Investment Q&A

Q: I am building a diversified portfolio of healthcare stocks. I own JNJ, AMGN, MDT, CVS and MRNA. These are 2.9%, 3.8%, 2.5%, 4% and 0.5% of my portfolio respectively. Is this a high quality portfolio? Would you recommend any changes?

Q: I am mostly content with my health care stocks with the exception of MDT. It has been essentially flat since about 2016 except for the dividend. It did peak around 2022 but has fallen down to previous levels.
What do you think of the longer term for MDT?
Would you make any other changes for slow but reliable growth and higher end of dividends.
As always, thank you for the great service.

Q: Good Morning,

I am a retired income investor who recently received a small $40k USD inheritance.
I would like to purchase US dividend paying equities (for geographic exposure) but am concerned about the withholding tax.

Is there any vehicle available to avoid or lessen the tax? I have no room in my registered account.

What are you highest conviction US stocks with plus 4% yield and some growth potential.?

Thanks Dave

Q: There was an article in the Globe and Mail today by David Rosenberg about the aging population and he suggested health care related investments such as health care REITS, pharma, devices, and services. What do you think of this idea and can you give me a few recommendations in canada and the US for each of the 4 categories (health reits, pharma, devices, sefrvices)? A mix of ETFS and individual stocks would be great.

Q: If you were looking specifically at dividend safety and dividend growth, what would you prefer to own, JNJ or PG and why? is there another dividend growth company you would prefer for a US dividend account?

Q: Both TD and J&J have become to large in my RRIF and I need to rebalance and sell some shares. What stocks would you suggest would be good alternatives to both. I do own RBC.

Thanks

Wayne

Q: Hi,

We could very well be heading into stagflation, which I understand to be slowing or negative growth, high unemployment, weak demand and rising inflation.

In such a scenario, which would be the best stocks or ETFs to favour ?

Many thanks,

Jacques IDS

Q: Hello,
I am looking to add to my US non-registered account. Retiring soon and looking for safety & sustainable growing dividends. Which of these do you prefer and why? Is there something else you would suggest? I am building up my portfolio and have small holidings in GOOGL/JNJ/VICI.
Thanks, Leah

Q: I am looking at rebalancing my portfolio. I am currently overweight Tech and financials and underweight health care, Consumer Discretionary, and Communication.

Can you please provide suggestions on which of the tech stocks you would recommend trimming (maybe Apple? priced as a growth stock but not growing much?) and which of the listed health stocks (or other) would you recommend starting a position in?

Thank you!

Peter

Q: US Conservative Growth is my interest, along the lines of JPM. Please name your recommended 5 US conservative growth stocks that are investable today and what distinguishes them on a risk/reward basis.

Q: I realize this is quite Apple and oranges. In a taxable account I have held J&J for a long time so have a nice gain. Not much growth happening right now. Your thoughts on a change to CNQ for a better dividend and more growth potential? Thank you

Q: 1) My 20 ry old son wants to invest his money and seems to have high risk tolerance.. I'm generally more confident in the US mkt rather than the CDN. Is he better off...
a) transferring his CN money into US and taking the 24% hit and selling in 10 years the exchange rate might be...?
b) buying US stocks in their CDN version which is usually hedged?
c) or buying a US stock in a CDN acct and losing the exchange fee when buying and selling?

2) Can you pick 6 stocks that you think should do well for the next 5 years?

Q: According to Portfolio Analytics, my current allocation to Health Care sector is too low. Here are the names of 12 major US pharmaceutical companies. How would you rank them? If possible, please provide a short comment on each of them: Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, AbbVie, Amgen, Gilead Sciences, Eli Lilly, Merck, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Abbott, Biogen, Bristol Myers Squibbs. Thank you

Q: Hi Group can you please rate in order of your preference for short term trading not to buy and hold . Give me the ones with the most potential to grow. Most of the ones I have identified have been in the tank lately and should be ripe for some sort of recovery. Also if you have any good ideas that fit the criteria please feel free to add/rate the opportunity as you see it.

Q: I have held JNJ for years and I am *STILL* holding on , in the [vain] hope that surely management will FINALLY resolve its various self-inflicted legal problems. I have been MISERABLY wrong. JNJ shares continue to decline (drowning is the perception as we focus much more on loss). I was idiot enough to buy into JNJ’s spin off KVUE, on which I have a rather loss in just one year.

Notwithstanding the enthusiasm of media commentators, the health care sector hasn’t done anything outside of a couple of star-companies. Are JNJ and KVUE worth holding on to? I would appreciate very much your substance-backed reasons either way. In your answer, kindly please put less emphasis on the legal issues which are already well known and focus entirely on the future prospects .
Many thanks.

Q: I've held JNJ for over 15 years based on my belief in the quality of their management. I'm feeling my trust may now be overly 'generous' and it may be time to move on, particularly now that the steadiness of consumer products is gone. I'm considering VRTX or another suggestion you could offer. I have full positions in TMO, SYK and UNH, highlighting my preference for quality.

Q: As a follow-up to my question last week about this company and based on the news this morning, has the answer changed in terms of it being fine to sell now versus still holding for a little while?

Q: You replied to my recent question about cdn companies paying us dividends, I would like same 5i stock screener in us companies. Your criteria was us dividends, top 25 with the largest market capitalization, 12 month trailing dividend yield, 5 yr historical dividend growth rate and anything else you may add, basically buy and forget.

Q: Hi Peter and Staff
No rush ... Happy New Year......just watched a BNN Market Call and guest tried to justify decline in his past pick JNJ by saying the numbers do not include the spinout (Kemba)? ........I held JNJ through that spin out period and never received any of the spinout. It would seem logical the price would drop after a spin out but how does that affect those who never got the spinout?

Thanks for all you do
Dennis

Q: Hi folks,
I am looking to replace GILD in my TFSA. I currently hold ABBV, LLY, PFE and WELL in other accounts. I am looking for a name that pays a good dividend and has some potential for growth. Can you suggest a couple of names I can take a look at or should I add one of the names I already hold.
Thanks