Investment Q&A

Q: Can I get your take on CU? How would you compare it to EMA, AQN and FTS?

Thank you

Q: Hi,
I have approx 10% weight in these in a long term RRSP following your porfolios(Only 1% WN as spin off)
I have about $!0,000 to add. What are your thoughts?
Add to a few laggards or add new?

Q: I have been contributing to my TFSA since inception and I currently have $90,000. I just put in $6000 as my 2019 contribution and I'm wondering what stocks I should look at. I'm 27 years old, have a long term time horizon, and I'm very comfortable with a lot of risk. Looking mainly for growth at this point. I currently have 30% of my account in the following (wxm, iwo, xsu, tdb3055 and RBF1035) (pretty well equal amounts). In addition I hold T, rY, BNS, JE, Enb, dol, ala, cjr, and fts all set up in Drips in roughly equal amounts. I also hold about 10% of my tfsa in ABM, EDT, loto and GQ for risky plays, all of which are down 50% except abm which is up 50%. what do you suggest adding at this point? Thanks so much!

Q: Peter; Just a comment really on the weather and FTS. My gas bill last month was $169. - this month it’s $215. And this is BC! Has to bode well for FTS.
Rod

Q: Hello,
I hold TRP 5%, FTS 4%, ENB 3%, EMA 1.2%, PPL 1.2%, & AQN 1.2% in my accounts. I plan to increase the smaller holdings to about 2% each. I like these stocks for their dividends and their international diversification. Are these 6 utilities reasonable choices as long term holdings or should I look elsewhere?
Would you please rank them.
I am way past my retirement age but do not relay on the dividend income from these stocks.

Thank you,

Werner

Q: Hello
can you comment on earnings of Fortis and Capital Power as well as outlook opinion.
Thank you
Stephane

Q: Please provide your comments on FTS' earnings. Thank you.

Q: Hello, I am looking at making some adjustments to my portfolio over the next few months as I am concerned about the possibility of the next recession perhaps coming by the end of 2019 or early 2020. I would appreciate your recommendations for some defensive stocks which would weather a recession without too big of a drop. I already hold ENB, FTS, BNS and TD which I intend to keep but am looking to replace some of my other stocks with more defensive names.
thanks for your advice.
Paula

Q: Good Morning,

I currently hold BEP, AQN and ENB in the utilities category of my portfolio with ENB weighted 50% more than BEP and AQN. I want to diversify and add a 4th to the group and would like your recommendation. CU comes to mind but I am wondering if it is still controlled by the Southern family ( Nothing personal but out of principle I am not a fan of family controlled public companies that put family members in charge rather than the best person for the job...). I am a retired investor looking for income with a dash of safety.

Thanks

Q: Given your recommendationed percentages for sector allocation could you tell me which stocks in your balanced portfolio are utility stocks and telecom stocks and if there are none in your balanced portfolio which would be a buy at this time?

Q: Of the 2 mentioned above, which do you favour at the present
Thank you

Q: Given the uncertainty in short term market direction,I have 50% of my TFSA in cash.I believe Canadian interest rates are not going to rise.I am considering the choices listed above, unless you can suggest others.I also have some cash in my US$ RRSP and am considering the Vanguard fund for this cash.US rates may climb further,but not much.Perhaps you could rate these according to risk.
Thank you.

Q: Hi, the listed shares currently make up my portfolio in relatively equal portions. I was wondering--with the $6000 TFSA amount, do any of these names stick out to top up with the full $6k or partial amounts? Alternatively I have been following Savaria SIS and considering initiating a new position? Thanks so much for your guidance.

Q: What are your three preferred Canadian Electrical Utilities to buy right now?

Q: Hi there,

I own a position in AQN and would like two of these 5 in a balanced portfolio. This would be for an extremely long term hold. Which 2 would you prefer and why please?

Thanks and Happy New Year

Q: With Bank of Canada suggesting this week that interest rates will likely not rise, but with the US Fed just suggesting likely two more rate increases, what do you think of buying Canadian Dividend Paying stocks right now? I think they are generally seen as positive when interest rates stabilize, but will Canadian dividend company stocks tend to decline in sympathy with US dividend stocks? For Canadian dividend stocks (3%+) what do you see as attractive next year - i.e. ones less affected by trade wars, lack of oil supply options, possible real estate bubbles, inter-provincial disputes, possible NAFTA turbulence!!!!!

Q: Hello, according to the company profile of TCL.A, the price-to-cash-flow ratio (P/CF) is 4.70. When one looks at the P/CF ratio of any company, above what ratio would you say that this is a good P/CF? In your opinion, what would be the top 5 utilities company right now? Thanks, Gervais

Q: Charge as many credits as you see fit...at least 4...got lots. Annually, I follow the O'Shaughnessy system and go through the tedious process of ranking over 90 stocks into deciles. I am screening for stocks that are good value, less volatile and have a good + growing dividend. For value, I use P/E, P/B, P/CF, P/S. For volatility, I use Beta. For dividends, this year I have added 5 year growth % into the process. The resultant summary number is the cumulative of the 7 metrics, with roughly 60% value, 15% volatility and 25% dividend weighting. I then marry this up with a technical screening, using charts with a 200 mda, looking for a rising vs rangebound vs declining chart.

Question 1 = your thoughts on my screening system? I thought of adding in other metrics, but I wanted to keep it relatively simple. Factors such as payout % and ROE can always be a looked at in the next phase. Should I drop any of the metrics if they are redundant?

Most of the stocks screened as expected. However, 3 stocks didn't screen well at all and I am trying to figure out why. It may be that my population of stocks is skewed to value stocks, so if any of the other 3 stocks had growth or REIT characteristics, then they might be seen as outliers.

Question 2 = CSH's fundamentals screened horribly = 10th decile. Could it be that REITs may screen out differently, due to their very nature?

Question 3 =Both PBH and WSP screened poorly = 8th decile. Could it be their fundamental metrics exhibit more growth characteristics?

Question 4 = Reading past 5iR questions on these 3 stocks leads me to believe you are still strongly in favor of all 3. Please confirm.

Thanks...Steve

Q: Good morning,
As an income investor, I have the following utility holdings that amount to about 12% of my non-registered holdings: FTS (up 10%), EMA and NPI (breaking even) and ALA (down 50%). I have no need to sell any of these and enjoy the dividends, but as a conservative senior and in a rising interest rate environment do you think it would be prudent to unload/reduce some of them or just hang on? If sell/reduce which should be the first to go?

Q: Good morning Peter, Ryan, and Team,

In an answer to Ulrike on October 2nd, in which he asked: "Which one company would you buy today? Hydro One or Fortis? Or none? And why?", you answered "Fortis has raised its dividend every year for close to 50 years, and we would have more confidence in it. H is OK, but has a lot of political interference still, with a new board as well, and a large acquisition that has yet to close."

It's your last comment that I'm wondering about. Washington state regulators have blocked the sale of Avista to Hydro One, citing "political interference". Does this setback for Hydro One affect your opinion of H going forward?

Thanks for your insight.