Investment Q&A

Q: I would like your opinion of Telus services to the health care industry, as it relates to growth and profitability. Their activity in this area is rarely talked about.
Thanks for comments
John

Q: Looking to build my telecom position to 5% (up from 3%) of my total portfolio (mostly BCE, some VOD and VZ). Thinking of adding Telus to make up the remaining 2%. Would today's pullback be a good entry point? I'd be buying approx 250 shares. Thanks

Q: Hi 5i team. It would seem that you don't have one of the main telecom Co's under coverage. I, too, do not have a telecom in my portfolio, even though, as a retired, income invester, that is against the majority of advices. My main reason is that there are two things that affect profit negatively; competition and regulation. They have got both. It wasn't always the case. I owned BCE in the 90's and sold when Nortel (which they owned) got to over 80$ and achieved a ten-bagger. I'd very much like to know what your reasons are for not including the sector. The reason is that I'm thinking of going back in. The companies in the sector seem to have settle down and have exchange the golden goose of land-line for the golden eagle of internet/media. Even though there isn't going to be big catalysts like NT for jumps in growth, they yield a goodish dividend and give you a bit of growth. They might even end up like the banks,i.e. become a government sponsored oliopoly. Your thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks as always. Henry

Q: Telus has a health care division (who knew?) that is generating 5% of its revenue, employing 1600, and according to the CEO, "...we've got the tools to be a major player in that business and it's one of our fastest growing business areas now as a result." The Telus investment seems to be in the area of Electronic Medical Records where I recall the Ontario Govt. here misspent $1billion not long ago under eHealth, before pulling the plug on the whole mess, and going back to the medical IT ways of 40 years ago. (My Family Dr., in his 40s, still writes prescriptions by hand, but keeps all my records on his laptop showing he's computer savvy, and I can't contact him electronically.)

Do you see Telus Health as having the knowledge and patience to succeed here in what seems to be a high risk area? I know 5i must be working on a Telus report since the stock's been in the model P/F for 2+ years but I can't find any earnings or EBITDA numbers for this division in their financials. Do you know? I've happily owned this stock for several years and it's in my Top 5 weightings; do you see risk or reward on the horizon with the health care part? Thanks, J.

Q: I currently owned Rogers and thinking of selling and buying Telus instead. I am just wondering since I do have some US$ if I should buy Verizon instead because all that is going on with telco industry and CRTC wanting a fourth carrier?
Thanks
Dolores

Q: I have held Telus in my RRSP account for decades and it has grown to be a huge part of my portfolio. I feel that I should trim it back substantially, although I'm having a difficult time trying to figure out what to replace it with. I have always liked its stability and have taken advantage of the DRIP.
My question is, when trimming should it be done all at one time or over a period of time and also, could you recommend 4 or 5 quality stocks to replace it with without regard for sectors.

Thanks so much

Q: Hi 5i I remember Peter talking about the value of compounding using DRIPs .A guest on BNN showed the power of this using Johnson/Johnson over a number of years, very impressive! I was wondering if you could suggest 2 stocks to buy with a DRIP that I would put away in a TFSA for about 10 years. Thx for all your work. Gerry

Q: Hi Peter
I am worried about Telus performance. Is it time to sell?
Margita

Q: I currently own equal weightings of CN, Gibson Energy, IPL and Telus in my RRSP. I am selling a stock worth 5500 and would like to add the proceeds to one of these 4 stocks. Which stock do you recommend? Thank you for your insight.

Q: Would you please comment on the performance of Telus. YTD the stock is up about 3%. I am looking for some growth. Should I keep it or move on? Thanks guys.

Q: Peter

I have $55,000 in Bell Alliant(BA), $80,000 in B.C.E. and $30,000 in Telus which is approximately 8.5% of the equity portion of my portfolio . I will incur approximately a $10,000 capital gain if I sell Bell Alliant as opposed to exchanging shares for B.C.E. as per recent proposal. Alternatively, if I sold Bell Alliant, I could put the funds into Telus to provide more balance. What are your thoughts on this? Is 8.5% too high a concentration in telecommunications, given our present government's continuous threat to shakeup or shakedown the industry?

Q: Hi,

I was wondering if I could get your thoughts on the spectrum news and the downgrades the major telecoms have been getting, in particular Telus and BCE.

Thanks,

Q: My wife and I are looking to retire in 6 to 7 years and are setting up our portfolio so that we will have investments paying approximately 7% dividends in 7 years relative to the current purchase price. Could you suggest five stocks that have the best chance of growing to a 7% yield relative to initial purchase price in 7 years and continuing to rise with inflation over time? We look forward to your response.

Q: I would like to add Telus, BCE and Enbridge to my holdings for stability and the dividend. But they've gone up so much. Is this the time to buy or should I be waiting?

Q: Hi: Considering adding a single Canadian Telco to my portfolio. Out of Telus, Bell and Rogers which do you feel is the best pick?

Thanks!

Q: Hello Team
After spending quite some time looking at all the different fundamentals of these 3 telecom companies maybe you can shed some light on which one you feel I would do best in. Telus,Chunghwa CHT, or Nippon NTT.Being a contrarian at heart I always lean toward the deepest value which I feel would be Nippon telecom,However there ttm ROA is much lower than the other 2 However forward P/E, Price/sales,and P/CF values are much lower.The other metric which I find interesting is the Net income growth AVG over the last 3 years which Telus has performed much better over.
Thanks Gord

Q: I am slowly building my portfolio as per your guide lines.Currently looking at communications [telephones]I am looking at Telus and BCE. Do you have a preference? or would you recommend something else. Thanks Leonard

Q: Good day, 5i.
Can you explain the drop in Telus shares recently and confirm whether this is a good time to add to a position?

Thank you kindly,

Q: Hi,

Now that Telus has a new CEO, do you still agre with it as a long term hold?

Q: Hi Peter & 5i: It will be very interesting to see how things go with the Income Portfolio and particularly to see what changes, if any, may be made as time passes. To that end, I am wondering if you have in mind clear principles for managing the portfolio first with respect to the relative position sizes but also with the weightings between the fixed income side (bond ETFs), the common equity holdings, and the hybrids (pref shares & REITS). The original Model Portfolio had the virtue of keeping things very simple in terms of 20 positions at 5% each, with the suggestion that periodic rebalancing should trim positions that got much over 6% and look to re-allocate to positions that had become relatively smaller. The new Income Portfolio has position sizes ranging from 7% (ETFs) to 3% (Telus). Obviously the ETFs are diversified holdings in at least some dimension, so I’m not suggesting that 7% is too much. But what winds up being your flags for rebalancing? Also, with both T and BCE in the portfolio, to what extent does sector balancing come into the mix? Thanks, as always!