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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: Hi 5i,
Just a comment. Print if you like it. Regarding Tom's question (March 24) about ways to "lock in" an FX gain realized through holding US stocks in a US dollar account, but wanting to continue holding US stocks. Another way to do it might be to switch the cash to CAD (ideally through a Norbert's Gambit to avoid paying exchange fees) and then to use the Canadian cash to purchase a hedged S&P 500 index ETF like VSP or XSP. The FX gain would be harvested in moving to Canadian cash while the CAD is relatively low. The currency-hedged ETF would provide the percentage return of the underlying index while protecting against the longer term likelihood of the CAD swinging back to higher levels. Owning e.g. VSP would preserve investment exposure to US stocks. They would not be exactly the same stocks as were owned in the first place, so the shift from specific stock holdings to an index product would be one aspect to consider. Another would be the tax aspect, if the investments are in a taxable account. If, in his circumstances, exchange fees were unavoidable and there were a significant tax hit in the mix, that might count heavily against this approach. On the other hand, if the FX gain is in an RRSP and the account format and brokerage policies will allow Norbert's Gambit, it might be a decent way to go.
Cheers!
Read Answer Asked by Lance on March 25, 2020
Q: A subscriber named Peter asked for your opinion on GMP.PR.B preferred stock on March 17, but you didn't really answer his question. Instead, you commented on the common stock. Please don't do this again as I am NOT interested in the common stock. I am interested in the preferred stock, which is now down $3 from when Peter asked his question. I know this is a lower-rated pref, but surely the current discount is overdone?

Clearly, in the current virus-riddled economic environment, GMP will have to cut the dividend on its common stock. However, they cut the common dividend to zero a few years ago, but kept paying the preferred dividend. What is your opinion on the coverage for the preferred dividend? Would you recommend that preferred stockholders sit tight, buy more, or sell?

The rate resets on March 31, 2021 at 2.89% above 5 year Canada bonds. Even if the yield on 5 year government bonds goes to zero they'll pay a 2.89% x $25 face value = $0.7225 annual dividend. This seems attractive to me, or am I not properly understanding the yield calculation?
Read Answer Asked by David on March 25, 2020
Q: On March 16, in response to a question from Pierre, you said you were not interested in Boardwalk at $27 and recommended some of the higher valued residential REITs. BEI.UN is now down below $20 and has been below $16. At $20 it is trading at a third of book value and 40% of net asset value. It is a well run company and quite under-leveraged. Below what price does it become a screaming buy for a patient buy and hold investor?
Read Answer Asked by David on March 25, 2020
Q: These preferred shares pay a dividend equal to $25 face value x prime rate. The issuers, BCE and BAM, are both blue-chip companies, so the dividends are presumable well-covered. However, the prices of these preferred shares have been hammered, falling in lock-step with interest rates. To me, the sell-off seems to be overdone, perhaps because they are so thinly traded. What is your view on these variable rate preferred shares as a buy and hold investment for a retiree living on investment income? What do you think prime rate will settle out at once the pandemic panic is over, say a year from now?
Read Answer Asked by David on March 25, 2020
Q: I have 2 non-reg accts (Accts X and Y). I have held ENB in Acct X for some time, and it is now in red. I bought more ENB last week in Acct Y. If I sell ENB in Acct X now to use the loss (ie, after purchase in Acct Y), can I assume that I can use the loss because I bought the "new" ENB before selling the old ENB. FWIW, I put the new ENB in diff acct just to keep the 2 separate.
Read Answer Asked by Bob on March 25, 2020
Q: Hi- do you have a few names that are high risk oil companies. I look at someone like athabasca, and it needs 60 dollar oil, but has 275m in cash as of dec 2019. Any companies that are cash rich and can be sat on for a year or two while things play out. Athabasca specifcally has been here before... WCP also looks compelling with hedges and cash flow.
Read Answer Asked by Jordan on March 25, 2020
Q: One of my holdings of call options represents all of the contracts at the same strike price, expiry, etc., shown as open interest. It's easily understandable how there can be an offer to buy displayed, but how is
the price for an offer to sell (which is also shown) determined since
there is no sell order from me outstanding?
Thank you in advance.
Read Answer Asked by Howard on March 24, 2020
Q: BIP.UN and BAM.A are down 47-48% over the last month (BEP.UN down 41%), and have been quite volatile intraday. The whole market is getting hit, but would have expected these to be a "little" more defensive. Why would that be? Are there any particular COVID related concerns for these stocks/business models?
Any concern for the dividend? Or is this a good time to add to these positions? Time horizon is long term

Thanks for the great service
Read Answer Asked by Jeffrey on March 24, 2020
Q: I have a diversified US dollar portfolio, hold US stocks, and with the increasing in the US$, I have a 40% FX gain. I want to continue to hold the US stocks but also lock in the FX gain. To lock it in, I take it that a hedge would be required. Please suggest ways I could do this, including the "instruments". I am asking you this because I assume it is a good idea, aka action to take.
With the COVID-19 related decline in the stock market, I now clearly understanding the reasons and impact of diversifying in other currencies other than just Canadian $s...thanks for hammer it home to me.......Tom
Read Answer Asked by Tom on March 24, 2020
Q: I'm thinking of switching etf's, selling VGG and buying VSP to take advantage of tax loss selling (VGG) and also buying into a CAN dollar hedged fund as the CAN dollar has taken a beating lately and should rebound looking forward, appreciate your professional opinion? Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by Pat on March 24, 2020
Q: I'm thinking of switching etf's, selling VGG and buying VSP to take advantage of tax loss selling (VGG) and also buying into a CAN dollar hedged fund as the CAN dollar has taken a beating lately and should rebound looking forward, appreciate your professional opinion? Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by Pat on March 24, 2020
Q: Want to get your opinion of what’s happening in the market today? Fear of missing out rally? Did you expect stimulus package in U.S. to create this much optimism when the virus is still spreading like wildfire in places like New York?
Read Answer Asked by Curtis on March 24, 2020
Q: How would you rank these bond funds. I sold FTB and bought PMIF but it is not performing well. Bond funds have not performed well due to the drop in interest rates. I am retired in my late 70’s.
Read Answer Asked by Donald on March 24, 2020
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