Investment Q&A

Q: When I look at cash flows from utilities, they also seem to show a negative cash flow. In general terms, how do they run there business if they are always in the negative ? Are they always looking to the bond and/or stock market to pay for their huge capex spending ?

Q: Balanced Equity Portfolio (Cdn & US Stocks): If 5i were just starting business today what 20 stocks would make up the portfolio?

Q: My TFSA is pretty much the way I want it. But now I'm organizing my non-registered account. First, Is there too much overlap between BAMR and SLF. (if so which one would you prefer). Second, Is there too much overlap between FTS and H (if so which one would you prefer. Could you put all of these in rank order, best fundamentals first. Finally, should I just take equal sized positions in all, even position sizes end up being quite small, like somewhere between 1.5% and 2%. If you think those size positions are too small I will eliminate the last 2 or 3 from your rank ordering. I mainly want the dividends in a set and forget style setup, and I will add to positions as funds come available. Thank you again for excellent insight and advice. I learn an enormous amount from the Q/As daily.

Q: My wife has full positions of BMO, ENB, LIF, POW and RSI in her RRIF. She has some cash to deploy, looking for quality income stocks with decent dividend yields. Would you have any suggestions?

Thank you!

Q: Hello: I'm looking for several buy-and-hold "forever" companies. When I die, they will go to my children. Could you assess the above in those terms and rank order them, best first. I know you like all of these companies, but I"m not sure if you like them "forever." If you think I should drop any, please note. And if there are a couple not on the list that you think could be, also please note. Thank you for continued excellent service.

Q: I currently own BEP.un as the only stock for Utilities and would like to buy either H or FTS to add to this sector. Which one would be the better choice with BEP.UN ?

Thanks

Q: Hi,

I'm seeing more and more evidence for inflation being a real thing that is not yet formally accepted by US or CDN governments. Evidence is obvious increases in the price of some common items (food, lumber, metals, housing) and also an uptick in commentary on the subject by some trusted SA authors.

Can you provide some sectors that typically benefit from increases in inflation (Gold, Finance, etc) as well as some specific company plays that would benefit from increases (Can or US).

Thx,

Cam

Q: Have a pool of cash for a big family trip that now is going to be 2 years away. I would put it in a growth name with solid momentum but my spouse will be asking me " what is the trip money at today" on a regular basis so I figure I need to pick something boring and stable... BCE and H seemed like 2 obvious choices. Any Canadian stable div payers screaming buy right now with a 2 year hold in an unregistered account.

Q: With the transition of gasoline/diesel engine car/truck to EV, the electricity will be consumed more and more in the near future. Do you have any idea what kind of electricity related companies will benefit from this EV transition and what do you suggest we should prepare for it regarding investment?

Thanks

Q: Hi,
Your comments on SOLR and H, please.
Thank you.

Q: What Utility would you prefer for a 3 to 5 year holding period?

Thank-you.

Q: Retired, dividend-income investor, who normally employs a buy-and-hold strategy. I have long term core positions of mostly conservative equities (ETFs = CDZ, XIT, ZLB, ZWC, ZRE, LIFE; Stocks = AD, AQN, BCE, CSH, FTS, MFC, NTR, NWC, PBH, PLC, RY, TRP, WSP) and fixed income of annuities, Fisgard and Gov't-Private pensions. I believe my portfolio is set up fairly conservatively.

I have cash for another position in my Cash Account. I have been reading several 5iR questions lately about various themes for 2021 (Recovery Trade, Swap from Growth to Value, Emerging Market improvements, Take-Over Candidates, etc.). While I'm not even sure if this is possible, I'd like to ask you to screen for as many of them as possible (all thrown into one big ball) to create a half dozen candidates for me to do more research on. I'm looking for a starting point. I'm not even sure where to start, hence the request.

I'm looking for a Canadian (preferably) or USA company, potentially a take-out target, benefitting from the recovery of the economy. I lean towards the Value spectrum, as I inherently find it difficult to buy a stock that has already had a good run. If a dividend could be thrown in, that would be a bonus. Market cap and sector do not matter.

