Investment Q&A

Q: I have owned a full position in AW since the early 2000's, first in my daughters TFSA and now in my RRSP. I like to tell my daughter that Teen Burgers paid for her university! My Question is, how much value to you feel would be added to the share price when and if the dividend is reinstated? Any thoughts on when that might happen and would it likely be added back at the same level as previously? I am contemplating a switch to QSR but I feel like I might miss a nice pop in AW.
Thanks so much for your always valued input.
John

Q: We held A&W for long term income, now that the dividend is suspended, would you be removing it from the income portfolio?

Would it make sense to switch to QSR (or if you have other recommendation) or hold ?

Thanks

Q: Hello Peter,
If you owned these as full-positioned laggards in your portfolio, but were also a patient, long-term investor and appreciated the dividends, which of the following would you currently hold, sell or add to at this time? FSZ, AW.UN, CSH.UN, T, EWJ, HCG, MX, KBL, APR.UN, ZPR, NTR, TECK.B and CN?

Q: Hello, I see that you will be adding QSR to the Income Portfolio. Is that because you will eventually remove AW from it? If you had to choose between the two, which one would you buy today ? Regards, Gervais

Q: Retired dividend-income investor. On the company page, Park Lawn in listed as Consumer-Cyclical. On the Monthly Income Portfolio report, it is listed as Consumer-Non-Cyclical. I would assume the latter is correct...one would think that burial services would be considered a staple. Question #1 = Please confirm your view as to the appropriate sector for PLC.

I am light on Consumers and have been wanting to top up this sector, but am thinking of staying away from the Discretionary sub-sector until things attempt to normalize over the next few months or quarters. I currently own PBH and NWC, both food companies. I used to own MG, LNF, AW and I will reconsider them again at some point, especially LNF. Question #2 = What are your thoughts about taking a new position in PLC ? I have read your March 25/20 report which concludes with a B+ rating. Some of the current metrics look ok (P/BV, P/CF, P/S, Beta, forward P/E). However, I calculate the payout ratio to be 175%...am I right? Is the dividend sustainable? I see a ROE of 1% from one source and 8% from a 2nd source. Comments please...thanks.

Q#3 = I actually need two consumer stocks that pay a dividend, ideally over 3.0%, but I'm willing to bring the threshold down to around 2.5%. Would you please rank PLC, LNF, AW, MG and any other consumer stock your filter system could identify for me to consider.

Thanks for your help...much appreciated...take 3 credits...Steve

Q: Long term holder of AW.UN. Just suspended their dividend. Should I buy, hold, or sell. Worried that independent holders will permanently shut down with the Covid19 and pool of distributions will be impacted. Your thoughts and advice.

Q: AW. UN or QSR? I'm leaning towards AW>UN as I like the brand better.

Q: I just reread through your report on this company. How can you do a report on a company without even talking or acknowledging their debt situation. How can we your clients who are relying at least partly on your advice reports etc. on some of these companies in your portfolios and now in a lot of ours fully trust some these reports. I fully realize times of changed dramatically very quickly but this seems to me like a very important fundamental that needs to be in all reports. I look forward to your response.

Q: Why is A&W income fund 60,000,000 in debt and what were the funds used for?

Q: Which one of these, if any, would you sell to increase my tech sector allocation? Can you please rank them as well.
Alternatively, if they all have good long term potential, I have the flexibility to increase my equity allocation with additional cash. Please let me know you thoughts and thank you!

Q: Realizing that you don't have a crystal ball can you suggest how safe you think the dividends are for DIV, FRU and A&W?
I am seeking dividends in a registered account and if the dividends from the above companies are threatened or cut I guess the stock price would would really collapse. I am thinking I could sell and replace them with a much safer dividend ETF like FDV (or anthing you suggest). On the other hand, if you think they might be
Ok, they sure are paying one heck of a dividend right now and if the stock price could recover in due course I would just be as well off continuing to hold.

Q: Hi 5i Research Team:

I have traded Forex before and am new to stock trading. 90% of my RRSP, RESP and TFSA is in cash and I'd like to avail the current market conditions by "gradually" buying the dips.. and holding it over the long term, 5 to 10 years. I understand that no one can time the market or its bottom.

After exploring the reports and questions on your site, I have identified the enclosed 29 stocks based on following criteria:
- Current Retracements of > 75% over 52 week high & low
- Dividend Yield > 5% (in some cases, like WEED, which is a bit risky, I understand there's no dividend in the near term.. and I am simply going for the upside swing over the next 2 years... same for CRON and Air Canada)

Considering my 90% cash position and strategy to partially buy in on dips over the next few weeks, can you please advise if my stock selection is sound. In addition to my stock picks, please advise anything else that I should keep in mind.

