Investment Q&A

Q: If you were expecting a bit of a market swoon and don't want to sit on cash what would you consider to be "defensive stocks" or "stocks that benefit" in downturns? I've tried options in the past with mixed (mostly not so good) results so that's not something I would like to do.

Thanks in advance-Dave

Q: Do you consider the dividend streams from the above companies to be safe? Do you forsee issues with even moderate growth for the companies as they say they are diversifying ( cough ). thanks al

Q: CSCO reported miserable earnings on February 15 and guidance was also poor. I understand the company will also raise more debt. I am not clear on the company’s reasoning for yet more debt. CSCO was added to AAII’s “stock super stars” list in February 2016 under its “good values” strategy. I was thinking of selling CSCO last year but held off when I saw the business was added to Morgan Stanley’s global dividend portfolio in June 2023. I continued to on to CSCO, especially as hardly any of my other holdings pay dividends. Given CSCO’s latest report and guidance, is it worth holding on to CSCO for investors whose folio is all US, and who are getting concerned that their folio generates little dividend.

If its worth holding on to CSCO, please comment on the company’s business model, the strength or not of its suite of security products. Please also comment on CSCO’s PEG ratio, its debt to equity in addition to its competitive position and moat referenced above. Many thanks.

Q: Looking for top 5 dividend stocks ( with good dividend growth ) from overall return perspective. 5 US and 5 Canadian. Thanks

Q: HI 5i
For my RRSP which two would you pick today, I own BN. would you buy BAM ?

thank you
Happy new years!

Q: Good morning, Which Stocks do you guys believe should benefit the most with the rising cost of living and many people having to turn to cheaper retail and grocery stores for example. Would stores like Costco and Dollarama be a couple of obvious examples, thanks?

Q: I have a friend who has $20,000 to invest in a relatively safe group of stocks, hoping to gain about 8% a year; his plan is to leave the funds in for at least two years. He has no preexising stocks. Please recommend one or two groups of stocks for him to invest in.

Q: I have just sold UL to garner a small tax loss. I would like to buy back in the new year but which is the better investment for dividend growth and growth UL or PG or should I hedge my bets and buy a bit of both ? Is there anything else in this sector that looks more promising?

Q: If you were forced to use borrowed $ to invest where would you park it? Interest cost is close to 6%, bonus points if the investment or investments pay a monthly dividend.

Q: The U.S. is growing much faster than Canada. Canada’s much slower economic growth relative to the U.S. seems to be related namely mortgage debt, Given this situation, can you suggest 1) Individual U.S. stocks for capital gain 2) Individual U.S. stocks that pay dividends, and 3) U.S. ETFs? Thank you

Q: Hi 5i, 95% of my rrsp account are in the above stocks , recently I trimmed technology to add BNS TFII QSR BN VFV , before it was very-highly tech oriented, now I'm looking to preserve capital and get a bit of dividends, Am I in the right track, looking to start withdrawing in the next 2 years, they all are between 8 to 12% of portfolio. Any suggestions for me. Grateful to 5i!

Q: Hello,
I recently mentioned taking a position in MDLZ for part of my international holdings, not realizing MDLZ is actually US-based. Knowing you don't follow international stocks, are you generally aware of other internationally-based consumer defensive companies listed on a major US stock exchange? I looked at Nestle, but it seems to be only buyable OTC, and I am not too keen on that market. Another thought was DEO, do you see any red flags with it?
Thanks again, Michael

Q: Do you see interesting dividends stocks down that we should keep an eye on with potentiel harvesting tax-loss season coming? Canadian and US stocks with a good balance sheet.

I have been looking at dir.un, plc, ko and pfe

Q: Hi 5i,

My current communications holding (VZ:US/Verizon) only amount to 3.5% of portfolio and should be at about 8% according to Portfolio Analysis.
1. Would you continue to hold VZ?
2. Either way, could you recommend some additional/better opportunities?

Many thanks

Q: Could you suggest some US dividend stocks that you think are a buy right now and that may do well over the next year. Thanks

Q: Good morning,

I know there are risks with owning Verizon right now, but with another recent dividend increase (now 17 consecutive years of increases), forward PE ~ 7.0, and a dividend yield approaching ~ 8%, do you think there is merit in buying for an income investor?

Q: Hi 5i,

I want to add 1 of the following consumer related US companies to an income portfolio with some growth:

COST (good growth, very small dividend)
WMT (good growth, small dividend)
AMZN (Good growth, No dividend)
KVUE (good products, good dividend, not as much growth)

Please review them, rank them in order of preference for a long term hold. If you have a better alternative, please include it.

Please deduct 5 credits, 1 for each company and 1 for the other possibility.

I look forward to your review.
John

Q: Hello,

I'm hoping you might be able to steer me towards several suitable, longer term, investments.

If you were assembling a portfolio of equity investments today, from which you REQUIRED an overall average yield of at least 4%, with a further need for that yield to either keep pace with or to outpace the rate of inflation in coming years; which 5 Canadian and which 5 USA equities would you select to include within your portfolio?

1) Independent of any consideration of a desire for diversity of sector?

2) If diversity were to be considered to be of importance?

Please deduct as many question credits as you feel may be appropriate.

Thank you!

Q: As a dividend growth investor, with plan of living off of dividends well into retirement over the next 5 to 25 years (based on start of retirement and life expectancy assuming average Canadian life span), REGARDLESS OF SECTOR, what are your SAFEST and STRONGEST dividend paying stocks (with an equal emphasis on safety of dividend and strongest being quality of company).

thanks

Ernie

Q: I would appreciate getting your five recommendation each for US and CAD markets of companies with growing dividends for at least for the last five years with current dividend above 3% that also have growth.