Investment Q&A

Q: Dear 5i team:
Your software indicates our family’s investments are too Canadian-focused. However, I prefer our “home bias”, for three reasons:
(a) most of our assets are non-registered, and the dividend tax credit is especially favourable for Canadian source dividends in a province such as ours (Ontario);
(b) I like supporting the companies that I invest in (e.g., we buy Peller family wines, since we own their shares);
(c) but most important, many of the “Canadian” businesses we own are surprisingly international; among our top 20 equity holdings are:
Alimentation couche-tarde (Circle K is world-wide);
Brookfield Asset Management (globally focused company that invests wherever the opportunities are);
CGI Group (revenues are 84% outside Canada per 2019 annual report);
CP Rail (significant U.S. revenues);
Fortis (65% of earning are in U.S.);
Manulife (growing Asian revenues);
Restaurant Brands International (most of Burger King and Popeye’s restaurants are outside of Canada);
Shopify (not sure, but suspect international revenues are growing faster than Canadian revenues);
TC Energy (dropped “Canada” from its name to reflect its growing U.S. presence);
TD bank (substantial and growing U.S. presence);
Anyways, the above-listed 10 stocks represent about one-third of our overall equity holdings (in absolute $ terms), but I would not consider these companies as being “100% Canadian”. I wonder whether your software could be rejigged to reflect the relative percent earnings (or revenue) contributions, broken down per Canada, U.S., Europe, Asia, and so forth. I suspect our home “bias” is not nearly as substantial as it appears.
Ted

Q: I have these 13 stocks at equal weighting of approximately 5 percent each in my RSP, along with 35 percent in fixed income. Stock value of approx 1,300,000. Fixed income is approx 650,000. Cash 50,000. In your valued opinion, is the above stock selection diversified enough?, or are there other sectors I should be in. I am 69 and going to retire in the next year.

Q: Hi. I would characterize myself as an income investor, but like many others am also trying to position myself for "conservative growth".

I currently hold 3% positions each in BIP, FTS, BEP and a 3.5% position in CPX. I also have a 4% position in ENB (I see it as a pseudo utility/energy).

I'm down about 5% on FTS and BEP, even on BIP and up 15% on CPX.

I'm thinking of selling FTS at a tax loss and picking up AQN for the higher dividend and what I see as better potential for growth.

I may consider adding FTS back in at a later date. What do you think of this strategy, or would I be better to leave things as is? Do you see BIP, BEP, AQN and CPX as having better growth potential in the next 1-3 years? What would be your recommendations given this mix of holdings?

Thank-you in advance.

Q: I will retire in two years at 62 and receive OAS and max CPP at 65.

I have significant savings and investments.

At this moment in time what are your top five long term income producing investments. Relatively safety with some growth potential.

Thanks much.

Q: What is your best guess as to the likelihood of a dividend cut by any of the above listed companies? Thanks.

Q: Good afternoon
Quick question
Fortis or Emera, and why.?
I notice that Emera pays a better dividend
Thank you

Q: What would you consider the best bond proxies at this time?

Q: Hi. I have the above stocks in my TFSA and have some cash to deploy. Could you please give me 3 suggestions and rank them. Thanks.

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