Stockchase Opinions

Bruce Campbell (1)iShares S&P/TSX Capped Financials Index ETFXFN.TOCOMMENTMay 02, 2014

Canadian financials have actually underperformed year to date. It depends on what energy is going to do. This won’t be a wildly underperformer or outperformer. If the market were to pull way, way back, he thinks the banks will outperform by going down less. He prefers cherry picking insurers and banks and hopefully outperform the ETF by a couple of percents if you get them right.

$30.05

Stock price when the opinion was issued

$87.14

As of Jun 03, 2026. Market Open.

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COMMENT
Exposure to major banks and insurance companies. Canadian banks more stable. Comment - governments are concerned about income and asset inequality so expect large, very profitable companies to get approached to pay their fair share.
BUY
Allan Tong’s Discover Picks In 2021, XFN climbed 31%, which actually outperformed Royal by 3%, but lagged TD by 3%. BAM.A, though, soared 45%. That said, XFN's performance gets a passing grade. Meanwhile, average daily volumes run at 227,000, which is enough to avoid volatility. XFN is currenly trading near its $51.26 52-week high. As rates rise, so will XFN. Read Best Financial Stocks in 2022 for our full analysis.
BUY
Gotta likes the financials. Not expensive relative to the market right now. As interest rates rise, and the steeper yield curve would be a plus for them. Banks and value outperforms large cap tech in a rising rate environment. It looks like this is coming. Some of the good news is probably priced in.
DON'T BUY

Don’t use it. It is broad financials. Insurance companies will be impaired for a number of years. If you want banks go with ZEB-T, but don’t buy it here.

WATCH
If it falls below $4.25 then something's going on. This sell-off is overreacting. Watch this one for sure.
COMMENT

This has the banks, insurance companies and mutual funds. He would be more inclined to go with BMO Covered Call Canadian Banks (ZWB-T), but if you want to be a little more diversified, there is certainly nothing wrong with this one.

DON'T BUY

His concern is with the sector. Financial services make up a ridiculous amount of the TSX. The product is excellent and does what it is supposed to do, but he would not buy it because financials make up so much of the index.

COMMENT

This has done very well, and he would have no problem with holding this. He doesn’t buy this because he already has exposure to banks through covered calls, which he prefers.

COMMENT

An ETF for a TFSA for a long-term hold? If you were going to do financials, he would probably look at this one. You have all the banks and insurance companies in this one.

WATCH

Period of seasonal strength for the Canadian financial service sector is from the 3rd week in January right through until the 3rd week in April. A lot of this has to do with how the financial services are reporting their results. Technicals on the sector right now are kind of mixed. Has basically been going sideways for almost 3 months now. On the other hand, if you get a break above the $30 level, you could see a move up until the 3rd week of April.

BUY

If you want one stop shopping for financials, this ETF is okay. You will do as well as the banks and other financial institutions in the index.

COMMENT

Likes the financial sector. This may have some of the lifecos in it as well as some of the mutual funds, so he would prefer a straight play on the banks. On the other hand, insurance companies have come back quite a long ways from where they were getting clobbered. Prefers bank ETFs such as BMO Equal Weight Bank (ZEB-T) or BMO Covered Call Cdn Banks (ZWB-T).

COMMENT

This one is fairly deep. It has banks but also has other financial assets. If the rates are starting to rise a little bit, it is initially good for the banks because they make more money on the spreads. If you own, you might be better to move away from this and into equal weight banks, such as BMO Equal Weight Bank (ZEB-T). If rates start rising over the next 6-9 months, the banks will benefit.

BUY

Big believer in the banks. He is buying banks stocks for sure.