Thanks for everything you do. Much appreciate.

Q: 7:50 AM 3/18/2020
Hi
Are you suggesting selling A&W in your reply this morning to Andrew on March 18, 2020. You said "YUM and CBRL have debt. AW.UN also does, and its cash flow depends on restaurant sales' royalties. We would be very very cautious here. It is better to miss out on a potential gain than to watch capital potentially disappear. "

Do you think A&W will survive till the virus crisis is finally over and patrons return?
Thank you............. Paul K

Q: Hi, I'm a retired, dividend-income investor. I took some profits and losses (to wipe out potential capital gains) over the last 5 weeks and am now planning on reinvesting the cash to top up some of my existing equities, up to my desired asset allocation. I want to leg in, in probably 3 waves over the next couple (?) of months, to top up ZWC, AD, AQN, AW, BNS, BCE, LNF, NWC, RY, TRP, WSP.

Can you please indicate which of the above equities you would allocate into which wave (in other words, does it look like the equity is "ready" for an investment OR should I continue to wait for a while)...or not at all (not worth any further investment).

Thanks for your help...Steve

Q: Which companies do you think might not survive the crisis and it's better dumping now while they still have value? I think you have mentioned the oil producers and what about restaurant stocks? I just listed a few examples here of both.

Q: Any idea why A&W would drop a huge 20% on Monday? Thats way beyond the average 10% drop! would you agree that it looks like a pretty good buy here?

Q: Please comment briefly as appropriate on the above stocks covered by 5i. Add,sell or hold? 1)EIF 1.5% position/ p/p$44 / Investment a/c. Recent big drop to $32.19 2)SU 1% / $42.59 / RIF. Sharp drop in oil price 3)AW.un 1.5% /$43.63 /Inv.a/c. 4)Real 2% / $14.25 / Tfsa. Sharp drop today. 5)STC 1% / $2.47 /Tfsa. Down since recent Q. 6)Ray.a 1.5% / $9.70 / Rif. Down trend.Decent results,but no love. 7)Qst 1.5% /$5.01/ Rif. Very sharp drop last few days. 8)Hr.un 3.5% / $21.33 / Rif. Its building in Calgary is leased to Ecana,now IVV( US$2.60.) Thanks for u usual great services & views

Q: Retired, conservative dividend-income investor with a "buy-and-hold & trim-add around a core position" strategy. At times like these, I take a fresh look at my holdings and ask two key questions. #1 = are there any of my equity holdings that have alarm bells going off? #2 = how safe are the dividends (knowing that no dividend is 100% secure)? The portfolio capital may rise or fall, but it is the continuation of the dividend that is more important.

For asset allocation purposes related to individual stocks (as opposed to sector allocations), I use the following:
5% targets = AQN, BCE, BNS, PBH, RY, TRP, WSP
4% targets = AD, AW, CSH, NWC
2% targets = LNF, MG, NTR
ETF targets = roughly 3-7%

Q#1 = are there any of these equities that you hear alarm bells?
Q#2 = are there any of these equities where you foresee dividend risk?
Q#3 = any thoughts on how I have my asset allocations set up (knowing it is a very personal decision?

Take a bunch of credits. Thanks for your help...Steve

Q: Hi...just read your March 1 email....very timely. I have been evaluating some of my current equity holdings from the point of view of topping up some or all of them over time...to reach my asset allocation targets. I do a monthly review of all of my holdings using metrics like P/E, P/BV, P/CF, ROE, Beta, Analyst targets, charting vs 200 mda and higher highs-lows. Mid-Feb I raised roughly 5% cash (basically trimming oversized positions that also appeared to be stretched) and could direct it to the above list. I am a retired, dividend income investor.

The 4 BNN Market Call guests on Thursday-Friday indicated that legging in to this buying opportunity should be considered, as, in their opinion, the market is extremely oversold. In your past life as a Fund Manager, what metrics did you use to guide your process on whether to buy or sit on your hands? For example, "when the VIX is high, it is time to buy"...the VIX is now at 40.

If this is a fair question, could you rank the above 9 equities for topping up to existing positions? My process, for example, has identified LNF as one of the priorities.

Take as many credits as you think appropriate. Thanks...Steve

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.