skip to content
  1. Home
  2. >
  3. Investment Q&A
You can view 3 more answers this month. Sign up for a free trial for unlimited access.

Investment Q&A

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

Q: Good morning,

As some of my rate reset preferreds are being recalled, I have been looking for replacements with more term. One that looks attractive is MFC.PR.Q. It pays a dividend of 4.7% until June 2023. The price has dropped from $25 to under $24 in the last 5 days increasing the yield to almost 5%. I have noticed that preferreds have been volatile lately. Is there anything wrong with this one?
Read Answer Asked by Ken on March 10, 2022
Q: I have been seeing a gradual price loss with some of the example preferred stocks I hold shown above.
With the continuing disaster going on in Ukraine and its inflationary impact, should I expect this to further reduce valuations for these types of investments as interest rates rise?
Read Answer Asked by Ted on March 10, 2022
Q: Peter,

My preferred shares keep getting redeemed. Please give some suggestions for p/s that would be appropriate for a rising interest rate environment. Would you stick with rate resets or would you think perpetuals would be discounted now?

Thank you

Paul
Read Answer Asked by paul on March 08, 2022
Q: Hi,
I am puzzled by Intact's jump in price today, it isn't earnings related, but seems rather significant. Also, given that they have just issued preferred's at 5.25%, would you rate these as a good addition to a diversified portfolio looking to add a lower volatility holding for income? Thanks for your valued thoughts.
Dawn
Read Answer Asked by Dawn on March 07, 2022
Q: You have the profile of the RY.PR.S shares. It has a 4.8% dividend.
I was looking at it for some stability during current strong market swings.
Am wondering how it compares to RY itself -
How the dividend is set since it says 'rate reset'.
If the dividend eligible under CRA or is it a ROC
If there is a management fee
It seems like the only asset is RY
There are no questions on it. Would you own it?
Thanks a lot for your views and guidance.
Read Answer Asked by TOM on February 15, 2022
Q: Hi, I was planning to buy floating rates preferred shares to profit from future rates increases. Many preferred reset shares have a floating rate counterpart. At reset, the 3months floating rate shares may, under some conditions, be converted to the 5-years fixed reset and vice versa. Sometimes the floating shares are forced to convert if the float is too small. (Example : Enb.pb and Enb.pc which have a reset date in May 2022). First question: In general can a company redeem only one and not both « linked » shares. Can they redeem the floating shares any time or only at the fixed reset date?.

For strategy, would you choose a cheap low coupon floating share (some lower than 1.5%), giving up on a higher short-term yield, but with more leverage when rates increase, thus good capital gain. In this case, would a 2 years time frame be a good one or too short? Or would you choose a higher coupon (many between 2-3%) and a longer time frame?

All rate-reset preferred shares I hold had already a nice move in 2021, I do not think there is much to be gained right now. Many are being redeemed. The banks’preferred will disappear in the next years and are priced accordingly, too expansive. That’s why I’m interested in floating-rate shares. Some perpetual preferred (BCE, BAM, ..) have floating rates linked to the prime rate, also very successful in 2021. Easier to bet on ? (I own already BCE.pr.b and BCE.pr.d)

Best Wishes for 2022 to the team.
Read Answer Asked by Denise on January 11, 2022
Q: I owned ECN.PR.A in my RRSP. I bought it primarily for income purposes. They were redeemed on December 31. I am thinking of reinvesting in ECN.PR.C with the funds that I received at redemption. What is the chance that it will be redeemed? What is the earliest that ECN can redeem these preferred shares?
Read Answer Asked by Robert on January 03, 2022
Q: More of an educational question on Convertable Bonds, e.g. NFI conv bonds issued 2 Dec 2020 at $1000 per bond paying 5% interest convertable to common shares at $33.15 anytime before or on maturity in 15 Jan 2027. These trade on the TSX under NFI.DB currently at $99.00. How does the price go from 1000 to 99. Would I be buying the "bond" or something else. What price would I get on maturity. Is it common for convertable debentures to trade on the TSX.
Thanks in advance. Ken
Read Answer Asked by Ken on December 22, 2021
Q: Any idea why preferreds are collapsing the last few weeks? Some to below their recall rates of $25. I only own rate reset preferreds and the BMO fund ZPR. With the prospect of higher rates I can see why perpetuals would drop, but rate reset preferreds should benefit from higher rates. Even those with minimum resets of 5% are on the decline. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Ken on December 07, 2021
Q: Not sure that I completely understand what a variable dividend is and how it works. Is the same as a variable mortgage rate?
Read Answer Asked by Phil on December 06, 2021
Q: Good morning,
I have noticed that my holdings in the above shares have declined to about the issue price of $25 in the last couple of weeks. I understand that BIP.PR.D is due to reset in January 2022 and ALA.PR.K in February. The price movement suggests to me that the companies plan to recall these shares but I haven't found any statements that they intend do so. It would make sense if they did as they will otherwise have to continue to pay a 5% dividend for the next five years. Do you have any information on this? I'm thinking that if I can buy more shares at $25 or less I will get one dividend and then a return of my $25 or I will continue to get 5% on those shares for the next 5 years.
Read Answer Asked by Ken on December 03, 2021
Q: Hi 5i.
Looking to boost the dividends in my Canadian equity portfolio by peppering in some preferred shares, Can you recommend 5 companies preferred shares that are buyable with an eye on safety, I currently have CSU.DB
Many thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Mark on November 29, 2021