Investment Q&A

Q: Now there is talk of negative interest rates eventually coming to Canadian markets. What would be the impact on the banks and financials here?

Q: I own the Canadian bank stocks listed above with BNS, RY and TD each having a 6% weighting and NA 3.5% and BMO about 2%. Overall my Canadian bank weighting is over 20% of my portfolio, mostly a result of inheriting my father's income portfolio. I want to trim my overall weighting, which bank(s) would you trim.

Q: What is your opinion of the Bank of Montreal? I have been an investor in BNS before but sold my shares after I suffered through the inordinately long and complex process of signing up for a Bank of Nova Scotia VISA card

Q: Hi Peter, can I get your updated analysis on Steve Eisman's thesis on Canadian banks from today's BNN posts? Do you agree? What is it that he's seeing that we're not seeing (besides him flipping by shorts)? Would you be able to write a 5i blog post on how we can value banks (i.e. key ratios, ROA etc). Thanks.

Q: what's your opinion on a 5 year reset preferred at 5.10% from BMO?

Q: I currently own a combined 25% share in Canadian financials. I love the dividend, but I know it is heavy and I am concerned about the negative news I read about the banks. Is the future really that bleak for the banks. Thanks.

Q: With Veritas coming out with a sell on all Canadian Banks what is the 5i position
Should I sell and buy back at a lower price point or just hold
No tax consequences if I sell
GUY

Q: Have any of the big 6 Canadian banks ever cut their dividends and if yes can you please provide specifics as to when, by what magnitude.
Many thanks for your service,
Stevr

Q: With the possible exception of BMO, the Big Five banks seem to be hitting a plateau. At the same time, there's talk of moderating interest rates. But shouldn't lower rates be a stimulus for banks' business - mortages, etc.? I thought it was the insurance companies that benefited from higher rates. Or is the apparent tapering-off of banks' growth just a reversion-to-the-mean phenomenon?

Q: BNS missed estimates while BMO beat,thanks to US earnings.Your comments please.

Q: Do you consider this stock a buy

Q: Could you please comment on BMO's recent earnings release. It seems to have beaten estimates but the share price has fallen somewhat -- albeit on a negative day for the tsx. Also, would you please rate the big six cdn. banks according to your relative preferences. Thanks.

Q: Hi Peter,
I am thinking of switching from BMO TO BNS as BNS is the worst performing bank this year. BMO is in my TFSA so there are no tax implications. Also my fees are very low so this is not a factor. I feel that I will get more growth from this switch. What is your opinion?
Jane

Q: My question is about allocation of Canadian Banks in 5i Portfolios and what would be a reasonable weighting in a broad portfolio of 30-35 holdings which looks 80% like a Balanced with 20% Growth. BNS is the only Canadian Bank held in 5i Balanced Portfolio (4%) and Income Portfolio (6%). Historically, Canadian Banks have provided substantial returns through dividends and capital appreciation. But, I like 5i approach of finding companies with value/growth potential in small/mid cap universe and structuring portfolios. By association, my portfolio weight in Canadian Banks has grown to about 15%, CM,TD and RY, in order of 10.5%. 3% and 1.5%, respectively.
Would it make sense to reduce these holdings to align more along the line of 5i approach ?

Thanks.

Q: 11:10 AM 5/16/2018
I very much appreciated the geographic distribution of business exposure to different countries for BNS that you provided this morning to Ron.

It would be very helpful to me and likely to many other members if you could provide a similar geographic breakdown of activities for the other 5 Canadian banks. It would help us to calculate our exposure outside of Canada.

Thank you............. Paul K.

Q: I have recently inherited a portfolio of stocks heavily weighted towards the Canadian banks (RY, BNS, TD, BMO, NA, CM). About 30% of the portfolio is made up of these six banks and I am uncomfortable with the lack of diversity and high correlation.

Which two or three banks do you feel are the least attractive and therefore the best sell candidates?

Q: Of the top 6 Canadian Banks, can you rank their exposure to the US from the least to the most exposure?

Q: BANK OF MONTREAL 1.81% NON CUM 5YR RT RST CL B PFD SER 25
BMO.PR.Q:
Thank you for your response to my question on the above. Would you kindly clarify: in August 2021, does the issuer BMO simply roll the investor over into something like this without the explicit written consent of the investor? If the issuer gives you back your cash, does the issuer give you back the face value it originally sold at (in this case C$25) or does the issuer simply give you the current market value if the then value is much lower? This was issued at C$25 and trades much lower.
Thank you for clarification. I am lost on these rate-reset animals. (Also , would your office support please reinstate the facility whereby you used to send me an email that my question is answered? Thanks.

Q: BANK OF MONTREAL 1.81% NON CUM 5YR RT RST CL B PFD SER 25
BMO.PR.Q
How do rate reset like THIS horrible thing work? How does value react to interest rate changes? Specifically, is the above security, which is down substantially, worth keeping now that it has already lost much value? OR are the funds better deployed elsewhere if one is conservative and looking for Canadian dollar income, preferably dividend?

Q: Hello: I currently own BMO, CM and BNS. I’m thinking of switching BMO for TD as BMO did not increase its dividend as TD did. Also I believe TD has more US exposure which should show better growth. Your opinion please.