Investment Q&A

Q: Hi 5i Team,
What is the payout ratio for BNS? I would like to enter back into the stock with my TFSA for dividend and appreciation at this point. How safe is the dividend?

Andrew

Q: How much of an influence do American investors have on the price of our banks? Many Canadian investors have bank stocks and rely on their dividends for income.

Steve Eisman of "The Big Short" was talking about how an interesting short he sees is Canadian banks and that he has been short for some time. He says the Canadian banks have not had a credit cycle in 30 years, they are extremely unprepared for it and will have real problems.

What is your opinion?

Thanks!

Q: Can you please provide me your top 6 Canadian financials that you would buy at this time. Please rank:
Thank you

Q: Regarding Gayle’s question today and reference to BOC backstopping the real estate market by purchasing mortgages,etc.

Question: Would knowing this give you more (i.e. me) more confidence in buying Canadian banks now given their current share prices and more importantly attractive dividends?

Call me a “worrier” but I have held off adding to my already losing positions in BNS and CM thinking that dividends might become vulnerable if mortgage defaults start to increase significantly.

Question: I am retired, income oriented and combing the market for yield. Bonds seem unattractive and preferreds have a number of inherent risks as I think you have pointed out. Or am I perceiving your opinion incorrectly.? Hence my looking at banks again.

Thank you in advance for your help with these decisions.

Q: I would like your help putting together a yield portfolio of between 15 and 20 names.
This would be the entire investments for my wife and I. We are both retired and now live full-time in the U.S. And at some point I expect my Canadian newspaper pension to disappear, so I am looking to replace that money.
I would like your opinion of the above names with regard to safety of the income and overall diversification.
I would also appreciate some additional ideas and would like to know if I`m off base on any or all of these names.
I am currently only invested in CM, BNS and BMO and DIR.UN.
Please take 20 credits (or more).
Thank you in advance for your invaluable assistance.

Q: In a recent question asked by Andrew concerning the setting up of a dividend stream of safe and stable Canadian stocks, I was more surprised by some of the stocks you didn't name rather by the stocks you did include - namely bank stocks. The three major banks, for the most part, are paying higher dividends than the ones you included and you have stated in the past you consider them as secure as any. Was the reason for their omission a concern that these dividends are likely to stagnate for a while or is there some other reason(s)?

Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.

Q: Greetings 5i ....I hold RY and BNS in a registered account and I am considering a switch to JPM. Aside from the lower dividend do you think this might be a viable longer term capital appreciation story. Best Regards...Gary

Q: I feel I am to heavily weighted in these financials. Would you please rank them as to which ones you would keep and why. Thank You.

Q: With BNS 's higher exposure in emerging market than the other banks, will this be a concern for the earnings in the next few quarters, or do you think this is still a good buy?
What is an alternative bank in this volatile market. Thank you as always.

Q: Thanks for your flash report. Much appreciated.
Without doing a full review, which of the above would risk being downgraded if you were to do a full review? Thanks. Your service is great!

Q: Hi. I see in many responses related to Canadian banks that when you reply that you prefer bank a, b, c over bank X, is the a, b, c in order of preference? Sometimes the order changes from different responses.
Would you be able to list the Canadian banks in order of preference for a 5-10 year hold. I understand that in 6 or 12 months the order may change, but I'm looking today what it would be. Thanks

Q: Which Of these two banks will bring me the best return in the next six months? Or is there another bank you would prefer?
Thanks

Q: How do you rank these stocks for an investor starting a position in Canadian banks (minimum 5 year horizon)? Thanks.

Q: How would you rank the banks? Strongest to weakest in this environment.
I'm considering selling some far "out of the money" puts to get some income. And if I get assigned, so be it. I'll suffer with a few bank positions yielding close to 8%. Geez, we're talking about bank stocks! I figure if they get into trouble we're ALL in really really BIG trouble.
For example, TD at $40 would yield me 7.9% in dividends. That's like 10.2% in interest. Or RBC at $58 would yield me 7.4% in dividends.
So which Canadian banks would "crack" under pressure and which wouldn't.
Thanks and take care!

Q: Hello Peter and team . Good graph set up. If we can share the source or build few important set ups in the site itself, that would be great.
Q- Dividend safety . Out of the following which ones you think has the dividend safety AT THE CURRENT LEVELS OF PAYOUTS-
1. BANKS (BNS, TD, RY, CM), TELECOM ( TELUS, BCE) , ENB, BIP, GWO, SUNLIFE, CU, FTS.
I am thinking of putting new money into 3-4 of these but dividend safety is must. Thanks

Q: I have just read that the European Banks are going to stop paying dividends and that the US banks are under a lot of pressure to follow suit. Do you think that The Canadian Banks will also suspend dividends?

Q: Of these 9 equities + ETFS, which would you see as reasonable to hold on to if one believes there is a prospect of recovering from the current economic storm from the virus? Some have been held for a long time are still positive, most are down; TOU is the worst (85% drop) and is now very small. They are held in a registered account, so tax loss selling is not an issue. Thanks for your excellent service.

Q: At what point do the banks become a screaming buy? If TD Waterhouse has correct numbers, several are now trading below book value. I have only seen this a couple of ties in my life and it has always worked out okay in the long run. Have I missed anything?

Q: Hi Peter & 5i,
Thank you for all your professional advice with your years of experience and calmness during this market turmoil.
My question is about bonds.
I have a portion of my fixed income in CBO.
Currently a retail investor can pick up some fixed income bond/debenture from the above mentioned banks with longer term maturities (say 2028 to 2030, they are callable between 2024 and 2026) with a 4% interest rate at current valuations (which are below $100). Even if they did get called then you would get the capital gain and the better interest rate for 4 to 6 years.
Do you think it would make sense to sell a bit of CBO and buy a few of these bank instruments in the current environment?
Your opinion is much appreciated. Thank you.

Q: Retired dividend-income investor. I currently own BNS and RY. I was planning on topping up BNS, then read an answer about harvesting capital losses. I had already take enough losses to cover my gains to look after 2020 income tax implications.
I selected BNS for its international diversification and RY for its USA diversification.

I am now considering harvesting my new BNS capital loss and was considering either CM or BMO for immediate replacement, wait a bit then do my original top-up later. Which bank to you consider the better replacement?

Thanks...Steve