCI's debt load, payout ratios, dividend sustainability, and earning growth rates?

Also, separate/unrelated comment: It would be great to be able to do a search on a company and have BOTH the Canadian and U.S. questions both come back together. It's a bit of a pain to have to do two separate searches and then manually read them in chronological order. Well, it is the season...and I thought I'd just ask... :)

TIA

Q: I read your comments on Canadian telcoms with your suggestion to go to the US to get exposure in this sector (TMUS). But could part of the weakness in Canadian telcos be due to tax loss selling? Or are there too many long time share holders whose adjusted cost basis is so low that even this year's telcom pull back is not enough to trigger a capital loss? Just a thought, s for me I will keep my telus but I am not adding any more.

Q: I know that utility and pipeline companies usually have higher than normal debt levels but would any of these cause you concern? A quick comment on each company would be appreciated and whether you would buy, hold or sell. Thank you!

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: 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: 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