Investment Q&A

Q: I currently have these energy stocks in my portfolio: BAD, BNK, RRX, AAV, WCP. Please advise which are the two weakest as I want to sell some and buy a global energy ETF instead to better capture the eventual rebounce.
Which global energy ETF, in C$, would be your top pick? Thanks for your advice.

Q: while the split might be beneficial for common shareholders can you comment on it's effects on the PFD's , please and thank you....the details might not be available yet but i would think one company would provide more strength to the balance sheet than two smaller ones...many thanks , in advance , for your thoughts on the matter....cheers

Q: In response to a query from "M S" on Feb 15th having problems downloading Confirmations to his MAC (getting blank pages).
I would suggest you check //www.td.com/to-our-customers/tdhelps/#psce|cid=871|lid=1|tid=001|tags=3.
This is a TD Helps forum that you can search for solutions. I typed in 'download confirmations to a mac' and it turned up 5 questions/answers. I do not use a Mac so cannot be of any further help, but you can also post your own questions.
Hope this helps you out.

Scot

Q: After todays news and increase in share price ,would you continue to hold, sell or buy more. It is a 2% position now. Thanks. Hope you had a Great cruise

Q: According to media reports Venezuela is on the verge of bankruptcy and the more the oil price falls the greater the odds. From the Scotia Global site:
"Scotiabank is proud to have a strong presence in Venezuela through ... Banco del Caribe"

How strong is their presence there and will default have long term effects on BNS shares? I note it is a 3.6% position in the BE portfolio which presumably went in at 5%. Thanks, J.

Q: I see that TD announced the opening of a Currency Exchange branch in BC. The same day, CXI's price dropped significantly. Is there a connection and what are the implications of TD's move for other banks and the future for CXI's business?

Q: Hi Team If I were to do a ratio of EV/share what would it mean if the price were less than the today's market price of a particular stock. Trying to ascertain weather it is a bargain or ?? Trying to make sense of it. Thank you for your help. I'm going with no question is a stupid question, hope you agree.

Q: I knew we have been answering some question about this before. I am thinking adding more position to this REIT, I wanna ask you guys again, it seems their occupancy rate is pretty good and the rate hike in Canada is not possible now.What are your guys' thoughts? Much appreciated, thanks. Tony.

Q: thinking of adding this----on a roll right now ---nice div
What do you think?

Q: A follow up from the previous question. I notice that SPFF has fallen dramatically over the last year - markedly more than apparently similar CEF's such as FFC-N and PDT-N. I suppose this may reflect a riskier portfolio, but the current yields are essentially the same. Any thoughts? Thanks

Q: What are your thoughts on this preferred share offering from Brookfield? It resets in June of 2016 and has a yield of 5.2%. What is the downside risk here?

Q: Peter,

I am being pitched an Insured Retirement Plan by a potential Financial Advisor. This particular case involves a plan from Canada Life that has apparently been around for 165 years or something. I believe the product is the "Retirement Income Enhancer" and the basic idea is that you have to contribute for 20 years and then after that you can draw income or leave the money in longer and then draw on the plan and/or use bank loans to fund your retirement using the plan value to support the loan. It also has death benefits/life insurance as well.

I am curious if you have any thoughts or experience with plans like this. It seems like a lot of money to contribute to get not that much income and your plan is underwater for 20 years before your plan value matches what you've put it. I am concerned about putting a ton of money into savings that can't be touched if bad things happen. I also feel like contributing the amount required to make a plan like this worth it would stop or hinder my ability to prepay my mortgage early. Mortgage is the only debt I have and I like the idea of retiring that debt early to make me "invincible" financially (to the extent that being all cash, no debt acheives that).

Your thoughts would be much appreciated.

Q: Big news this morning, about splitting the company into parts. Comments? ( And if many people have asked this, please ignore this and charge me a question anyway!)

Q: Hi guys,

I have an index portfolio set up for my son - 1/3 Canada TDB900, 1/3 US TDB902 (S&P 500 unhedged) and 1/3 International TDB911. Given the rise of the US currency vs. the CDN $, would it be prudent to flip all of TDB902 to TDB904? Would you do a 50/50 split between TDB902 and TDB904? I guess I could ask the same concerning TDB911 and TDB905.

Thanks!

Aaron

Q: I currently own Fortis, Emara and Canadian Utiliites. I am considering ZUT but am looking for a dividend grower. I see their 5 year dividend growth rate is negative ( G & M watchlist ). when I look at the dividend growth of some of the stocks in the ETF this does not make sense. Many have positive dividend growth over this period.
Is there any reason I would not expect the dividend growth to be weighted average of the underlying holdings less the MER of .62%?

Can you think of any other reason not to buy ZUT for utility exposure ( as opposed to the individual stocks )

Many thanks as always.

Paul

Q: What is the valuation like on Dirtt? What is the future expected rate and overall is it cheap, fair or overvalued for growth in the next 5 years. Thank you!

Q: Hello Peter
I own a large poition of my portfolio in the MAW150 fund , it has been down about 9 % this year 2016 so far. Should i be worried, or contuine to hold for the long term ?
Thanks

Q: Hi
What is thoughts on this company ?

Q: Would you please list your top five utility picks for income investors? Many thanks,
Peggy

Q: Hi Peter, Considering current downturn I am thinking of putting some cash to work. Can you please give me *top* 5 names from your growth/model portfolio considering a 10 year hold(whose valuations are very attractive at the moment on a risk adjusted return basis)?