Investment Q&A

Q: I hold a small position in BCE. My thinking is that other than the dividend (yield), it is pretty much "dead" money for the foreseeable future. I could replace it with Telus, but I'm not impressed with its performance over the last few years. Taking sector & industry out of the equation, are there some other stocks that you like better [preferably with the potential for growth / share price appreciation & a (growing) dividend] that trade around the same price as BCE or less? Thanks once again for your great service.

Q: Good evening!
Looking to add to my portfolio, and these are all high dividend payers. Could you rank them with regard to safety (primarily preservation of capital with low chance of potential problems on any visible horizon), and then also rank them from best grower to worst grower? Please take credits you think are fair.
Thanks! Paul K

Q: Either I forgot to include Telus in my question of yesterday or you forgot to include it in your answer. Please give your weighting for T (Telus). As well please provide a comment on your 2% weighting on TRP.

Another question on my semi annual balancing exercise. With the understanding that the rest of my portfolio consists of conservative growth, dividend paying large caps and that I am looking at a 3 to 5 year time frame. Please indicate the those companies you would carry at a 5 % ish level, those that you would carry at a 2% to 3% level and those that you might not carry at all. Much appreciated ram

Answer:
Assuming WE are the investor, we would look to the following. DIR.UN 3%, LMN 3%, SHOP 5%, TRP 2%, TSU 2% WELL 3%, WSP 5%

Q: Hi,
Comparing Telus, BCE and Rogers to AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile over the last year, the US companies seem to be outperforming (granted this is a short timeframe and others in the US top five: Comcast and Charter Communications aren't doing well either).

I was wondering if you have any thoughts about why the top three in the US are doing so much better lately than the top three in Canada. (Take credits as needed please.)

Thank you, Michael

Q: I have a 1% weight of AT&T in my portfolio at a 50% loss, held in a non-registered account. I am thinking of selling to take advantage of the tax loss.

Do you see much chance for recovery in the next 6 to 12 months for AT&T, or would you recommend the strategy of selling and seeking a recovery from a higher quality stock?

Thanks.

Q: Does the decline in Telus and Bell have any similarities to the decline in AT&T and Verizon about 6 months ago? I note that the US telecoms staged a nice comeback since. Would you expect the same or are the stories different?

Q: I like ATS but am down a bit over the past couple of years. PA suggests I boost my US positions. Im not optimistic about Canada's medium term growth prospects when compared to the US so this might be a good time to make some portfolio adjustments. I'm considering selling ATS and buying a US industrial, perhaps URI. Your thoughts, please. In the same vein, I am looking at Canada's telecom sector and I'm down in both BCE and T. Of course, both pay hopefully sustainable dividends. The US telco sector doesn't look much better. I'm considering bailing on the telcos and adding QCOM as a quasi-surrogate. I know it's rated as tech but telco's are all giving me headaches. Your thoughts please. Al

Q: Hello team,

I have all four of these in my income portfolio. The telco's for the divs and Park Lawn and BEP for income and growth. All four are down substantially (20-30%) from purchase in fall of 2022. The news out on BCE is less than flattering, while there has not beeen much on PLC. The other two I assume are biding their time, and should/might rerate with a drop in interest rates. I am a long term buy and hold and am quite satisfied with the income aspect of my portfolio, but my finger keeps getting itchy each time I see a drop in SP, for no reason at all.

My question is, will these Companies need rate cuts in order to rerate, or is their business that bad that their SP continues to stagnate. I know the other shoe about the economy improving, but that applies to all stocks, and have taken that into consideration.

Thanks for the service, I'd be lost without it. My former finacial advisor, not such a big fan!

Q: Hello - I am an income investor. My view has been to construct my portfolio with companies that pay growing dividends as a way to offset inflation. With BCE’s announcement of reduced expected dividend growth in the future I am considering shifting that portion of my portfolio somewhere else. Can you please provide the stated expected ranges of dividend growth (as a %) of these companies? Please take all the credits you wish. Thank you

Q: Is it true that Telus's dividend has not been covered between 2020-22 and won't be for the following two years?

Other than the benefits of both this sector's limited competition in our country and
this government's immigration policy that has been put in place, are there any other reasons why Telus holds a relatively large PE valuation relative to the single digit PE's of both AT&T and Verizon?

Q: I am starting to plan for year end tax losses taking. Although these companies pay good dividends, I have capital losses greater than the dividend income. Do you have any thoughts on the potential of these companies to recover in 2024.

Q: Hi, I’m a little overweight in these sectors, and thinking about selling one, and adding XIU or ZCN for diversity and dividend.
Which would you sell ( T or Becp) and which would you add ( XIU or ZCN) for a long term hold. thanks.

Q: You last looked at this in 2022 and didn't sound very good. But the stock stopped going down in October and has been driving higher since then, especially over the last few months. Has something changed with Comcast's fortunes?

Q: Wondering if it is time to trade T. Been reading about NWC and wondering if this is a good dividend stock to replace T. Are there other dividend stocks you would recommend.

Q: I'm concerned by the decline in Telus over the past few months. BCE is also in decline and Rogers is not great either. What is happening here and should I just stick with Telus or switch to something else?

Q: Big down day for these two. Is this a great opportunity for the long term?

Q: I would like to take some profits from WSP and add to my existing dividend positions such as ENB, RY, SLF, Telus or TRP.
Please let me know your preferred Div Stock out of above list.
Thank you as always

Q: Hi,
I need to sell all the stocks in my non-registered account to access the cash in the next 2-5 years. I will be selling many of the stocks listed, in the next few weeks. Can you list them in SELL order with a few comments on the rationale.
Also, please list the top 10 Canadian stocks (from this list or others) for longterm holding, since I will buy some of them back in one of my registered accounts (RRSP, TFSA), likely over the next 2 years.
Thank you,
Camille

Q: BCE dividend payout ratio is 120% and Telus is not far behind. How is this sustainable? Isn't this a warning sign?

Q: My Grandsons are 3 &1 old. They have 43% ZUT, 35% VFV, 21% ZWB and 0.9% BTCC.in their present RESP. I am looking for thoughts for the coming year deposit.
My thought are add to VFV (not enough now to reinvest),add a Reit ETF like TGRE or add an telecom ETF. I can not find a telecom ETF in Canada so maybe an alternative would be T.
All thoughts would be much appreciated.
Thank you