Investment Q&A

Q: Good morning Peter and Team,

I came across a website listing "Canadian Dividend Aristocrats"
http://www.topyields.nl/tsx-canadian-dividend-aristocrats/

Looking at the Payout Ratio column, I see that negative and over 100% payout ratios are shown in orange, and I was surprised to see BYD.UN with a payout ratio of -26. My understanding is that a negative payout ratio means that a company is losing money while still paying a dividend. Surely this isn't the case for Boyd - one of my stellar performers! Could you please clarify? Even ENB shows a payout ratio of -534 (!) which seems absurd. Is it possible that the data on this website should be taken with a grain of salt? Finally, could you please recommend a website that shows (hopefully) accurate payout ratios, if in fact the ones shown on this site are incorrect?

Thanks for your continuing advice, recommendations, and learning opportunities.

Q: In your reply to Bod today re the recent weakness of MG,you indicated hat it maybe due to concern in Europe on banks & economy.Does that apply to Atd.b as it recently made a acquisition in Ireland.Appreciate your usual great views & services.

Q: Hi
I am thinking about parking some money in the new EQ digital bank. Any concerns?
Thanks,
Gary

Q: Good morning Peter and Team,

In yesterday's Globe & Mail, Rob Carrick wrote an article "Why it's time to take a tougher stance on dividend investing". He concludes by stating: "Dividend stocks will have their role in this future of diminished results as lower dividend increases hold back share-price gains. Dividend stocks will still offer competitive total returns, but not like they used to".

Going forward, do you agree with his thesis? Why or why not? What sector or individual dividend payers would you recommend so that we can be somewhat 'insulated' from this trend, in case Carrick is on to something?

Thanks as always for your timely advice.

Q: appreciate your comments on recent financials and your overall thoughts on the company..
ed in montreal

Q: Hello,
After reading your recent recommended link on bear markets in Canada by Raymond James, I have a question involving his recommendations at the end. I've been following your Balanced Portfolio as I find it suited to my risk tolerance. I was planning to just weather the storm with it, maybe purchasing more during this down time. However, is it recommended to also diversify into bonds and gold, as the article recommends?

A second question, in the same vein, is regarding porfolio management more broadly. What are (and where can I learn more about) particular asset combinations that historically have had higher returns in the long term for any particular risk tolerance?

Q: As they both have corrected, which company (if either) would you prefer here in relation to yield, valuation and any privitization/takeout optionality? Thank You.

Q: What do you think of this equity for a rising stream of retirement income?

Q: hi, thoughts on these five going forward 2-5 years?

Q: Hope everyone enjoyed the cruise and that it wasn't as choppy as markets!
My question is on Covered Calls in the CDN market and I wonder if you would have 5 stocks to suggest for this strategy. I note that using this strategy in the US market … AAPL, CSCO, DIS have way more activity and choices, but I like this idea for CDN stocks that I already own, per the suggestions from 5i.
Your thoughts please, and welcome back to reality.
Peter

Q: In response to Rajeev's concern about the drop of SJ from $54 high to $41.50 over 4 weeks on Jan 25,5I recommend to BUY.Today it closed @ $45.18,up $3.32. Today,Laurentian Bank,BNS & TD set target price of $56.50,$50 & $51 respectively & RY upgrades it to outperform. 5I appreciate your recommendation,great views & services

Q: Like CSU lately, this stock is getting knocked down quite a bit this week. Don't see anything negative in the news. What do you feel is going on here?

Q: Hi,
Jason Donville was on BNN this morning and mentioned that Veritas had done a report on CSU with a sell recommendation. I don't see anything on the internet on this. Wondering if you've seen the report and if you have any comments on the content of the report. Thanks.

Q: I was looking for a replacement for RRX with a dividend. RXX is 100% oil and PEY is 90% gas. I already own TOU which I believe is gas company as well. Are you trying to tell me to be more gas weighted? I thought there was larger supply of gas then oil in the market. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Q: Is today's news the announcement we've been waiting for? The word 'bank' does not appear specifically.

Q: Hi Team,

In an answer to a question from Paul J. about when to sell Magna you said the balanced portfolio is "a little more focused on one-year performance."

Much of you Q&A commentary is about long-term investing and performance.

It would be easy for members reading the Q&A regularly to get the impression the balanced portfolio should be a long-term portfolio - but maybe it is not.

Do you think it would help if you clarified for each model portfolio what the intended investment time horizon is and include that information with your explanatory/cautionary statements about each one?

Otherwise things are a bit confusing.

If in fact the balanced model portfolio is not for long-term investors, do you have any plans to introduce a portfolio that is?

Many thanks for the great service and for taking my question.

Michael

Q: Hi Peter,

Is it safe to pick up stocks with a book value lower than the market price. the above stock is trading at 4.00 cad and the bv is 7.00 cad

Thanks
Paul

Q: Do you know the reason for the large jump in this stock today?

Thanks. Dave.

Q: i notice that csu, kxs, otc, dsg and many of the u.s. tech companies have gotten hammered over the last few days, anything going on here like a rotation out of tech to energy and gold, i know csu is one of your favorites but reached levels last seen last april from a high of 600 seen not that long ago.is this just profit taking or something else. dave

Q: I have a few questions around the model portfolio:

Around what amounts in $ terms do you assume an investor has to replicate a model portfolio.

Also can we pick a few from a model portfolio and not follow it a 100%