Hap (Robert) Sneddon FCSIiShares S&P/TSX Cap. Cons. St.XST.TOTOP PICKMay 11, 2017

XST is made up of Canadian retail grocers. Huge weight in Loblaw and Couche-Tard, making up about half of the ETF. Rest will be Metro, Weston, Empire, Saputo, Maple Leaf. Somewhat resilient. No matter what happens in an economy, people need groceries. Less volatility than ZLU.

ZLU is low volatility exposure to a broader cohort of stocks, not just consumer staples. A US play. Lower volatility, but broader economic exposure. Will tend to outperform the S&P 500 in a market correction. Really likes it.

A safe, no-brainer basket of staples. The grocers and Dollarama did well. The chart upward since March 2020.

Billy Kawasaki’s Insights - Billy’s most-liked answers from 5i Research. A good starting point for a Canadian sector exposure. The majority of its holdings is ATD, L, MRU and WN. If you want to forgo the ETF fee, it could be an alternative to buy these stocks. However, a good ETF for the sector. Unlock Premium - Try 5i Free

Consumer staples stocks in the TSX. Resilient, safe names such as Metro, Loblaw, and ATD.B. Prefers the US names like XLT. It has a bigger playing field with PG, Coca-Cola, etc.

Consumer Staples has done very, very well in Canada. A lot of the names in this have done very well, because a lot of investors have moved into the safer part of the index. This is one of the most defensive areas that you want to look at. However, a lot of the names are starting to get expensive in terms of their valuations. Be careful about how extended some of these valuations are. If interest rates start to move higher, you might want to pair back your holdings in this.

The Canadian consumer staple index and has only a handful of names. People have gravitated towards this because they see stable revenues and stable cash flows. For that stability, they have afforded them really big multiples. For whatever period your holding is, that multiple must not shrink. Even if their earnings goes up, if the multiple shrinks fast enough, the stocks will come down.

Consumer staples sector in Toronto has done extremely well. When you go into May-October, you tend to see consumer staples, healthcare and utilities outperform. They tend to have a higher dividend. However, some valuations tend to be a bit higher.

VEE-T Vs. XST-T. He is a big fan of VEE-T. XST-T is a good, safe sort of thing to have. It is pretty much recession proof. You won’t get much lift, nor much drop.

Prefers the consumer discretionary side of the equation. Staples is a little bit more defensive with less torque. The big winning trade has been discretionary for the last 9 years. This will still be a good play. The fact that it is global in nature is also appealing. He would be happy to own this.