Investment Q&A

Q: Which would you buy today?

Q: Retired, dividend-income investor. Long, long term holder of BCE in my wife's cash account. Sold it in mid-Nov, captured a $12k cap loss, and plan to buy it back next week....prior to the ex-dividend date.

I am ok buying it at the roughly $38 level, even if it floats around that level for the short to medium term. I understand that there might even be some further downside risk. I plan to buy around 1400 shares, either in one shot or maybe 2-3 tranches.

Your opinion on which makes more sense in this case? Multiple purchases is the more conservative way to go, but one shot gets the full dividend back (and more) to where we were a month ago. The BCE board has said they would not touch the dividend for now....although their credibility has taken a hit lately. We are ok with "some" volatility. It's almost a "flip a coin" decision.

Thanks for your help...Steve

Q: Every time a company cuts their dividend, the stock suffers.....BCE should be no different and it becomes dead money for awhile..at what support price should I start a new position??...

Q: Three to five year time frame
Stocks to sell and name to replace with growth stock

BCE, NPI, AW.UN BEPC

Q: Hi 5i,

All these questions about BCE and it's dividend has me worried about the other two in the industry. Could you comment on T and RCI's debt load, payout ratios, dividend sustainability, and earning growth rates?

Also, separate/unrelated comment: It would be great to be able to do a search on a company and have BOTH the Canadian and U.S. questions both come back together. It's a bit of a pain to have to do two separate searches and then manually read them in chronological order. Well, it is the season...and I thought I'd just ask... :)

TIA

Q: Hi there yesterday you were answering about buying BCE after a rate cut. You said many are “expecting” it. Are you?

You said awhile back you were not expecting it but has your stance changed?

Might be better to do a Sell for losses now in an unregistered account then wait and buy back after the cut? I’m a long time holder and believer but getting nervous!

Ok thanks

Q: Would you buy bce after a dividend cut?

Q: Yesterday I asked you about a group of stocks with respect to trimming our positions to reduce our overall stock exposure.

Now I would appreciate it if you could categorize these stocks with respect to your opinion on the impact of Trump's election. Perhaps the categories could be: positive, negative, neutral, or not sure.

The stocks are:
BAM
BEP.UN
BIP.UN
BCE
EMA
FTS
NA
RY
SLF
TD

Q: Hello team,
What is the downside risk of BCE from here for the next 1-2 years?
Thanks!

Q: Hi, I’m thinking of selling BCE after December 16 Ex Dividend so I will qualify for January’s payment. I’m at a loss on BCE in my cash account and plan on using this loss in future years to offset capital gains. So as not too lose the dividend income I depend on I plan on buying the same amount of BCE shares in January after waiting the mandatory 30 days. Would appreciate your thoughts on this plan. Also, on a side note do you see more downward pressure on the stock in December due to tax loss selling and ex dividend or do you feel it’s forming a base and has bottomed out in the 37-38 range . Thanks.

Q: My wife and I are mainly dividend investors. We tend to hold our stocks for many years. Due to the significant increase in the value of our stocks this year, we are considering reducing the percentage of some stocks in our portfolio by about 10%.

Could you please give your opinion as to which of the following stocks you would reduce. Would you reduce one or two selected stocks, or perhaps reduce across the board? All of the reductions would be in registered accounts. You can assume the stocks are all about the same percentage of our portfolio.

The stocks are:
BAM
BEP.UN
BIP.UN
BCE
EMA
FTS
NA
RY
SLF
TD

Q: With the Canadian dollar being so cheap and the share price so low, is a buyout of BCE possible? Can Americans buy BCE or does it have to have Canadian ownership? I know the privatization attempt in 2007 failed in part because of the 2008 stock market crash. It could save a huge chunk of cash if it did not have to pay dividends. A company could take it private, clean it up and then take it public again with a much better balance sheet .

Q: Four members of Bell Canada’s board of directors took advantage of the telecom giant’s stock drop to buy shares. CEO Mirko Bibic purchased shares worth just over $200,000, while Louis Vachon, former CEO of National Bank, acquired shares worth nearly $390,000. Calin Rovinescu, former CEO of Air Canada, invested close to $350,000, and Jennifer Tory, a former vice-president at RBC, over $170,000.. They must see future potential gains in the share price since the only reason to buy shares of a company is to make gains.

Q: Since it is very difficult to maintain or increase market share in mobile telephony. Isn’t it a good idea to turn to fiber optic network like with the recent acquisition of Zippy Fiber to maintain a stable source of income and free cash flow?

In your answer dated Nov 19, you write`` it seems to have lost its way a bit, with selling assets to pay down debt and then making a big acquisition. ``

Your view on this would be appreciated.

Thanks

Yves

Q: hi,
I own both BCE and T - both down a bit now. can I get your latest thoughts on these 2 as a buy, sell, or hold. all else being equal, do you see the purchase of assets in Pacific Northwest USA as good for growth, eventually. and what do you see as the risk for a dividend cut for BCE and Telus? finally, if selling, where would you suggest to look elsewhere for some growth ( slightly beating inflation ) and good dividend yield?
cheers, Chris

Q: My top holdings right now are (these are all primarily in an open account, but small portion in registered)
MSFT @ 9.18% of the equity portfolio (up 487%)
AAPL @ 7.47% of the equity portfolio (up 496%)
BCE @ 4.89% of the equity portfolio (down 16.52%)
Thinking of selling some of MSFT to rebalance and possibly AAPL to rebalance and selling some BCE for tax loss to offset some of the gains.
In the present market does this seem like good options? What could be purchased instead? I do rely on the BCE dividend for some income and might want to replace this. Will also be looking to transfer cash and/or stocks to TFSA's in the new year.
Are there better options in my situation? (the rest of the equity portfolio is fairly balanced except an over amount in financials)
Thanks,
Steve

Q: Do you feel that BCE is near bottom? It appears for the past two weeks the stock is trending sideways.
What is the risk of cutting the dividend?
Are they making progress on reducing debt and expenses?
Is revenue staying constant, growing or falling based on quarterly reports for past two years?
What is managing forecasting going forward?

Would buy, hold or sell at this point and why

Q: Hello,

Could you comment on now that Ontario has partnered with Elon, how does the provincial subsidization of fixed costs for installation of internet, etc. bode for BCE, Telus and other "hardwire" "maybe "fiber optic" providers?

I frequently drive along Hwy 7 and see trees fallen down on the Bell lines - so maintaining this lower margin asset is not a top priority.

How much of a moat is fibre optic vs Starlink?

Elon's satellites have a lot of operating leverage vs copper or fibre optic installation.


Thank you

Q: For long term hold and safety of dividend
Bce or Telus, and why
Thank you

Q: One member, Auftar, mentioned that they plan to keep BCE and Telus in their soon-to-be-converted RRIF portfolio because the high dividend yields from these stocks will help manage the RRIF withdrawal rate. With BCE and Telus offering dividends of 10% and 7% respectively, assuming no cuts, these stocks can provide a solid return for annual RRIF withdrawals.

My question is: Is holding high dividend stocks in a RRIF a good strategy in both stable and volatile markets? Even if my portfolio value drops, I will still receive dividends for my RRIF withdrawals each year. Am I correct?