Investment Q&A

Q: Preferred Shares

Upon reviewing the holdings of the four (4) largest preferred share etf, I have noticed the majority of preferred shares are issued by the banks, insurance companies, electrical utilities and pipeline companies. I am a holder of the common shares of the same companies (as they are stable long term dividend payers).
The first question I have is am I increasing my "company" risk by holding both common and preferred shares of the same companies? Should I continue to buy the common shares, which are paying very close to the available preferred share yield and gain long term from dividend increases.
The second question is of the four etf listed, which is your preferred etf. Are there other Canadian Dividend eft I should look at?

Thanks in advance for your excellent service.

Stephen

Q: I am retired and have these preferred etfs making up about 7% of the income part of the portfolio. There is obvious overlap. Vrp has out performed the others and has a better yield. It is held in a rrif so the US dividend is intact. I am assuming that the downturn in preferreds will level out, as this is a long term income hold. Should I eliminate hpr as it is 50% US and just stay with the other two with the currency diversity? Also what portion of fixed income do you feel preferred should make up? Have a great holiday.

Q: Why have bank rate-reset preferred come off so much in the past two months after holding up well with rising rates prior to October? I hold HPR which is off about 15% since the beginning of October and holds mostly bank rate-reset preferred which I would have thought would hold up much better in the current environment.

Q: I hold HPR and the Dynamic preferred yirld fund. In light of the recent correction in preferred share,, do you advise to hold, buy more or is it time to reduce the positions held.

Q: Is it time yet to pick up more HPR for long term " fix-income" hold?
Thanks.
Desiree

Q: HPR has dropped from the 9.60-9.70 range to below 9.00 in the last while, including yet another big drop today. I always thought a managed Pref ETF would not drop as much as the overall market during a correction and that it would be a defensive holding. Apparently not a correct assumption. So, what is happening with this ETF - should I sell and buy something more secure like a Utility, buy more of this ETF or what? My goal with this part of my portfolio is lower risk.

Q: Do you have any reasons why all the Pref share ETFs have dropped by 1.5 % or more today - in an upward market; and why they have all dropped 7% or so this month, almost as much down as the common share market?

Q: Good Morning,
I am considering adding this preferred share ETF for tax efficient income returns and to potentially cushion the portfolio a bit if (when) there is a downturn in equity markets. I do not hold any other fixed income. How will preferred shares perform in a downturn assuming interest rates may go up for a year or 2 more and then back down during a economic slowdown.

Q: I own some individual rate reset preference shares which pay dividends. I also own some ZPR/HPR shares which pay interest. Why are the payments classified as interest when the income comes from underlying pref share dividends? I can’t seem to find an explanation on any of the websites. Can you clear this up for me. Thanks as always.

Q: I read in a previous post that you favored HPR and ZPR over CPD (Sept 18, 2017) because of the rate reset. I am currently adding to my fixed income and would it be a good strategy to add 50 / 50 ZPR and CPD for the preferred portion ?
(I also own a larger position in CBO).

Also, do you recommend adding a convertible bond etf (CVD or other) for diversification purposes ? Thank you for your comments.

Q: I am looking to add to HPR because its holdings are predominantly in floating rate or fixed-to-floating rate preferred but am having trouble understanding how sensitive the overall holdings are to rising interest rates. HPR has reacted positively to rising rates over the past six months but negatively over the past few weeks so its hard to judge how it will react to further interest rate increases. Part of the problem is that most of the holdings are fixed-to-floating rate and the period of time before those holdings convert to floating rate. Do you have any thoughts or further information on this?

Q: Hi: I am listening to all the doom and gloom about bonds - heard the term yesterday "taper tantrum". I have about 40% of my Fixed Income Exposure in CBO, 40% in HPR and 10% in HAB. HPR has slowly recovered from its downturn of a few years ago and I like the yield. HAB is doing better than CBO. Question - should I sell CBO at a loss and invest in a more active fund like HAB? My time horizon is at least 5 years.
thank you

Q: PIC.A, CPD, HPR - is there a way of valuing these offerings either with respect to NAV or otherwise?

Q: Which would you expect to perform better in a rising rate environment? PR slightly (by about 1%) outperformed HPR over the past 2+ years (since inception of PR), has a higher MER and both are actively managed.

Q: I am 70 years old, been retired for 14 years, and can't risk losing capital. Thus my portfolio is currently 100% in fixed income.... 65% in laddered 1-5 year GIC's, 10% in bond ETF's (CBO, CLF, XBB), 5% in preferred shares, and 20% in cash. In the preferred share category, I currently hold CPD, HPR, and ZPR equally. Given a steadily increasing interest rate environment, would you recommend selling CPD and adding to HPR and ZPR, due to their leanings towards rate re-sets? Is a 5% total weighting for preferreds appropriate for this fixed income portfolio? What do you recommend for the remaining cash, given my mandate for "safe" investments? Should I stick with additional GIC's or expand the bond allocation? Thanks!

Q: hello 5i:
could you detail the differences between HFP and HPR, please, and what type of interest rate environment would be optimum for each? Would holding BOTH be a strategy and is it necessary?
And, could you include backtest results as to what could be expected in the case of an extreme drawdown?
thanks
Paul L

Q: My daughter has these 4 ETFs in equal weighting in her TFSA. Do you think she needs more diversification? Would you add something else with future contributions or just add to her positions when opportunity arises? Thanks for providing your great service.

Q: Hi 5i Team: In an anticipated rising rate environment I am leaning towards adding more ZPR in my preferred share segment of my fixed income portfolio. Am I correct in thinking ZPR is (no pun intended) preferable over HPR at this time? Or should I take HPR as a little diversification as I only hold rate resets in my preferred share portfolio at the present time.

Q: I have 2 preferred share ETFs (CPD and HPR) that are both up about 6 percent over the last few months. I have noticed a slight outperformance with the actively managed ETF (6.01% vs. 5.59%). The fees are slightly higher with the actively managed ETF (0.64% vs 0.51%). Is it advisable to switch my holdings in CPD and put everything in the actively managed ETF? Is it worth it or is the outperformance a red herring because of the short time period?

Thank you,
Jason

Q: I wish all 5i staff and they families Season's Greetings' I hope 2017 sees our portfolios grow ever healthier.

I want to gradually add some preferred shares to my portfolio, partly in lieu of some fixed income. In looking at potential candidates, I am attracted to the above three ETFs, particularly ZPR with its laddered feature. Do you have any thoughts? Are all distributions of such ETFs taxed as dividends? Thanks, Bill