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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: The current "supply and confidence" arrangement between the federal Liberal and NDP parties has resulted in the announcement of the intention to establish a national dental plan, for which there are very few specifics, save the $90,000 family income threshold, that this plan is for "Candians lacking dental coverage" (as per CBC report) and that coverage will be provided to Canadians under twelve years of age in this year, to Canadians under eighteen in 2023, with full implementation in 2025.

While it would be an impossible task to truly account for the potential impact to existing dental insurance providers, given the lack of any concrete information regarding levels of funding and range of services to be covered within this policy, could you offer any commentary (significant hedging of opinion is to be expected) on the potential near-term impact to the major players in the Canadian insurance space? Any insights you deem appropriate to share would be most appreciated. As always, I appreciate your candour and I look forward to your response.
Read Answer Asked by Domenic on April 06, 2022
Q: I'm overweight financials - almost 20% of my total portfolio. In relatively equal proportions I hold: BAM, GSY, SLF, X and V. Should I trim across the board or do these stocks have sufficiently different economic drivers that being 20% overweight is not a concern? Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Maureen on April 05, 2022
Q: I see GIC’s rates in Canada are gradually moving towards 3%. With talk of BOC successive rate increases - I am dreaming of 4-5% GIC rates as a possibility by year end. My questions is this. Is there a traditional benchmark ratio relationship between the prime rate and the average GIC rate? In other words, if prime gets to 3% or 3.5% - what might one expect GIC rates to do. Thanks in advance.
Read Answer Asked by Sue on April 04, 2022
Q: Hi, Banks have been decimated over past 3-4 days, perhaps, over the risk seen with an inverting yield curve. A guest on BNN explained that banks make money by borrowing through short term and lending for long term. Short and Long term interest rates spread, contracting to its lowest point, over past couple of weeks, it has caused some anxiety among investors, while, generally market has favored financials due to expectations of rising rates, resulting in higher profits. Do you subscribe to this thesis of inverting yield curve and like that Portfolio Manager, on BNN, is it time to consider reducing exposure to financials ? I would appreciate your comments on this theory and if any action is warranted. Thanks so much
Read Answer Asked by rajeev on April 04, 2022
Q: When Canadian housing prices were much lower than today several years ago there was much talk about American investors being short our banks due to being overextended on mortgages, something I have not heard recently. How much is the short position on them now vs. then and which banks have the most exposure to defaults on mortgages presently?
Read Answer Asked by Jeff on April 01, 2022
Q: In a taxable well diversified account would you take a loss on SQ to buy PYPL or any other US stock in which case please make 3 suggestions. Currently hold AAPL, GOOG, CRWD, CROX. Looking for growth with medium risk. I'm a patient investor but could use some capital loss this year.
Read Answer Asked by Yves on April 01, 2022
Q: Hi Peter and Staff

Visa has done well in the period of ownership but has stalled over the last couple of years....."Experts" seem to be divided somewhat on the returns to expect in the future.

In my financial basket V is a larger position than ECN and TSU but lower than BAM.A.

What do you feel about the future expectations of Visa in particular and how would you rank the 4 stocks future returns

Thanks for all you do

Dennis
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on March 30, 2022
Q: Among banks, 5i seems to favour TD and BNS, though since 2019 patient investors have done well with just about any of the Big-Five-plus-NA.

But supposing interest rates are now set to rise, won't banks tend to find a trading range? In which case, wouldn't ZWB, with its covered call component, provide greater total return? Or do its MER and trading expenses claw back too much of its income?

Interestingly, since inception, ZWB's share price seems to have done as well as (for example) BNS, in spite of the potential for its positions to be called-away.
Read Answer Asked by John on March 25, 2022
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