Investment Q&A

Q: My question is a general one on dividends. For example during these times companies are keeping the dividend and in some cases raising it. But most are stopping the DRIP. What is the purpose of this? Only reason I could think of is they don't want to give me stock at such cheap prices? What else am I missing?

Jimmy

Q: Why does CSH have such a high P/E ratio? Is this normal for the sector?

Q: The senior residence industry is being highly scrutinized by the public, the nurses union, the government as being understaffed, poorly paid, and inadequately trained at some long care facilities. With that in mind, costs have to increase and corporations who run them will be under pressure. I see Trudeau may impliment minimum wages for the workers at these facilities, maybe $5 per hour increase. The stock prices have already suffered and the dividends they pay may be under pressure. Would you continue to hold or sell and wait until this issue is dealt with.

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: The assisted living industry has been hit hard by the pandemic. Do you think this sector is going to face more issues and for investors, is it best to steer clear even though the baby boomer senior population in Canada is growing?
Between CSH.un and SIA, is one better than the other for 3 yrs hold and why? Or is it best to sell both names? Many thanks.

Q: I have held these for income and am down substantially. . All are in registered accounts. Are any of them in danger of bankruptcy? Are any worth holding and/or adding to at this time?
Thanks
Gary

Q: would you consider selling these and buying visa or other ones.we are longtime holder

Q: I would like to add a mix of income stocks to my portfolio (for a 5-10yr hold) which has been primarily growth oriented and comprised of a number of 5i’s BE Model Portfolio names.
a) Could you please rank the above listed stocks for dividends with preference for long term yoield of at least 4-5%, and growth back to YTD highs over the next year or two. Moderate to high risk is okay.
b) List any particular concerns you see with any of them.
c) Your suggestions for 1-2 better names in the current market to represent sectors such as utilities, financials, Telecoms, Reits, and ndustrials would be much appreciated.
Thanks for your wisdom and guidance over these unprecedented times.

Q: Do you think that dividend is safe this one of my core holds

Q: HI Gentlemen,

I, like most on this board, tend to buy stocks that you put then into your portfolios and sell the stocks when you remove them.
You also seem to instill in us the investment practice not to panic in crazy markets when there is no bid for the equities, for this too shall pass.
So, I was rather surprised in your March 17th email to us suggesting you were going to take MX and CSH.un out of the portfolios.
On march 17th MX was approx 65% lower than it was in the prior month, and the lowest its been in the past 10 years.
On March 17th CSH.UN was approximately 50% lower than it was the prior week.
My question is two fold.
Why did you sell at decade lows when there was ample warning that things were going poorly for these companies? MX was been plummeting more or less since 2018 when it was $100. What took you so long to sell and why at the multi year low?
If you waited this long and the stock had been performing so poorly why did you not revert back to your philosophy on how selling stocks in this type of market might not be the most rational idea.
MX is +30% since it was removed from the portfolio and
CSH.un is +18% approx.
I'm not using 20/20 vision here I am talking about investment philosophy on these 2 issues.

Thanks

Sheldon

Sheldon

Q: To a recent question I asked, 5i responded: "Some REITs, if they distribute a large portion of income as return of capital, can still be attractive outside of registered plans. But this also relates to our preference for growth inside a TFSA (REITs are typically slower growth)." I checked my TFSA portfolio, and some of my REITs' distributions are comprised almost entirely of ROC (Allied [AP.UN], Chartwell [CSH.UN], Dream [D.UN]), whereas others' (Choice [CHP.UN], H&R [HR.UN], Riocan [REI.UN]) are almost all otherwise taxable income. So I gather from your previous answer that the former type of REITs (Allied, Chartwell, Dream) shouldn't, generally speaking, be held within a TFSA, is that your view/advice? Also, more generally, so I better understand this issue-- what is the main business/accounting reason(s) why some companies' distributions are primarily ROC? Generally speaking, is one versus the other type of REIT (with respect to proportion of ROC within the distribution) a "better" investment, all other factors being equal (i.e., is there any general investment "rule" here)?
Ted

Q: Retired dividend-income investor. I'm sitting on 15% cash that I created by taking profits and harvesting some losses. I have mapped out how to redeploy this cash to hit my asset allocation targets, both by sector as well as by individual holding. I had originally designed the re-entry on spreading the purchases over 6 months. Given that we now have information on different countries indicating that they MIGHT be showing signs of COVID slowly recovering and that the stock market is forward looking, would you adjust the 6 months time frame to 4 months? What's your crystal ball tell you...redeploy a little faster?

Also, the above equities are those that are candidates for topping up. Which would you hit up first?

Thanks for your help...Steve

Q: Good afternoon, As a long-time Chartwell investor, of course I'm not pleased with its recent price decline. In our combined portfolio, I've allocated it in the healthcare sector. If I believe that the NWH.UN tenant base is more secure, would you be OK with a switch from Chartwell to Northwest Healthcare Properties, Do you concur with this thesis?

Thanks, and stay healthy.

Q: Hello,

I note that each of these has sold off with the market and are now yielding between 7.14% and 9.4%. Unless people are moving out of these homes in fear, I think whatever vacancies are caused by Covid-19 will be filled by the aging population. Being on sale to the extent that they are seems overdone given that they continue to function and receive their revenues. Do you agree and would you be a buyer of 1 or all of these at these levels for growth and income? Please indicate a favourite if you have one and the reason why.

Q: Hello,
Do you consider Chartwell a buy, sell, or hold at current level.
Please provide your thoughts about the company.
In the past, you liked the company because of the type of properties they owned. Has that become a liability during corona scare?
Thanks,

Q: I noticed you suggested swapping CSH.UN for ZRE. I understand the change to CSH.un but not ZRE. Yes REITs will benefit from low interest rates but won't retail REITs such as SRU.UN suffer from closed store and Apt REIT suffer from possible non payment of rents?

Q: I have a letter from Chartwell/ Gibson LTC at Steeles & Bayview.
They have residents with Corona on 3 of the 4 floors.
The patients are very vulnerable. I wonder what this means to the operations & profitability of Chartwell & the other nursing homes?

Q: Is Chartwell a buy at its current price ? Thanks

Q: Hi 5i Research Team:

I have traded Forex before and am new to stock trading. 90% of my RRSP, RESP and TFSA is in cash and I'd like to avail the current market conditions by "gradually" buying the dips.. and holding it over the long term, 5 to 10 years. I understand that no one can time the market or its bottom.

After exploring the reports and questions on your site, I have identified the enclosed 29 stocks based on following criteria:
- Current Retracements of > 75% over 52 week high & low
- Dividend Yield > 5% (in some cases, like WEED, which is a bit risky, I understand there's no dividend in the near term.. and I am simply going for the upside swing over the next 2 years... same for CRON and Air Canada)

Considering my 90% cash position and strategy to partially buy in on dips over the next few weeks, can you please advise if my stock selection is sound. In addition to my stock picks, please advise anything else that I should keep in mind.

Thanks for everything you do. Much appreciate.

Q: Would you buy a REIT today? What would be your top choice?