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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: Dear 5i,
DYN3361, Dynamic Premium Yield Plus Fund.
This fund uses leverage, uses Call and Put option strategies for US stocks.
At the moment they seem to have an overweight with cash-covered Put options.
In general do both Call and Put strategies work in markets that are choppy and there is no trend either up or down? What would you attribute to it's good performance over the last few years?
Read Answer Asked by Ian on October 18, 2023
Q: I am interested in increasing my Health holdings through the purchase of CDRs. I am considering LLY, UNH, ABBV and PG. I favour LLY but note that it has been on a tear lately. Would you recommend it at these levels? I would appreciate your opinion on these companies. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on October 18, 2023
Q: What are your thoughts about this as a US/CDN high yield income portfolio? Any ideas would be appreciated. Please take as many credits as needed.
Read Answer Asked by Gregory on October 18, 2023
Q: hello 5i:
We've held a small position in PFFD for quite some time, with a significant loss (glad its small position).
But: the Fed narrative has changed from raising to pausing and the next step is inevitably lowering. Yes, there may be another small raise and yes, I know the higher for longer argument.
PFFD pays out over 7% in our RRIF, in an investment that appears to have very little risk of more downside and even a large amount of upside if things were to return to pre-covid levels.
Summing up and being a bit of a contrarian (skate to where the pucks going?), would you agree with my assessment? Can you see any reason for anything but limited downside with new money in the preferred space? What am I missing here?
thanks
Paul L
Read Answer Asked by Paul on October 17, 2023
Q: Hi,

I’m wondering if you can help clarify something for me about the CDIC deposit insurance for GICs. I have tried to research an answer for this but am still unclear.

In one account if I have a GIC valued at $100K, I know I have full CDIC insurance coverage.

If I have two $100K GICs in the same account, but the GICs are issued by two different institutions (e.g., one is a $100K TD GIC and one is a $100K BMO GIC), do I have full CDIC insurance on each GIC, for a total of $200K insurance, or only $100K insurance for the account?

Thank you. Michael
Read Answer Asked by Michael on October 17, 2023
Q: Regarding your very quick response to my question yesterday where you stated "Capital gains are treated the same as Canadian gains, but must be converted to C$ for tax purposes." ZSP is a Canadian listed equity in Canadian dollars so I assume that I will not need to make any conversion when taking a capital gain? If I alternatively buy HXS (or HXQ) will capital gains be treated as Canadian only?
Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on October 17, 2023
Q: These stocks are owned in an income portfolio and while their yields are good the continued downward trend is worrisome. Which would you replace, and with what, and if you could provide a reasoning for the change. REAL is my "real" worry, if truth be told, but I also feel slightly off my pizza these days ...
Read Answer Asked by Sylvia on October 17, 2023
Q: Hi team,

Which sectors in the TSX are currently the worst performing ?

Thanks,
Read Answer Asked by Keith on October 17, 2023
Q: Hi Peter,
In the Rob Carrick question this morning your answer stated "Some could see 20 percent + gains under different conditions".
For clarification would you please list your top 5 with that potential. Thanks so much.
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on October 17, 2023
Q: As a dividend growth investor I'm looking for one more (non-financial) growth company to add to my group that already includes ATD and CNR. I've done a side-by-side comparison of the following three outlining concerns for each:

FSV - Reasonable debt levels. In a recession, perhaps the strongest of the three (?), but always expensive.

SJ - Arguably a bit of a moat, reasonable debt. But by already owning CNR, does it make sense to own a company whose business includes railway ties?

DOO - Great growth, nice dividend growth, and very attractive moat. But what about that debt ?...and in a recession who is going to buy those "toys" ?

Not looking for personal advice, but I would welcome any comments on the concerns I've mentioned. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by James on October 17, 2023
Q: This question is about interest rates and their effect on dividend paying stocks and tech stocks. Most people talk about rates going up or down but not if they stay where they are now. As a senior whose memory stretches back to the 70’s and beyond, these rates seem rather normal to me. A recent article by Howard Marks of Oaktree Investments ( a unit of Brookfield ) quotes him saying he believes that rates will not decline and will be staying around their current level for quite a while. If so, how would the dividend paying stocks ( banks, utilities, telecoms, reits, ) and the tech stocks react ? Thanks. Derek.
Read Answer Asked by Derek on October 17, 2023
Q: Hi 5i Wonder Team,

Can you recommend your top three energy companies (US or Canada) with a solid balance sheet and generous dividend?
I need to round out my portfolio with some energy.
Thanks for all you do!
Read Answer Asked by Wes on October 17, 2023
Q: I'm getting worried about this one because of the seemingly constant downward spiral in the stock price. It is a large position for me, one I have held for years, but I can't help feeling that i am missing something. It is down in a big way even today, when most of my interest sensitive stock are up. Are you aware of anything that is causing this downdraft? or anything that could come up to account for it? When is there earnings report? Do you know who is doing most of the selling - Is it just one or two major funds or a bunch of small trades? Just looking for any hint of a problem.
Read Answer Asked by arnold on October 17, 2023