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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: Hello: I'm looking for several buy-and-hold "forever" companies. When I die, they will go to my children. Could you assess the above in those terms and rank order them, best first. I know you like all of these companies, but I"m not sure if you like them "forever." If you think I should drop any, please note. And if there are a couple not on the list that you think could be, also please note. Thank you for continued excellent service.
Read Answer Asked by Gordon on July 23, 2021
Q: I am drastically under invested in utilities. I presently hold the following - each is under a 1% weighting - AQN, ACO, BIPC, BEPC, BEP.UN, CU, and Fortis. Which would you sell? Which would you add to? All are in corporate non reg acct. Also want to increase my US and International exposure. Is there a reason not to do it in this sector?
Would appreciate US and International companies you favour. 5 year hold.
Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Lorraine on June 30, 2021
Q: Good day - thank you for reading my email and all your information and prompt assistance It is very appreciated

Would you please suggest which stocks you would buy in healthcare and consumer defensive - Canadian and US if possible
Read Answer Asked by Marla on June 15, 2021
Q: After selling some growth stocks, I'm looking to add 3 income stocks to my Rif. Can you rate your preference on the 1st 4 and then the last 2. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Henry on June 04, 2021
Q: 11:05 AM 5/20/2021

On March 18, 2021 "Using safety and valuation as the primary metrics", you ranked these 4 utilities : We would rank: FTS, NPI, AQN, EMA.

You consistently rank EMA at the bottom of the list yet since 2008 the graphs of FTS and EMA are almost exactly the same, both raise their dividends annually and EMA has a higher dividend [4.5% as opposed to 3.7%].

You must see something I am missing. What is the problem with EMA making it so much less desirable than FTS. Please be specific if you can, as this problem has bothered me for a long time. I own 4%EMA and 5%FTS positions in the two and need to add a bit to one. I plan to own these "forever" strictly for income and enough growth to offset inflation.
Thanh you.......... Paul K.


Read Answer Asked by Paul on May 25, 2021
Q: Non-registered account with goal of primarily dividend income has done quite well, with all of the noted holdings nicely in positive territory. In hind sight MG and SYZ would have been in a registered account. SYZ is up 63%, MG 24%.
Overall account yield is currently 3.8%. Would prefer it closer to 5%
Need some help with this "good problem". Take capital gain now and move into yieldier positions, or let running stocks run and deal with bigger gain in future?
If I move out of some of the growthier stocks, which div payers minimum 3% yield to move into?
Overall portfolio diversification is pretty decent, and diversification within this account does not have to be perfect - dividend security within this account is more important.

Thanks,
Jim
Read Answer Asked by Jim on May 04, 2021
Q: Taking these 7 income oriented equities and looking to rank them for risk in a correction situation moving forward it seems that if we use the March 2020 correction as a guide FTS and BCE dropped the least (28%) followed by RY (33%) then TD,BNS, AQN (35-37%) with SLF trailing the pack at 46%. The reason behind any future correction could of course be different than a virus-induced shutdown of the economy. But still your ranking of safest to least safe is appreciated and if your answer would be different depending on the cause of the correction then your comment on that would be nice to have as well. Thank you for assisting me in trying to build the most secure portion of my income strategy. Any additional equities that fit in the lowest downside category that you might suggest would also be most welcome.
Read Answer Asked by Ken on May 03, 2021
Q: What do you think of this twenty stock dividend portfolio for a taxable account? I am focusing on high quality and it yields about 3.8% . Any changes you would make?
Read Answer Asked by Stefan on April 29, 2021
Q: My question is regarding value metrics for CPX. I compared EV/Revenue for the above utilities and CPX is lowest at 4.66, followed by FTS at 5.96. FTS has the lowest P/B at 1.49; CPX is the next best at 2.00. As an income/value investor, is CPX a value diamond in the rough? I know it keeps missing estimates, but I would get a yield of about 5.5% while waiting for financial results to improve. Your comments very much appreciated.
Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Grant on April 07, 2021
Q: Could you please provide your recommendation from a utility/energy investment standpoint. I have mentioned 3 possibilities here. Trying to gain insight around management effectiveness, leverage etc. For instance, FTS seems to have superior mgmt effectiveness from an ROE, and leverage standpoint, so is that considered superior or depends on investment objective as one is growth vs income oriented. In the end, looking for alternatives as I already own these, and Brookfield has performed very well so now over weighted. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Steven on April 06, 2021
Q: Retired, dividend-income investor. A question earlier today has motivated me to finally ask this question....been thinking of it for quite a while. It had to do with potential rising interest rates and your response was that dividend investors should be prepared for a bumpy ride in the short term (my paraphrase of your answer).

I own the above securities and for the most part trim-add around core positions that I hold for the long term. Is it possible to divide the above securities into two camps....one that would be "ok" in a rising interest rate environment and the other that I should consider trimming a bit or maybe selling? I am ok riding things out for the long term and do not normally react to short term volatility.

Thanks for your help....Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on March 20, 2021
Q: hello 5i:
We hold AQN and BIP.UN in the utilities space and I'd like to increase by either adding to an existing position or initiating a new position. We also hold BAM.A, so indirect exposure to BEP.UN. Using safety and valuation as the primary metrics, can you rank the stocks above?
thanks
Paul L
Read Answer Asked by Paul on March 18, 2021
Q: please provide me your best 4 income plays in both
Canada and USA, thanks, retired seniors mid 70's.
Read Answer Asked by Peter on March 15, 2021
Q: The majority of our utility holdings are in FTS /AQN, and when looking at value metrics: EV/Rev, p/b, forward p/e and yield, these 2 stocks appear to rank highest of the stocks listed above. NPI seems to be 3rd best in value, but it does have a higher p/b ratio. We also hold the following utilities in decreasing weight: BEP.UN, NPI and INE. We need to trim SU/ENB and want to add more to some or all of the latter 3 utilities - would you add the most to BEP.UN then NPI or focus on just BEP.UN? INE appears to be a bit over-valued at this time. Should we continue to hold INE, sell or add on more significant dip? We income/growth investors with 10+ year time horizon.
Thanks!!
Read Answer Asked by Grant on March 11, 2021