Investment Q&A

Q: Hello, from a defensive perspective that is least correlated with the stock market, which ETF would you purchase ? (All other factors remaining equal)

Q: What are your thoughts on owning ZUT or owning in individual stocks. If your preference is individual stocks could you recommend 10 stocks and a good entry point.

Thanks Brian

Q: I listed in descending order securities that under performed since their 2022 highs. Please rank the securities in order of the best chance to recover their losses when we get back to the risk on mode. Thank you

Q: With utilities and real estate under pressure these days, can you recommend 4 choices in each sector for a conservative investor with a 10 year time line interested in income with some capital appreciation. Please include 2 ETFs and 2 companies in each sector.
Thanks,
Len

Q: Could you pls provide ETFs for dividend and capital growth over the next 12 months for each of:
Communications Services, Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples, Energy, Financial, Health Care, Industrials, Information Technology, Materials, Real Estate, and Utilities?

Q: I manage my daughter and her husband's investments. They currently own the above equities (except XST), plus fixed income. I would define them as conservative investors.

Regarding their asset allocation, I am still in the process of building out their portfolio. They are a little light on Consumer Staples. I was trying to find a suitable ETF and came up with XST.

Q#1 = What are your current thoughts on XST? The constituent holdings actually look pretty good. The various rates of return also look good.

Q#2 = Are there other ETFs that I should consider? I couldn't find a BMO version. I have read the past questions on XST and it appears to me that XST is the front runner (compared to VDC and XLP), when looking at past performance.

Thoughts? Agree?
Thanks for your help...much appreciated...Steve

Q: Retired dividend-income investor. We hold AQN in my wife's RRSP...held it since 2011...bought it at $5.60 and trimmed it several times over the years.

I am debating whether to flush it and take the proceeds and buy ZUT. I also own FTS, TRP and other utility-energy equities contained within ZLB and CDZ.

For the "keep AQN" argument = a) good momentum YTD = +27%, b) great chart, especially with the 50 mda overlay, c) if there is a take-over of AQN, there is a probable premium of "who knows "% (30%?).

For the "flush AQN" argument = a) with other planned cash injections throughout 2023, this would improve my overall sector allocations, b) minor point, but it would simplify my portfolio, by the elimination of a holding (I hold a reasonably concentrated portfolio of 12 blue chip stocks and 10 ETF's, plus fixed income), c) I thought I read that AQN is not expected to have a high rate of growth this year, d) the holdings inside ZUT look appealing, containing both renewable and non-renewable.

I am ok letting it ride for a while longer, but also ok flushing it. Your thoughts? Am I missing anything? I know you can't compare a single stock to a diversified ETF.

Thanks for your help...much appreciated...Steve

Q: Retired, dividend-income investor. I am considering adding ZUT to our portfolio, to assist us meeting our targeted asset allocation in the Utilities sector in our Cash account. We already own AQN, FTS and utilities contained within CDZ, ZLB, ZWC.

Q#1 = do you agree that this is a good fit? When I check out the rankings of other ETFs, ZUT is just "ok". However, ZUT compares very well against XUT and I like the "equal weight" approach. I also like the roughly 30% "renewables" content within ZUT. Are there other Utility ETFs that I should consider?

Q#2 = some of the metrics I look at are P/B (1.7), P/E (22.8), ROE (5.4%). Historically, is ZUT cheap or expensive right now?

Q#3 = looking at the technicals, from a value perspective, it looks to my amateur eyes that now is a good time to buy. Agree?

Thanks for your help...much appreciated.
Steve

Q: My Grandsons are 3 &1 old. They have 43% ZUT, 35% VFV, 21% ZWB and 0.9% BTCC.in their present RESP. I am looking for thoughts for the coming year deposit.
My thought are add to VFV (not enough now to reinvest),add a Reit ETF like TGRE or add an telecom ETF. I can not find a telecom ETF in Canada so maybe an alternative would be T.
All thoughts would be much appreciated.
Thank you

Q: I notice that utility ETF are in the low range of 52 weeks.Considering interest rates and economic context ,is it a good time now to invest in utility ETF (or even in utility covered call ETF in order to limit the present volatility ) ? any ETF suggestion ?

Q: How do you compare Utilities to Bonds for income and appreciation when interest rates stop rising or decline.

Thanks

Carl

Q: I have had the impression that covered calls were a riskier type of investment but when I look at the beta, std dev, alpha, sharpe ratio, etc I don't see much difference between the two ETFs listed. Are they both considered about equal?

Q: I have about 10% of my portfolio in these bond ETFs XBB 2%, CLF 4%, XSB 2%, XSH 1%, PMIF 1%. They have shown a negative performance recently with CLF down 7%. The coupon reduces the losses. Will increased interest rates improve their performance? An alternative is to reduce my exposure and buy something like BCE with a low beta and a better yield (5% +). I am 79 years old and have pension income. My portfolio is conservative holding a large proportion in banks, telecoms and utilities. I am looking for stocks, ETFs with a low beta and good yield..

Q: Hi Team,
Could you suggest Canadian ETFs of the following sectors for Senior incomes :
1 /Reit 2/ Utility 3/Prefer 4/Bank/Financial 5/Energy.
Please deduct as many question credit as needed.
Thanks as always,
Tak

Q: Greetings 5i.

I would like your view on the following. Would you prefer to buy a basket of power utilities (FTS/H/AQN etc) to create a hybrid ETF for sector exposure? (if so, can you provide a list of your favorites?) Or is it worth the mer to buy an ETF that has most of them embedded within? In which case, which ETF would you recommend?

Many thanks for your help.

Q: After environmental calamities in California and Texas I often think about the financial risk that infrastructure projects have from climate change. In California this seems to be a perennial risk that will return and is predictable, but Texas' cold snap was a good warning that they can happen anywhere.
I also seem to recall that utilities had to swallow some poorly organized derivative risk during the 2008 financial crisis.
Finally: the Biden government appears quite aggressive with its intention to eliminate all GHG related power production.
My question is: for a business that operates with high leverage and large scale projects that are slow to change and long to pay off, and high sensitivity to climatic shock, are these risks reasonably accounted for in their current pricing; is diversification a suitable means of diluting risk (across the sector), and finally are there more US or international choices such as ETFs that you would recommend over a Canadian centric etf (appreciating that the Canadian companies are somewhat international)?

thank you,
Peter

Q: Re (Arthur Q from 9 Feb 21): "Am replenishing my wife's empty TFSA with CAD.76,000 from home loan 2.95% p/a variable".

I might add that the cost to borrow $ is not tax deductible if the money is invested inside a TFSA.
SP

Q: Am replenishing my wife's empty TFSA with CAD.76,000 from home loan 2.95% p/a variable.
My Strategy: I believe in VGT or IYY held over many years, last 2 years MV42% +/- per 2years don't count on repeat..
Drawback : need to convert into USD plus risk currency fluctuations +/- over many years
Question: have a soft spot for ZUT as no exchange costs.
your critical reply/
Art

Q: I currently own XAW and XTR in my RRSP and looking to add some more Canadian ETFs/stocks for diversification. Have about 20 year time frame. Can you please recommend some?

Q: Sold BCE
I already own 3% ZUT, 3% BLK USD,
should I convert strong CAD to USD and add to BLK or stay in CAD and add to ZUT

Art