Investment Q&A

Q: Hello Peter,
With the increase in interest rates, i was expecting Sunlife and Manulife to go higher but they have dropped. Any comments? I want to increase my weighting to 5 percent for Enbridge and Alimentation Couch Tard but both stocks are not responding well eventhough Alimentation had good results. Would 5 percent be too much? Also, if you had a choice between fairfax africa and india, which one would you prefer and finally, I was thinking of Jean Coutu for a 5 year hold. Can you see it doubling in 5 years? Lastly, all the stocks that the shorts went after have not really recovered (CXR, HCG, CRH, etc). What does this say about the analysis that was done by various managers including ones on BNN? I am not blaming anyone but it is discouraging that the shorts were right. Thank you

Q: I have BNS, RY, SLF and FSZ in equal amounts in my "Financial" basket and need to add another name to get my financials weighting to 15%. Can you suggest a new stock and/or a etf (CDN or US stock / etf) to compliment my current holdings OR would you just add to the 4 stocks that I have? Thanks

Q: Admittedly the BoC only raised rates yesterday, but aren't lifecos supposed to do well in rising rates environments? Anyway, where do you this sector going over the next 12 months? Thank you.

Q: Increase in interest rate due to strong economic growth(latest GDP 4.50%) is normally beneficial to financials( esp.Banks & lifcos)Yet TTFS(capped financial index)is down 0.68%,BNS 0.76% & SLF 1.13%.Please help me to understand.Thanks for u great services & views

Q: I know SLF is primarily a Lifco however, does it have any indirect exposure to HARVEY relative to its' co-insurance liabilities with other insurance Cos. or Groups?? Thank you.

Q: At the present time

Can you give me the names of the 5 most beaten up / best value, blue chip dividend paying Canadian equities, with emphasis on safety of dividend.

Sectors are irrelevant.

Thanks

Ernie

Q: I have to cut either SLF or PWF for financial services sector re-balancing. Both are currently of equal value weighting. Based on possible interest rates rises, current financials, dividends, stability, etc. Which one would you cut?

Q: Can you please comment on the earnings for $SLF. Thanks Valter

Q: Please advise what is the effect of strong Can.$ on the aforementioned stocks.Thanks for u usual great services & views

Q: Hi. I am currently in process of reorganizing. I am overweight in financials. Would like to sell all of my position in POW or else SLF which would reduce position from 15% in financials to 10% (Currently have 5% in each of BNS, POW, SLF). Alternatively I could sell half of each POW and SLF to get the same result. Thoughts?

Q: I need to add to the financial sector of my portfolio. I own 3 stocks in this sector, a full position in BNS and would like to add to SLF or ECN. I was going to add to ECN but began to wonder if ECN would be negatively impacted by rising interest rates especially with their debt being over 2x or would they simply pass on their increased expenses to their customer? Not sure how much competition they have in that space. Thank you in advance for your expertise.

Q: I bought FHH as downside protection for my portfolio. Now it appears the downside hedge has been removed. Is my assessment correct? If so can you recommend a better allocation if I sell FFH?

Q: Hi, Brian Acker recently recommended Met Life as a better/cheaper alternative to Canadian Life Insurance companies, such as SLF. If you have to pick two north american life insurance companies, regardless of country, what would they be? Focus is on some growth potential.

Thanks, Kelly

Q: I know that you suggest Sun Life for a Canadian life insurance company, but how would it stack up against the potential of other life insurance companies in the US? Brian Acker recently recommended Met Life saying it was much cheaper than Sun Life. How would you compare Sun Life to US companies? Overall what Life Insurance companies would you invest in regardless of Canada or US?

Q: Hi, with the rise in interest rates, I was expecting to see a bit more of a bounce in SLF and MFC. Currently, I have a 1% position at a much lower entry price on SLF, and about a 4.5% position in MFC. Would adding more SLF here for a longer term hold now that rates have moved up here make sense? The entire portfolio is pretty well diversified and I have time on my side.

Q: Hi 5i
I am heavily in financials 32% am working to diversify in my portfolio. I have listed a number of my invested companies. Investments are in Can. Cash, TFSA & RRSP heaviest in (RRSP)
I would like to re-invest in divided stocks and 2 ETFs. can you advise which would be best replaced and list a few that are in your top considerations.
Thanks,
Scott


Thanks, Scott

Q: I want to add some stocks to my TFSA and would prefer to have companies with good dividends (approx. 4%) and decent capital appreciation prospects for the next 3 to 5 years. Would you have any names that fit these criteria? Thanks

Q: Insurers(like Sunlife)seem to be underperforming Banks(like BNS)in last 6mths.
Comments ? Is it earnings ? Do you expect this trend to continue ?

Q: Hi,
I currently dont hold any tech or insurance companies. The rest of my portfolio is fairly diversified. With the recent tech pullback and also rumors of rate hikes where do you see as being a better long term investment? I like to think in terms of at least 3-5 years. All drips available will be used. Currently I have one full position worth of cash available. Am I better do you think to put it all into one or split between some? Do you see somewhere better to put the dollars to work?
Thanks

Q: I am very impressed with your ability to limit your balanced portfolio to 25 stocks. Currently I hold the above six stocks in the financial sector whereas you hold three. The only one with large imbedded gains is REF.UN which I have held for over twenty years. one third of our total portfolio follows your balanced portfolio. The other 2/3s is managed for us and includes a large allocation to canadian banks. I am willing to sacrifice some stability for more growth. Would you consolidate any of the above stocks to simplify the portfolio? Below is my current allocations. My bias is to keeping REF, GSY and ECN.
2.23% aif
3.16% ref
2.36% ecn
1.90% fsz
2.54% gsy
1.86% slf