Investment Q&A

Q: I'd be interested to hear your opinion on this comment:

Analyst Vince Valentini is no longer recommending buying shares of the Montreal-based communications services company. He cites concerns about the price war in the Canadian wireless sector, which has also led him to discontinue his recommendations for shares of competitors Rogers and Telus. The expected weak growth in the wireless market and the intensity of competition have prompted the TD expert to lower his expectations for the industry's major players. He noted "very aggressive" offers to attract customers, particularly at the end of March, and observes a race to the bottom with no winners. "This pricing doesn't stimulate better subscriber growth across the sector; on the contrary, it leads to an increase in churn."
Thank you

Q: Our current Federal government seems to think oil pipelines are the answer to preserving Canadian independence, however as Adam Posen of the Peterson Institute points out, Canada has no internet pipes that don't run through the U.S., its satellites, or cables. Which of course means we have no access to the internet without U.S. permission. What Canadian companies would benefit if the government decided to invest in a Canadian owned and operated internet?

Q: Have a capital loss with Telus of 23%. Would you recommend selling Telus and buying one of BCE, QBR.B or RCI.B or just keeping cash buying back T after 30 days or doing something else? How would you rank BCE, QBR.B, RCI.B, T for an income account for purchase?

Q: A few questions please on Rogers.

Capex:
What direction does 5i see for Capex spending at Rogers over the next say three years? In addition to paying for the remaining 25% of MLSE, will upgrading their cable segment (or some other business need) require large investment and limit debt reduction?

Monetizing their sports assets:
It all sounds great but .... what risks does 5i see to individual Rogers investors, and how serious does 5i feel those risks are, from the controlling Rogers family negotiating a monetization that benefits only them?

Thank you

Edward

Q: Good morning 5i.

I would appreciate 5i's comments on Forward P/E ratios published in major reporting entities like Globe Investor.

Are these based on consensus analyst projections of forward earnings? Do the forward earnings forecasts exclude large non-recurring transactions (that could flip a 'real' 22 Forward P/E projection into a more attractive looking 11?

In summary, what advice would 5i have on the above, and how much should one take an "attractive looking" forward P/E into consideration when thinking about a stock?

Thank you.

Q: If--for diversification purposes, not to mention buying into an unloved investment space--which one of the 4 major Canadian telecom companies (BCE, Quebecor, Rogers, Telus)-- would you be most interested in owning long-term, for >10-year hold? Could you rank them from #1 (top choice) thru #4, and provide a rationale for your ranking?
Ted

Q: I believe your last Telus vs "the others" comparison was a couple months ago in which you had favoured T. Has that changed? I believe in a comparison, T's debt ratio was worse than both BCE and Rogers.

A recent guest on BNN stated that his preference was moreso for the other two, but actually even more for Quebecor. His concern on T was the lack of dividend coverage over the next few years. Do you have concerns here? I'm trying to determine whether I should make the switch from T to BCE since the latter has already took the dividend-cut pain.

Q: My portfolio is income based. I have capital losses in BCE, CAR,UN and ENGH. What order would you sell them in or should some be held? I am looking to replace some or all with the following; BIP.UN, NWC.UN and/or RCI.B. How would you rank them for acquisition?

Q: In a recent G&M article, Bell and Rogers could soon have competition for direct-to-cell customers from Starlink.

What future impact, if any, would this potentially have on Telus? This will be my only remaining Telecom stock, which pays me a fairly significant amount of my dividends. Do we know if there is a huge risk of future disruption for Telus?

Q: Peter; Can the Blue Jays winning streak, assuming they continue and make the playoffs, move the needle on Roger’s earnings ? Thanks.
Rod

Q: Good morning,
I was looking to buy some of a Canadian telecom stock and was wondering if you had any preference between Rogers, Telus, and Bell?
Thanks

Good morning,

Follow up to my previous question. Which company do you think would perform best in a higher inflation environment? Also do you think the the Telecom sector could perform well in an inflationary environment and what other sectors besides hard assets would perform well.
Thank you very much.

Q: I had a good run for month with Rogers com. Rci.b. in registered account would you think switching to telus is a good opportunity?
Thank you.

Q: Why has rogers stock price increased lately

Q: What's going on with Rogers? I know about today's sale, but even before that it was up well beyond the other telcoms over the last couple of months (20%). Was it just advance word of the sale leaking out?

Q: Hello

Which of these 3 major Canadian wireless service providers is the best/safest buy at the moment taking in to account capital gains going forward and dividends.

Q: Do you see a good potential for an upside on Rogers comm. I see the yield is attractive while waiting. do you see the risk to fall much further?
Thank you.

Q: I just learned that Rogers had a 2% discount (now cut) on DRIP shares.

Do you know of other companies that offer the same, or somewhere I can find a list of Canadian securities that provide a similar discount?

Thanks,

Q: Hello 5i,
There have been many negative questions regarding Tariffs and other non-Canadian officials. Wondering if it makes sense to look to those Canadian companies that would benefit from the upcoming April 28, 2025 event results.
Following is my list of questions for you – please feel free to take as many credits as you require since I typically don’t use many.
• The clear winner looks to be BAM/BN/BIP/BEP with the massive housing & project build plans. Some housing build plans look to be well beyond anything the private sector has ever seen. Outside of investing in BAM/BN/BIP/BEP are there any other companies that will experience increased growth rates? Perhaps Canadian Only Lumber Companies, Steel, etc.… Being careful to ensure the industrial carbon tax doesn’t offset any building growth rates.
• Looks like major projects are going to be built to save the country from the tariffs. Assuming these are going to be non-conventional energy would the companies such as BAM/BN/BIP/BEP/WSP, benefit the most? Are there any other companies to start looking at? Perhaps carbon capture companies?
• I wonder if there are any areas of benefactors increasing/decreasing the amount of tax havens in Canada? There are a fair number of mid/small companies that could setup a beneficial tax structure and become more profitable. My experience with setting up offshore structures is that there are setup/dismantle/maintenance costs with Lawyers and Accountants but perhaps other benefactors are investable. Are there any publicly traded Accounting or Legal companies to start watching?
• With proposed additional spend to media companies are there any benefactors? Will BCE benefit from the overall plan? Are there companies worth looking at in the media sector?
• With the additional military spend are there any companies in Canada to invest in? I have a small position in MAL which could benefit from Canada built fighter jets. Is BBD.B a good one to look at?
• After reviewing the proposed firearm buyback pricing list, the overall program looks to be worth ~$2B in 2025 for Canadians. My question is could there be benefactors to this spend? Maybe ~$2B is not enough to stimulate the economy considering the current spending levels but it reminds me of a COVID-like spend bump. Assuming a large portion of the funds will be redistributed back into the economy.
• Health care seems to be getting an increased focus compounded with the buy Canada therefore are there any pure Canadian pharmaceutical/healthcare companies that will benefit? I have a SIS position that I could add to if they are going to be benefactors. Are there any companies that provide safe site vending machines or building structures?

Q: Some brokers are downgrading RCI.B from Sector Outperform to Sector Perform and decreasing the target for this stock by almost 15%.
What is your insight for RCI.B looking forward ? Hold, sell or buy?
Any comments on the sustainability of the dividend will be appreciated.
Thanks again for your valuable comments.

Q:

BCE is trending down, ex-dividend. If YOU would cut the dividend, would you wait for next earning release in May, or sooner? What would be the probability the stock stays flat, instead of up or down when/if the dividend is cut?

Is Rogers a better bet at the moment or just a hold (I just sold it for tax loss) ?
I’m sticking with my Telus for now.
Thanks. Have a good week.