Investment Q&A

Q: Good morning,
I'm 70 years old and with yet a new year upon us and a review of the holdings in my non reg equity portfolio, I'm concerned that my $650K non reg equity portfolio has slowly grown into a "hodge podge" of miscellaneous holdings that need to be trimmed, better concentrated (minimum 5% per holding) along with the addition of a few additional names in sectors that are not currently represented. My current holdings are as follows:
AQN (3.3%),BCE (11.6%)BAM.A(3.8%),CU (4.5%),DIV(2.8%),EMA (2.4%),KEY(2.2%),XIU(5.2%),XIC (33.2%),XDV(18.4%),SLF(3.6%),T(2.9%),T(2.9%),MAW120(3.1%)MAW102(3%).
I would very much appreciate your suggestions on how to best to adjust my current non reg equity portfolio to make it easier to manage and follow. I'm open to adding an appropriate mix of ETFs or Mawer equity funds as need be. My RRSP and TFSA are pretty much all populated with a mix of relatively low MER Mawer equity funds which have performed well over the years. I thank you in advance and look forward to hearing your sage advice and recommendations.
Francesco

Q: CU has been dropping steadily from over $42 in June 2017 to just over $31 today wiping out over 5 years' worth of dividends. What is happening? CU has raised it's dividend every year for 45 years. Is this the end of the dividend growth ride? It makes me afraid to invest as a senior looking for for the 5% dividend. Your advice? What utilities would you prefer [ie "safer" less volatile] with growing dividends around 5%.
Thanks......... Paul K

Q: I own ALA (Alta gas )CU (can utility ) VET (Vermillion ) all with a loss.I am planning to sell for tax loss.When is the best time to sell so I do not loose the divider for month of DEC, before end of the year.Thank you

Q: What is your outlook for CU in terms of dividend increase and modest capital gains for the next five years. As a senior, my expectation is a7% total return on average. What other stocks would you prefer to meet or exceed my desired return?

Q: Hello

Could you comment on Mondelez and Canadian Utilities recent earnings?

Thank you
Stephane

Q: Being retired we look to invest in long term stable companies with a reliable growing dividend. We own a few hundred shares of CU. The share price is lower than it has been for a very long time! We are wondering if you think the low share price offers a good opportunity to purchase some more shares or are there looming issues that could be problematic in the future. CU is part of our utility sector holdings.
Thank you.

Q: If one were to sell Atco at a loss and purchase Cdn Utilities, would CRA grant a tax loss or are these two companies considered too close to the same? Tx.

Q: Yesterday I asked the ? if you had any suggestions for an alternative to Fortis that pays a decent dividend and has some growth prospects, utility or not. Unfortunately, I forgot to mention that I already
own Algonquin @ Brookfield Renewables, my bad.
Any other suggestions.
Thanks: Jerry

Q: What are your top 10 defensive canadian stocks that, in your opinion, will best weather a significant economic downturn and/or market correction.
Thanks

Q: which would be your choice today Thanks

Q: Hi
Do you know when ENB plans to buy ENF? And, please advise your favorite Canadian dividend grower that yields over 4.5 %. I, like others, will be overweight ENB when this deal consumates. So I will need a replacement. Thanks Frank

Q: Would you support buying CU for income at this time? Is the price likely to decline further? As of today, the stock price is close to it's 52 week low of $30.80. I'm attracted to the 4.73% yield and the 10% dividend increases. If not CU, what else looks like an attractive buy for a longterm dividend income portfolio. (No banks please. I have plenty of bank stocks.)

Q: Payout ratios

I am confused about payout ratios. I have read here several times that you prefer to stick with dividend income stocks that have payout ratios below 50%. You have also suggested recently that the following were good solid choices for dividend income stocks. Your website does not include payout ratios, but I suspect your calculation is different from those I have found elsewhere. Below are the payout ratios I found in other places. As you can see, they are mostly above 50%, and some are above 100%!

Could you please comment on your calculation of payout ratios, that have these below 50%, or why the high ratio is acceptable presently?

Thanks again.

PWF 72%
BCE 97%
CU 116%
TRP 78%
ENB 182%
TRI 169%
QSR 79%
AQN 130%
T 82%

Q: I have recently taken over my parent’s investment account management because of health reasons. I found that my parent’s financial advisor had their money tied up and mutual funds with heavy fees, as well as GICs that were locked in for a long period of time. The money is now available for investing. They are retired and in their 80s. I will be keeping most of the money in HISA, GIC, and some short term bonds if the yields ever go above GICs. I would like to include a couple of stocks that are quite secure and pay decent dividends. And suggestions? I was thinking of RY, CM, BNS, PWF, BCE, CU, TRP, and ENB. Do these sound good, and do you have other suggestions?

Q: Greetings, I have a portfolio of Canadian and US stocks that is weighted about 60% in banks and insurance companies. I want to hold dividend paying stocks and am considering AQN, CU, & EMA to get more exposure to utilities (have Enbridge already) and PG for a consumer staple. Does this make sense or are their other names in the utilities and consumer sectors to consider?
Alex

Q: Does this company pays dividends?How often and what is your opinion about this stock ?.Thank you ,Ebrahim

Q: Can you please comment on the earnings at CU?

Q: With your answer to a Q on ENB as time being on the buyers side I put a low ball bid in for some shares. Could you give me a list of 'safe' stocks (i.e. like ENB and not KWH.UN for example) with great yields that one could put stink bids on? I will assume in your answer that putting ENB over ENF(e.g.) indicates preference of the safer investment vehicle.

TIA

Q: Hi 5i.

Could I have your thoughts on CU.
I'm thinking about adding this to my Income cash account.
I do have some FTS and EMA in the account now.
What percent would you recommend as a max for utilities holdings in this account.
I have BEP.UN and AQN in other accounts already.

Thanks

Q: amongst CU,EMA, ENB AND ACO,
A.please rank in order, best value buy and what metric is most appropriate for them in terms of assessing "value".
B. Also could you please give me some historical perspective on their value (always hard to decide on when to buy in given all of the recent drop.)