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iSHARES SP TSX COMP HIGH DIV INDEX ETFXEI.TOBUYFeb 25, 2021Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 19, 2026. Market Open.
Likes it for dividends. Lots of large-cap banks and pipelines. Defensive, fairly conservative. Names like TD, CNQ, RY, SU, ENB. Very good dividend yield of 5.1%. Banks are cheap right now, so potential for a pretty good move up. Once interest rates fall, the telcos in this particular ETF will perform well.
XEI pays a 4.89% dividend yield, trades at an 11x PE and a 0.91 beta. Volumes average 73,300 so daily trading can be a little choppy, but a dealbreaker. XEI charges only a 0.22% MER. If you’re skittish the banks and are an ESG investor, avoid XEI. All others, give this a look. Read Canadian dividend payers for our full analysis.
Covered calls in ZWC give you a boost in the distribution. If market continues to go higher, you're better off owning the underlying securities. Consider XEI instead, no covered call. Owns the securities outright, and so you won't get as high a dividend, but you might get more performance. In last 6 months, XEI returned17-18%, whereas ZWC returned 10.68%.