This is sort of a "kitchen sink" kind of question. If that results in zero candidates, then please use your discretion and drop various filters. As you can tell by my current holdings, they are for the most part, blue-chip companies. If we could identify something like an Enercare (that was taken out by Brookfield), that would be a homerun.....happy to hold it but ecstatic to have it taken out. But Enercare is just an example.

Please rank them from best candidate to least...maybe 3 Canadian and 3 USA companies or all 6 from Canada if possible.

If you can run this exercise, then I'll do some further research on your list. I know this is a crazy request...thanks in advance. Take as many credits as you need to throw some brain power at this....I'll never use all of the credits I currently have.

Much appreciated...Steve

Q: I hold all of these utilities and would like to consolidate into one as a reliable dividend stream with some potential for a small amount of growth over 10-15 years (I hold in a RRSP). Which utility would you recommend to achieve this objective?

Q: Hi!
Stocks have increased a lot recently and most of the above are well off their lows with stocks like BEP and BIP almost reaching their high of the year. Would you feel comfortable entering new money into the above names for income/growth or wait for a pullback? I know timing the market is next to impossible but do you see this rising market as sustainable and if one waits will the opportunity to enter still at reasonable prices be missed? Also, what are your thoughts on RDVY. It was not listed as a choice on the drop down list.
Thank you!

Q: Good day,
I hold BEP.UN;BEPC;BBU;CCL.B;ENB;EMA;H;FTS;CTC; and BAM in a non registered account and thanks to you I have done very well following your Q & A and portfolios. I am down 43% in SU; down 23% in CPD; down 16% in IPL and 6% in POW. Would you add to the winners? Add to the temporary losers or ADD new ones. After today, am tempted to add to SU for sure. Have RRIF and TFSA with pretty balanced sectors. Overall, Overweight in Utilities, Financials and okay with that. Many thanks, Paul

Q: I started an RESP for my 2 grandsons about 3 years ago. Only 5 stocks in the account: 3 Cdn. banks, BAM and an energy company. It is doing much worse than my RESP or TFSA. I wanted safe, dividend paying stocks. Obviously the lack of diversification has hurt. I have some cash in account I would like to deploy. Please give me a few suggestions of companies I should add. Thx.

Q: My powder keg is dry waiting for the covid 2nd wave and in my opinion anticipated second market adjustment. The recent jitters made me realize I haven't made my buy plan for my cash...I am pleased with my portfolio and don't have any huge gaps, I am slowly switching from growth to income so am looking more toward your income portfolio for inspiration. In Canada ENB and H looked like good buy options and I already own Suncor so would top up on that as well to a full position. In the USA I am leaning towards P&G and Coke. These complement my current holdings and I feel these additions will do OK in a possible extended covid induced economic slowdown as well as be good long term income holdings.

Any names you wished you had added on the last drop or names you are watching with interest?

Q: Good morning, Portfolio Analytics suggests we (as elderly seniors) lower our Utility holdings by 6.32%. Currently, we have:
AQN 3.9 %, BEPC 3.5%, BIP.UN 4.6%, H 2.2%, SPB 1.8%. Firstly is there a holding I could eliminate? If not should I just lower the larger percentages? All are in RRIFs.
Second suggestion from Analytics is to lower telecom by 3.54%. Currently have BCE 4.2%, T 3.5% and GOOG 4.2%. T and BCE are in RRIFs. GOOG is in an unregistered account. I have always looked at GOOG as technology sector. Any comments. Thanks for your expertise.
Ted

Q: Inflation expectations - which sectors are expected to do well as inflation picks up? Please name your top picks in those sectors.
Thanks for all your advice.

Q: I bought shares in this company many years ago in my registered account primarily for income. Would you recommend that I continue to hold them? If not what would you replace it with assuming I want to have a company that provides a dividend yield of at least 3% ?