Investment Q&A

Q: What are your favorite Canadian utilities. Criteria: maintenance of dividend with some possibility of growth.
Thank you.

Q: Hello Peter and team,
In terms of stability, safety of dividends and overall company fundamentals (and thanks to the answer you provided to the Emera question as per Globe and Mail), would it be fair to rank from best to worse as follows: FTS, BEP.UN, H, AQN, and than EMA? Thanks very much.

Q: Hello Peter,
I am assuming Enbridge and TC Energy are going up due to higher oil prices and fortis and emera are safer places to be. In the long run, should i move some monies from Enbridge and TC energy to Fortis or Emera as they may have higher pricing power going forward when negotiating new rates? Thanks very much

Q: Which one of these 2 companies (AQN + FTS) would you add on today?
And why?
Or not buy at all in this market.
Thank you.

Q: HI!
In an income seeking portfolio, if one has a portfolio that is overweight financials, do you think it makes sense in the current environment to lighten up and add to pipelines and utilities due to the geopolitical events and risk of recession down the road. Thought in rate rising environment assets that benefit from rising rates were in favour but it seems telcos, utilities, and pipelines are moving more now. Obviously with price of oil, increase in pipelines is understandable and clearly yield curve is playing a role. What are your thoughts on whether increasing rates will eventually hurt utilities/pipelines. Thank you!

Q: Hi Peter
I have read your report that you have sent over to your customers stating that with this market correction it is time to build, i am with you all the way i am fairly new to this game been in it for only 2 years and still learning alot following your advise. I am at the age of 63 years old , if still healthy my time frame will be 5 years. Stating what you said about the market correction that we are in now, which companies would you feel is something that you can see moving in the right direction or which sector would you recommend? Thks again for everything

Q: Could I have your best single selection for both US and Canada for a conservative investor in these 7 sectors - energy, global defence, cyber, pipelines, utilities, consumer staples and defensive growth within software tech. Thank you for the help.

Q: I am down 26% on MG in a non-registered account. I understand the geo-political reasons behind the slide, but am tempted to take a tax loss and replace MG with FTS. Would you recommend this...or suggest I hold the course with MG? Thank you.

Q: What are your five favourite dividend stocks with growth possibilities at the moment? Please include one in the utility sector (perhaps a renewable). Thank you as always, Pete in Calgary.

Q: I hold 13% of my non-registered account in energy and utilities, spread across the following stocks, with a focus on long-term income.

Would you suggest any consolidations or removal of any of these positions?

AQN, 9.70% of total, 3% gain
CU, 4.78% of total, 3% gain
ENB, 21.43% of total, 31% gain
EPD, 7.50% of total, 2% gain
FTS, 8.14% of total, 1% gain
KMI, 7.54% of total, 6% gain
PXT, 7.19% of total, 15% gain
SPB, 8.48% of total, 3% loss
TPZ, 4.19% of total, 8% gain
TRP, 4.86% of total, 11% gain
WMB, 4.63% of total, 10% gain
ZWU, 11.55% of total, flat

Thanks as always for your excellent work! Aaron

Q: With intrest rate rising,perhaps faster in USthan Canada Which stocks will benefit and which has more risk but perhaps benefit.
Does Energy stocks still have room to grow?

Q: Hi,
I just saw a question on the percentage of renewable energy sources versus hydrocarbons for a number of companies, including BEPC, NPI, AQN and FTS. You said there was no material exposure to renewables for FTS. You may be right of course but what is the definition of renewables? Is it only wind and solar, or is hydro considered a form of renewable energy? If so, FTS has plenty of hydro power sources.
Thanks for clarification.

Q: Could you provide the % age of the bottom line for these co's that is generated by renewables vs hydrocarbons?
Also if possible could you provide their strategic focus - capital investment % on renewables vs hydrocarbons?

I may have the incorrect BAM listed and I may have missed a key player in this domain.

Thank you

Q: Hi 5i,
Was looking to add to my half position of FTS and came across this news.... heading.....

"Veritas Downgrades Fortis to Sell from Buy, Keeps CA$57.50 Price Target."

