Investment Q&A

Q: plus 5 % dividend ok debt,,,,,,, what stocks looks puzzling to you why its still far down a stock with value and when the virus goes away from everyday attention that should have good upside .

Q: Which of these insurance companies would you buy today? Five year hold.
Thanks

Q: How tied to interest rates are the fortunes of POW? Trying to decide between POW and rate reset ENB.PR.T as an income pick. Which would you choose? Thanks Ron

Q: Hi. Can you comment on Power Corporation's Q1 results? I am thinking of reducing my weighting on banks by 2% by taking a small tax loss on CM and investing in POW for the dividend and hopefully some decent growth.

I understand that weightings are a personal decision, and refer to the following for context for my position in Financials. I currently have a 9% weighting in CDN banks (TD, BNS,CM); 6% with CDN insurers (SLF, MFC); 2.5% with FSZ, and 4% with GSY. I am up significantly on GSY and am looking to trim it back in the future.

Q: In the financial sector, which is more likely to cut a dividend, the big 5 banks or the insurance companies SLF, MFC, POW ?

I am assuming it is ok to count POW as an insurance company or should it be viewed separately all together.

Kindly rate the likelihood on a scale of 0 to 10 for banks versus insurance and any differences you might see amongst the insurance companies.

Zero being less likely to cut a dividend.

I am asking this as a dividend investor who doesn't like buying a company that cuts dividends.

Q: Hello 5i Team

I have an equal number of shares in both Great-West Lifeco (GWO) and Power Corporation (POW).
My average cost for GWO is $22.00 per share and for POW is $21.90.
Since POW owns 70 % of GWO, should I purchase more shares in POW and sell my GWO position? This would result in a slightly higher yield going forward on the POW shares. Or should I consolidate my position in GWO and sell POW?
I have matching dollar positions in MFC and SLF, so I want to stick with GWO/POW.

Do POW and GWO share price move in tandem (i.e. same percentages) because POW holds 70 % of GWO or is POW restrained by its holding of IGM Financial?

My last purchases of POW/GWO was on April 13 and 15 respectively. Do I have to wait until May 13/15, before I sell either one, if I want to claim the small capital loss?

Thank you for the great service.

Q: Thank you again for this great service.
I am down about 25% on BNS (and I have no losses for tax purposes and will have more offsetting gains from other holdings). Thinking of selling BNS and buying POW which in my view has more upside. I would appreciate your advice on what to do with proceeds from BNS sale i.e., other suggestions please (I am very well diversified).

Q: I currently have a 1.3% position in POW at a loss of 37%. What do you think of adding 0.5% to average down? Do you think the price will come off these lows over the next 12 months or is this more likely the new normal here?

Thanks.

Q: while the dividend looks inviting for income ,have i missed something why the co-chairmen would give them selves raises for what seems not much of a performance .

Q: My question is regarding POW. It seems to have been hit harder than a lot of others in the financial sector. I figure IGM's low growth is likely a drag on the stock, and low interest rates aren't exactly helping GWO.

Would you be concerned about POW's lofty yield and whether or not the current dividend can be sustained in this environment?

Do you have any issue in bringing my portfolio weighting up to 5% in this stock at today's price?

Q: My question on these two companies performance during the past month.
They usually goes up or down together in the past. But the last month or so, POW decline and PWF goes steady and up a little. Any particular rationale for that?
Which one is a better hold in these turbulent times. Thank you

Q: Do you like POW long term? Is the reported payout ratio of 60% accurate? It doesn t seem to show a lot of growth, should it be a concern? Do you see the Europe exposure as positive? Or would you just buy GWO? Generally speaking, are the lifeco / financial services companies less risky than the banks? I already have a full position in SLF. I am looking for another core holding (financial) for my rrsp acount. Thank you for your help!

Q: Power Financial has merged with Power Corporation. The dividend is over 8% and just recently raised before this covid virus. But when they were two companies, combined the dividend would be much higher for two companies so do you think they would still cut the dividend?
I know they haven't created much value over the years but now being a merged company, do you see more upside? I know you prefer Sunlife. I just think Power Corporation has more divisions they could spin off once this downturn is over. Do you agree?

Q: POW has now fallen to a price giving a similar yield to ENB, around 8%. For a senior living on dividend income, which of the two has the safer dividend for a long term hold? You have tended to favour SLF in the insurance/financial space, so would you still recommend SLF over POW for dividend safety and growth, despite its lower yield? If you don't like any of these three stocks, what's your top Canadian pick for a senior looking for a decent safe yield, with some potential for long term growth?

Q: My wife and I are seniors drawing from our RRIF's and we are 'buy and hold' type of investors and need income. Your recommendations to 'harvest' capital losses is something that we have not really done previously but this suggestion is resonating with us now. If we were to do this I think we would look for 'proxy' purchases for at least the 30 day waiting period before we could repurchase the same equities if we wished.
Could you suggest some appropriate 'proxy holdings' we should be aware of for the following equities?
1. The REITs HR.UN, BPY.UN......would ZRE be a good holder?
2. EXE
3. POW
4. FM
5. MTY
6. TFII
Please use my question credits as appropriate. With thanks

Q: Gordon Pape suggesting selling marginal companies in this environment and claim the loss. Which of the above if any would you consider marginal?
Thanks
Jeff

Q: Why are all the insurance companies getting slaughtered? Because of ultralow interest rates? Good buy at these prices? Think the dividends are safe?

What would be your favourite?

Q: Could you please tell me total debt, debt/ cash flow, book value, and tangible book value for this company. What was its book value, and tangible book value in 2010
Thanks
Ian

Q: Hello 5i--I'm looking at these companies for the dividend yield. A bonus would be their recovery to previous highs. What would your ranking be for the three to achieve these goals? Thanks, Ron W

Q: seem to have a lot of questions about the safety of dividends and will they be cut.
I thought I would add another one to the fire and ask you power corp. and power financial became one company now and the management said it would raise dividend 10% in second quarter. do you see this being in jeopardy now with the market tanking day after day. do you also see banks possibly not raising dividends anymore this year [Canadian] until things get better hopefully.