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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: I am finding myself a bit on the heavy side lately in the "technology" sector, which has certainly not been a bad thing. My question is whether or not it warrants a bit of a higher weighting as the sector seams to be broadening so significantly with companies such as REAL, which services the real estate and insurance industry, being classed as Tech sector. With the spread of technology into all industries and aspects of our lives, there seems to be some discrepancies between companies that develop tech for use in an industry being classed as tech or the specific sector. Another example could be CAE which could be argued as transportation and healthcare to a degree but is classed Tech. I Understand that these are just titles and weightings can be a bit flexible. I realize this is a bit of a nebulous question but your comments, clarification are always much valued.

Secondly, I have some cash to deploy and other than technology, what other sector or sectors would you favour (other than to deploy based strictly on a perfectly balanced portfolio, sector wise) would you favour for the longer term at this point in history?

As always, thanks for the sage advise!

John
Read Answer Asked by John on February 13, 2020
Q: IAG reported a 7.8% increase in their dividend, EPS up by 14% … overall, results seem quite respectable yet share price is down over 3%. The executive commented ….

"Overall, business growth was very good in the fourth quarter. Sales were especially robust for segregated funds and in Group Savings and Retirement," Mr. Ricard continued. "Individual Insurance sales also finished strong with 8% year‑over‑year growth, and mutual fund sales improved. Solid profits and sales in both of our U.S. divisions in 2019 reinforce our desire to continue growing our U.S. presence in 2020, in particular with the acquisition of IAS announced in December 2019."

"Profitability remained strong in the fourth quarter," added Jacques Potvin, Executive Vice‑President, CFO and Chief Actuary. "Market growth and new business strain are among the items that had a positive impact on profitability during the quarter. Our year-end assumption review also had a slightly positive impact on our results. The review factored in investments in technology to improve client and distributor experience."

"Our guidance for 2020 puts core EPS between $6.30 and $6.90. That makes the midpoint 11% higher than last year," continued Mr. Potvin. "After exceeding guidance in 2019, we're also raising our target range for ROE to between 11.5% and 13%. Organic growth and various profit improvement initiatives will help us reach these targets. On another note, we achieved our goal of organically generating over $250 million in capital in 2019. Renewing that goal in 2020 will allow us to maintain our strong capital position."

Can you comment? Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Martin on February 13, 2020
Q: Re: Question concerning recent performance of EDG180, Feb 11, from John.
I note that EDGPOINT came about toward the tail end of the 2008 market shock and that they therfore had an excellent starting point for their funds to perform. Is it possible that this serendipitous beginning might somewhat explain their longer term results and that perhaps their more recent performance which "has indeed slipped" might actually be the norm?
Steve
Read Answer Asked by Steve on February 13, 2020
Q: Utilities seem to go parabolic since December 2018 with no sign of slowing down. Since interest rates seem to remain low for a foreseeable future, is this a new secular trend emerging from improved interest in green energy. ZUT in particular includes many renewable power generator companies. So I basically have 2 questions: If this is a new secular trend should one increase their utility allocation ? 2: Is there still life for oil and gas companies ?
Read Answer Asked by Yves on February 13, 2020
Q: I intend to diversify away a bit from the Brookfield family as I already have BEP.UN and BIP.UN.

Within my RRSP I intend to sell BYP.UN and am interested in buying AW.UN. It appears that A & W's debt is under control. Dividend growth appears to lack a bit of consistency though.

How good is their management?
Would you expect about 7 or 8% total return going forward?
Morningstar Fair Value is about $35. Would you agree?
Would a 5% position be too much for this type of stock if we were to go into a recession?
Do you have any concerns over the 20% drop from its highs?

Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by James on February 13, 2020
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