Can you provide any insight on why they would consider FTS a sell and would you agree?
Would you be comfortable adding at this price for 2-3 yr hold or would you wait for maybe better entry point?

thx
Jim

Q: This is a follow-up to our question from last week (see: https://www.5iresearch.ca/questions/140708).

Based on your response that nothing in the list gives you much cause for concern, we would understand this to imply none of the 30 stocks would be considered a "sell" today.

Please divide the 30 stocks into a pair of ranked (best to worst) lists, one of "buys" and the other of "holds". As well, for each of the "holds" indicate the principal rationale for caution.

Q: About 1 year ago we created an equal-weighted 'balanced' portfolio of 30 Canadian companies in a non-registered account. Most were chosen from companies either covered by a 5i research report or included in a 5i model portfolio. The remainder were chosen, based on the 5i Q&A section, from what appear to be 5i sector favourites. All purchases are made with the intent to be long-term holds (10+ years). As well, we intend to increase our investments over the next 2-3 years, and then adjust over time as needed. Currently the amount invested represents ~40% of the eventual total.

Although a goal is to keep the portfolio roughly equal weighted, of the 30 companies, the following 14 were acquired in 3 purchases (full position) and currently have weights in the 2.31% (SHOP) to 5.00% (ATA) range for an average of 3.71%: CSU, MG, GSY, WSP, LNF, ATD, ATA, SLF, BAM.A, BIPC, FTS, DOO, SHOP and TFII. The remainder were acquired in 2 purchases (2/3 position) and currently have weights in the 1.98% (BEPC) to 3.17% (TCN) range for an average of 2.56%. So, overall, the weightings currently range from ~2% to ~5%.

Over the next 6 months we will invest another ~25% of the eventual total. As we make additional purchases, we need to strike a balance between keeping the weights roughly equal while taking advantage of market opportunities. Please provide some broad guidance/wisdom.

Of the 30 companies in the portfolio, which 10 would you have the highest conviction in today? Please rank them.

Are there any of the 30 that you might consider as candidates to be replaced because there are better options, and if so, what replacements would you suggest and why (disregard tax considerations)?

What additional 3 Canadian companies might you consider adding to the portfolio and why?

As always, thanks for the great service!

Q: Hello 5i team,
Need to build equity portion of a portfolio for a recently retired almost senior citizen.
Very conservative, sleep at night stocks. Not needed for at least 5-10 years.

Need about 10 for RRSP and 4-5 for TFSA.

Do you agree with above stocks or would you pick others?
No oil stocks and no significantly cyclical stocks.
Don't need to be dividend payers but looking for total return of 5-8% or more per year on average.
Can you provide about 12 choices including above suggestions if you agree for RRSP and 4-5 for TFSA.

Take as many credits as needed.
Thank you so much for this great service.

Q: For context, this is a locked in RSP which will likely turn into a LIF and I am looking at this in terms of a dividend stream. Cashed in some cnq and have cash to deploy.

Of those mentioned, for relative safety of capital, good yield and yield appreciation, how would you rank these (cdn or us it does not matter). For eg, ABBV has an attractive yield but I am unsure of patents expiring etc. You thoughts.

Thank you

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan, and Team,

Portfolio Analytics indicated that we had too much Technology, and not enough Utilities. I recently sold XIT, and added more BEP.UN. In the Utilities sector, among our accounts, we own AQN, BEP.UN, and FTS. The Utility weightings are now AQN = 3.65%, BEP.UN = 2.86%, and FTS = 1.49%.

In 5i's answers to questions, I notice that you generally rate BEP.UN higher than AQN.

Recently, John Heinzl wrote in his "Yield Hog" column that he bought more AQN, and gave some good reasons for doing so. I'm now wondering if I did the right thing in adding more BEP.UN, and am asking for some "reassurance".

Finally, I note that PA still shows that we could add more Utilities. I would be doing this in a non-registered account, and am wondering what to add. Please rank AQN, BEPC (better tax advantage than BEP.UN), FTS, and NPI (this would be a new holding).

Thanks in advance for your insight.

Q: what 5 Canadian utility stocks would you currently recommend and why? please rank them in order of highest to lowest recommendation.
thanks