Investment Q&A

Q: Hello Peter,
Is Well health technologies taking a hit due to the financing that was lower than the current price? If so, is it a good time to add to it.. Why are companies like fortis and other utilities and telecoms taking a hit . I thought lower rates would favour utilities and with work from home, companies like BCE would benefit as more people use the network. Lastly, do you feel it is time to add to LSPD or take a break given recent surge.. thanks very much

Q: Do you know why the price of Fortis has dropped over the past few days? Thanks for your comments.

Q: Can you please rank these stocks in terms of current valuations / market timing?
I am planning on purchasing 2 or 3 over the next few weeks and am wondering where to start.

Thanks.

Q: Hi! Is it a good time to add to Fortis to a full position. 10 year+ hold. Would you also add to Emera ? Thank you!

Q: There was an announcement a couple of days ago that BC Hydro was idling some facilities due to a reduction in demand. In the current situation I would guess that there must be a significant reduction in the industrial use of electricity. The prices of AQN and FTS have pulled back a bit. NPI is up today, perhaps on decent results. What does your crystal ball tell you about the demand for electricity going forward and the future prices of utility stocks.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Ian

Q: I presently own Fortis and was thinking of selling it for a profit and buying either CU or ACO in its place.

It would not change the asset allocation in my portfolio but would increase my total annual dividends (for income)

A. Can you give me your opinion on the swap, pros and cons of such a move

B. CU or ACO, which has better upside potential (rebound)

thanks

Ernie

Q: I am looking at buying a regulated gas and electric utility company. I am considering AQN and FTS. Which of these would be your favourite and why? Is there a company that you prefer more than these for a long-term hold?

Q: Hi Peter,
Like many, I'm interested in possibly buying a couple of stocks that have been hit by COVID but that should recover well when the world gets back to normal. However, I want to do this in a conservative way - with larger, stable companies with low debt and strong balance sheets; assured 'survivors'. Can you please suggest six North American stocks (other than banks) that I might consider. And would you see CGI (GIB) qualifying under those terms? Thanks as always.

Q: Hi
I have held Emera for a few years in a TFSA (~2% of total portfolio). You seem to prefer other companies in the utilities sector. What is your preferred pick(s) for this sector and would you recommend switching out of EMA? I also have ~1.5% in ZUT. My other holding primarily consist of a split of broad market ETFs.

thanks,

Q: Hi, Could you please comment on Fortis results. How is company projecting impact of COVID-19 on its operations and income? Thanks

Q: Is Fortis a better buy than Brookfield Renewable at this time due to Brookfield's exposure to South America ?

Q: Hi Peter: When I sit back and take a look at the big picture and review how my portfolio performed during COVID-19 (so far), I try to see what lessons I can learn, then turn to how to apply those lessons to make my portfolio stronger.

I am a retired, dividend-income investor. I am a huge believer in asset allocation and have designed a portfolio, in my opinion, to be reasonably well diversified, although heavy to Canada. It WAS roughly 70% equities (including 32% foreign content) and 30% fixed income (roughly 15% insured annuities, 15% Fisgard Capital...both averaging in the 5-6% pre-tax range and minor cash). My equities are mostly blue chip, dividend payers, as you can see above. The 3 mutual funds are a very minor part of my portfolio, especially Eric's Energy Fund (<2%). I also receive a company pension and CPP-OAS which, when included, drops my equities to roughly 32%.

I use various metrics to monitor my portfolio, such as P/E, P/BV, P/CF, P/S, Beta, ROE, Div growth, Payout%, technical indicators like 200 mda. I am normally a buy-and-hold investor who trims/adds around a core position.

Periodically I measure how "at risk" my portfolio is relative to the overall market. I do this by prorating my portfolio using Beta. Based on equities only, I averaged 0.68 and for my entire portfolio I averaged 0.44. So, one would think that if the overall market (TSX) was to drop 30%, then I would have thought my portfolio would drop 44% to 68% of that, being in the range of 13% (overall) to 20% (equities only).

In actual fact, my entire portfolio dropped 27% from peak to trough vs the expected 13%...over double! I understand that EVERYTHING was sold off...almost no exceptions. So what do we learn from this and what changes should we consider? Do we accept that "sxxt happens" once in a while...you can't predict every event, accept it and move on? Should we consider increasing the cash component as a buffer? Or...is there something else to be learned here?

Thanks for you help...much appreciated...Steve

Q: I wish to buy a defensive utility in a non-reg acct that will qualify for DTC (not sure if ETFs above qualify for DTC). I am aware of different div yields. Is there any significant difference in risks that stand out to you? Plse rank in your order of pref for purchase (already own EMA but would purchase more).

Q: What would be your favourite 5 Canadian and 5 us stocks for stagflation and best etf as well.Your favourite food commodity etf as well .thanks

Q: Morning, Given a choice between these two, which one would you purchase? Alternatives? Long term holds in a diversified rrsp. Thanks

Q: If I am enrolled in a drip, is the stock purchased at a discounted rate or the market price of a stock. I own the listed companies; are any of those are eligible for a discounted drip purchase price? or do you need to buy them directly from the company to qualify for the discount.

Q: Hi,

Do you agree that many REITS and utility companies are historically way overvalued considering their lack of growth?
If I was to invest in REITS and utility companies for the next few years, could u pick 2 REITS you like for US and 2 for CDN exposure?
Could you also pick two utility companies you like for US and 2 for CDN exposure?

Q: I am a buy and hold investor with 5 to 10 years of time horizon.
Have the following 7 stocks in Canadian Utilities in the order of their weights in our portfolio. Utilities makeup roughly 8.5% of the total portfolio including cash positions and like their dividend. FTS, TRP,EMA, AQN, ENB, BEP-UN, BIP-UN. I like to reduce exposure to utilities and also like to reduce number of different shares. Two questions:
1. Is 8.5% a reasonable weight considering the current situation?
2. Which one of these I should sell to reduce utilities weight and to reduce the number of shares in utilities?

Q: Good afternoon.

I’m interested in which you prefer (1 and 2) in each category below.

ATD.B, PBH, MRU, L

SLF, TD, BAM.A, TRI

WSP, SIS, CAE

CSU, SHOP, ENGH, KXS

BEP.UN, FTS, AQN

Thank you.

Q: Hi, if I was going to buy one or two utility companies and one or two REITs for reasonable income, growth and safety, which ones would you recommend? Thanks.