Investment Q&A

Q: Hi Peter: When I sit back and take a look at the big picture and review how my portfolio performed during COVID-19 (so far), I try to see what lessons I can learn, then turn to how to apply those lessons to make my portfolio stronger.

I am a retired, dividend-income investor. I am a huge believer in asset allocation and have designed a portfolio, in my opinion, to be reasonably well diversified, although heavy to Canada. It WAS roughly 70% equities (including 32% foreign content) and 30% fixed income (roughly 15% insured annuities, 15% Fisgard Capital...both averaging in the 5-6% pre-tax range and minor cash). My equities are mostly blue chip, dividend payers, as you can see above. The 3 mutual funds are a very minor part of my portfolio, especially Eric's Energy Fund (<2%). I also receive a company pension and CPP-OAS which, when included, drops my equities to roughly 32%.

I use various metrics to monitor my portfolio, such as P/E, P/BV, P/CF, P/S, Beta, ROE, Div growth, Payout%, technical indicators like 200 mda. I am normally a buy-and-hold investor who trims/adds around a core position.

Periodically I measure how "at risk" my portfolio is relative to the overall market. I do this by prorating my portfolio using Beta. Based on equities only, I averaged 0.68 and for my entire portfolio I averaged 0.44. So, one would think that if the overall market (TSX) was to drop 30%, then I would have thought my portfolio would drop 44% to 68% of that, being in the range of 13% (overall) to 20% (equities only).

In actual fact, my entire portfolio dropped 27% from peak to trough vs the expected 13%...over double! I understand that EVERYTHING was sold off...almost no exceptions. So what do we learn from this and what changes should we consider? Do we accept that "sxxt happens" once in a while...you can't predict every event, accept it and move on? Should we consider increasing the cash component as a buffer? Or...is there something else to be learned here?

Thanks for you help...much appreciated...Steve

Q: I wish to buy a defensive utility in a non-reg acct that will qualify for DTC (not sure if ETFs above qualify for DTC). I am aware of different div yields. Is there any significant difference in risks that stand out to you? Plse rank in your order of pref for purchase (already own EMA but would purchase more).

Q: What would be your favourite 5 Canadian and 5 us stocks for stagflation and best etf as well.Your favourite food commodity etf as well .thanks

Q: Morning, Given a choice between these two, which one would you purchase? Alternatives? Long term holds in a diversified rrsp. Thanks

Q: If I am enrolled in a drip, is the stock purchased at a discounted rate or the market price of a stock. I own the listed companies; are any of those are eligible for a discounted drip purchase price? or do you need to buy them directly from the company to qualify for the discount.

Q: Hi,

Do you agree that many REITS and utility companies are historically way overvalued considering their lack of growth?
If I was to invest in REITS and utility companies for the next few years, could u pick 2 REITS you like for US and 2 for CDN exposure?
Could you also pick two utility companies you like for US and 2 for CDN exposure?

Q: I am a buy and hold investor with 5 to 10 years of time horizon.
Have the following 7 stocks in Canadian Utilities in the order of their weights in our portfolio. Utilities makeup roughly 8.5% of the total portfolio including cash positions and like their dividend. FTS, TRP,EMA, AQN, ENB, BEP-UN, BIP-UN. I like to reduce exposure to utilities and also like to reduce number of different shares. Two questions:
1. Is 8.5% a reasonable weight considering the current situation?
2. Which one of these I should sell to reduce utilities weight and to reduce the number of shares in utilities?

Q: Good afternoon.

I’m interested in which you prefer (1 and 2) in each category below.

ATD.B, PBH, MRU, L

SLF, TD, BAM.A, TRI

WSP, SIS, CAE

CSU, SHOP, ENGH, KXS

BEP.UN, FTS, AQN

Thank you.

Q: Hi, if I was going to buy one or two utility companies and one or two REITs for reasonable income, growth and safety, which ones would you recommend? Thanks.

Q: What would you replace MX with or would you stay away from this sector for now? What would you replace AD with?
Thanks for your service?

Q: I have a very small position in the above 3 utility companies and want to add more. Can you please rank the companies for estimated best total return over the next 3 years?
Thank you.

Q: What is your view of this stock? Is it a buy at these prices?

Q: I'm holding the following since I thought they would be considered safe stocks, however they are going down with all the rest.

1) I made the big mistake that gold miners would actually do well in the current situation, however I know see my mistake that I should have purchased gold directly. Would you, given the situation today, sell the miners and buy gold directly - what has the past crises shown about gold versus gold miners?
2) Do you think the utilities above will stabalize near current levels, or do you see that there will be a reset in all P/E and P/C levels down to lower levels?

Q: Retired, conservative dividend-income investor with a "buy-and-hold & trim-add around a core position" strategy. At times like these, I take a fresh look at my holdings and ask two key questions. #1 = are there any of my equity holdings that have alarm bells going off? #2 = how safe are the dividends (knowing that no dividend is 100% secure)? The portfolio capital may rise or fall, but it is the continuation of the dividend that is more important.

For asset allocation purposes related to individual stocks (as opposed to sector allocations), I use the following:
5% targets = AQN, BCE, BNS, PBH, RY, TRP, WSP
4% targets = AD, AW, CSH, NWC
2% targets = LNF, MG, NTR
ETF targets = roughly 3-7%

Q#1 = are there any of these equities that you hear alarm bells?
Q#2 = are there any of these equities where you foresee dividend risk?
Q#3 = any thoughts on how I have my asset allocations set up (knowing it is a very personal decision?

Take a bunch of credits. Thanks for your help...Steve

Q: Could you suggest a few Canadian names that are dividend growers in the utility space that are most reasonably priced, for a long term hold?

Thank you!

Q: Could you comment on Fortis' 2019 results?

Q: Can you please suggest a few names in the utility sector that are non-energy to complement ENB and FTS on the energy transportation and generation side. Thanks.

Q: Good Morning 5i, I am a long term holder of FTS and I know you like the stock. My intention is to hold forever and I have enjoyed the 25% increase in share price in the past year. However it now yields 3.3%.
My assumption is most holders buy this stock (and utilities in general) for yield, so at 3.3% where would the new buyers come from?
Also, are you able to run the historical yield? Is 3.3% the lowest yield ever for this stock and how does it currently compare to its historical P/E and other metrics.
Thanks
Rob

Q: Already own the above 2 utilities--would like to get 2 more.
What would you suggest?

Thanks

Q: Ignoring taxes, cash requirements, and sector allocation, on a straight-up basis, for a minimum of a one year hold, which of these companies would it be prudent to currently sell, buy, or hold? Thank You.