Investment Q&A

Q: I bought a full position in CM at $72.70 in 2020 in an unregistered account. I generally look for dividend payers over or near 5%, so I could sell and purchase another company that pays a higher dividend. Today it is at about $165, which means a substantial capital gain.

My concept is to sell and buy something relatively stable like PPL, ENB, BCE and such. I calculate the return on my initial tax cost to be about 13-15% annually in higher dividends, at current pay levels, with what I see as similar risk.
However, I have read that the banks are maybe expected to again have a much higher than normal dividend raise, which might mean CM goes higher (assuming that isn’t already priced in).
I would appreciate your thoughts on this concept, particularly in regards to CM. Is it time to sell and put the funds to work elsewhere? I thought I had asked this question last Friday, by the way, but it is not answered so assume it is lost in the ether.
Thanks! Paul K

Q: Banks had another big run in January. Are prices already reflecting all the good news for the banks, namely higher interest rates and a good economy?
Secondly if someone had new cash looking for a home in big cap blue chip dividend paying companies which of the financial, pipelines, telecom and real estate sectors give the best upside from here?
Thank-you.

Q: I am considering add more bank stocks and here's what I got based on their P/E:

TD:12.36x
RY:11.99x
BMO:11.69x
BNS:11.50x
CM:10.57x
NA: 10.79x

I have 150K cash available. Would you agree to add National Bank, CIBC and Bank of Novia Scotia equally since these 3 have the cheapest valuation?

Thanks,

Q: Hi Team,

I only own bank of Nova Scotia and look to add more weight on financial sector. Can you please make top two of your picks in the list of names?

Thank you,

Q: Hi, is it a good time to add to CDN banks, with expectation of higher rates and trend for returning capital to shareholders. If so, which ones will you consider as winners, over next several years ? Could you rate them, in order of priority ? in the same token, do you have a particular view on CIBC as the dividend yield and P/E ratio seem to be most attractive in the group ? Thank You

Q: Good day 5i Team, What's up with OSFI? The Canadian banks have been quite conservative during the pandemic but OSFI won't release them to give investors the dividend increase? They were heralded as the world's safest banks during the Great Financial Crisis, but somehow they will be last to increase dividends this time?. Even the banks in the EU and UK are released from holding additional funds. Do you have any good conspiracy theories? Keep up the great work and appreciate all you do for the little guys.

Q: With all the speculation about major dividend increases once restrictions are lifted, would investment in banks be a good short term strategy (hoping for a boost upon announcements), or has the expectation already been cooked into current prices? Any guesses as to who will announce the largest increase?

Q: I wd appreciate your ranking of the Canadian banks.
thank you

Q: Top 10 CAD Dividend Growth picks for RESP? 15 year time horizon.

If you have a link to such a portfolio would be happy to see.

Q: Retired, dividend-income investor who normally holds for the long term. I own a half position in Manulife and am down roughly 7%, including dividends. My long term plan was to sell MFC and rebuy a second Canadian Bank (I already have a full position in Royal Bank).

I have compared the various metrics (P/BV, P/CF, P/S, ROE, technicals, analysts estimates, etc.) for the above mentioned banks as well as against MFC.

Looking at the banks in isolation and already with a full position in RY, I've narrowed it down to either BNS (International exposure and current laggard due to Covid) or TD (more US exposure and 1 year laggard). Of the banks that I do not own, please rank them in order of the best total return over a sufficient period of time for Covid to have subsided (1-2 more years for improved vaccination coverage?). Do you agree with my rationale?

If you include MFC into the bank comparisons, where would you place MFC in the rankings? I have read to buy the banks when their P/E is < 11.0 and buy the insurance companies when their P/BV < 1.0. This would lead me to buy TD (P/E of 9.7) or keep MFC (P/BV of 1.0).

So...keep MFC versus take the loss in MFC and then buy BNS or TD? Your thoughts?

MFC is held in a taxable account and I have no problem taking a loss.

Thanks for your help....Steve

Q: I know that ranking banks often is like picking shades of the same colour. At this point in time do you feel there is any "clear" division amongst any of the banks for investing purposes? Can you give your order of preference and the magnitude of the gap between each choice.
Thanks,
Terry

Q: Hi Peter,
With reported earnings and the potential for dividend hikes later this year, what looks better to you now; Cdn Banks or Cdn Insurance Co's ?
Is there any noticable advantage or disadvantage to holding a covered call on a Company etc if/when they raise their dividend ?
Thank you.

Q: I am going into retirement and below are the weightings of stocks held in my portfolio. Although the portfolio performed okay over the years, I wonder if there is too much concentration and would appreciate your ideas on diversification given the economic times we live in. My portfolio is about $2M with an investment loan of $150K for which I use the dividends to repay. Thanks. BNS 37%, TD 18%, CM 14%, BMO 14%, BCE 6%, SRN.UN 6%, RY 4%, POW 1%

Q: I hold the Canadian banks in my dividend portfolio and they have served me well over the years as a core hold.
Should I reconsider these holdings in light of new taxation rules being suggested?

Q: hi there - just a follow question on your recent answer to the question on CM and the note you included on uninsured mortgages. Correct me if i am wrong, but uninsured mortgages are those where the borrower puts down more than 20% of the value of the home and therefore does not require insurance. How is this more risky than insured mortgages where the lender is putting less than 20% down. This seems a bit backward in terms of interpretation. For example, i have an uninsured mortgage and own 95% of the value of the home. How is this more risk to the bank?

Q: CM has taken an extra big hit the last 2 sessions (inc. today) compared to the other banks, it did go up more than the others previously (for good reason imho) , I assume there may be a short attack presently against the bank on top of some profit taking. Is there anything else you may be aware of that's going on with CM?

Thanks Tom

Q: I am currently way overweight in Canadian banks and would like to gradually cut my overall exposure to about half of my present total value. Would you please rank the above stocks in light of each expected Total Return over the next 3 - 5 years?
Many thanks.

Q: You have mentioned several times that it is expected that later this year the big banks will be given a free hand in allowing dividend increases, is there any analyst guidance/guesses out there on what sort of increase is 'expected' from the banks over the next 1-2 years (and may be baked in to the share price at the moment). Or is it expected to be more a case of just going back to a more normal cycle of increases rather than catching up.

Q: Are the banks still cheap in your opinion? Fwd PE for RY/TD 11.7x, CM 10.8x with the others around the same levels. What do you expect from them over the next 12-24 months?

Q: If you had to sell all or some shares of one of the 5 big Canadian banks to generate some cash, which would you choose and why?

Thanks very much!