Investment Q&A

Q: I currently hold 2,000 exe.a and 1,000 csh.un in one of my RRSP accounts and am down considerably on both.

1/ Do you feel the dividends are relatively safe?

2/ Do you think think they will rebound?

3/ Or - should I just trim them both and move on?

Thanks for your insights.

Q: My income portfolio consisting of the above equities has taken quite a beating in the recent market downturn. Except for LB, there has been some recovery in prices, and so far dividends have been maintained. I have some excess cash to deploy, and would like your advice on whether to double down on some on my current investments, or your suggestions for other beaten down income investments. Thank you.

Q: I am looking at Chartwell (CSH.UN) and wondering if the stock has been unfairly punished by the terrible issues that Sienna and other LTC facilities have experienced. Apparently Chartwell is a well managed company and it only has about 10% of its facilities in LTC. I am thinking to buy CSH at the current low prices. I would appreciate your thoughts and guidance.
Thank you, Patrick

Q: Do you have any information about how Chartwell is faring in the present crisis, compared to other companies in this industry? Are any of its residences among the 5 disaster cases in Ontario? What about in Quebec and the other provinces? In other words, is there information available that lets us assess how a particular long-term retirement residence company is doing relative to the others?

Q: I’m under water in this name. Do you recommend selling ,or do you see recovery in a year to 18 months. I’m wondering if I quite likely would be selling at the bottom. Also, do you know if there have been any significant complaints against the company?
Thank you.

Q: Hi gang, I have 400 shares of csh.un bought @15.00. Should I hold them or sell. And if I sell what should I buy? Any sector few options please Thanks.
Alnoor

Q: Hello Peter,
Both XBC and BLDP have china exposure. Is this something to be concerned about given issues with Huawei? I own Sienna and Chartwell. Is it worth holding given the situation of long term care or move on? I recall Brookfield had purchased a long term care facility at one time so am wondering if both SIA and Chartwell could be potential takeovers? Thanks very much.

Q: Peter; CBC has just reported on a investigation by the armed fire es into LTC facilities in Quebec and Ontario that is quite terrible. Your premier is going on air shortly - seems to me this could cause disruption in those stocks. Do,you think it is serious enough for them to do a “ takeover” of the offending facilities for a period of time? Thanks. Rod

Q: Have held 1000 units of NWH.UN in non-RSP account since 2015 and the ROC is now about 1/3 of what I paid for it. Confused about ROC and how it helps me but I do understand the lowering of the cost base when units are disposed of. Faithfully track all ROC’s for all units held including SPB. I don’t depend on the income from the portfolio but I am in a 43 % marginal tax bracket as a retiree. So when do I dispose of NWH.UN?
Your Q&A database says that NWH.UN is small, has wide geo distribution and not much growth, the distribution is safe but amount is only so so. However, there is a lot of ROC. In this down market, my 2 other similar amount of REs are down also (CSH.UN and SIA, 35 and 44% respectively). Also, have similar amount of AD that is down 52%. I am about “even” on my gains and tax loss sales so far for 2020 taken early in January but could use some carry-back for last year’s gains. Thinking of a trade of selling NWH and AD and perhaps CSH and SIA, waiting the 30 days before buying AD back unless you could suggest a suitable alternative proxy for the interim (or just buy CAR.UN instead all in non-RSP). Or would best option be to let it simmer and revisit during tax loss season to see if any of these have sufficiently rebounded? Have I missed something? Maybe the best decisions taken are those decisions that did not have to be taken.

Q: Hi Peter and Staff
In my US Healthcare basket I currently own PFE , JNJ,STYK, and MDT
a)Are there other US Healthcare names that you would substitute for any of the 4 as part of a basket?

b) I also own CSH.UN and SIA and love the dividends and am hopeful of a price jump based on your previous replies of that beaten up sector getting to the other side. In a basket approach are there other names in the US that would warrant a trimming of either of those two or of SIS or GUD to own on a long term basis total return dividends and capital gains?

Thanks for all you do
Dennis

Q: Hello Peter,
If you owned these as full-positioned laggards in your portfolio, but were also a patient, long-term investor and appreciated the dividends, which of the following would you currently hold, sell or add to at this time? FSZ, AW.UN, CSH.UN, T, EWJ, HCG, MX, KBL, APR.UN, ZPR, NTR, TECK.B and CN?

Q: There are apparently class-action suits being launched against Revera and Sienna relating to covid deaths in their homes. Before long this may well involve Extendicare and Chartwell at a guess. How meaningful to a company's future would you expect these suits could be? Are there any legal precedents (re: alleged lack of proper patient/resident care) involving senior homes in Canada? I have held both Chartwell and Sienna for years, and done well with them up until all this. I have reduced both by about half, but do you think it is just better to exit this sector for now?
Thank-you

Q: Hi 5i Team
I hold these 3 REITS and would like to consolidate to one. Which would you advise to hold for long term considering recovery and dividend security?
Thanks

Q: My question is a general one on dividends. For example during these times companies are keeping the dividend and in some cases raising it. But most are stopping the DRIP. What is the purpose of this? Only reason I could think of is they don't want to give me stock at such cheap prices? What else am I missing?

Jimmy

Q: Why does CSH have such a high P/E ratio? Is this normal for the sector?

Q: The senior residence industry is being highly scrutinized by the public, the nurses union, the government as being understaffed, poorly paid, and inadequately trained at some long care facilities. With that in mind, costs have to increase and corporations who run them will be under pressure. I see Trudeau may impliment minimum wages for the workers at these facilities, maybe $5 per hour increase. The stock prices have already suffered and the dividends they pay may be under pressure. Would you continue to hold or sell and wait until this issue is dealt with.

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: The assisted living industry has been hit hard by the pandemic. Do you think this sector is going to face more issues and for investors, is it best to steer clear even though the baby boomer senior population in Canada is growing?
Between CSH.un and SIA, is one better than the other for 3 yrs hold and why? Or is it best to sell both names? Many thanks.

Q: I have held these for income and am down substantially. . All are in registered accounts. Are any of them in danger of bankruptcy? Are any worth holding and/or adding to at this time?
Thanks
Gary

Q: would you consider selling these and buying visa or other ones.we are longtime holder