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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: Hi 5iResearch Team,

Over the past 12 months, IPL is down by about 10% while PPL was up slightly (2%). Currently, IPL has a PE ratio of 17.8X and a P/cash flow of 12.4X while PPL's ratios are 35x (PE) and 21X (cash flow).

Would you please comment on why IPL is lagging behind PPL over the last 12 months and based on the above ratios, wouldn't IPL be a better buy than PPL?

Cheers,
Harry
Read Answer Asked by Harry on July 20, 2017
Q: I bought FHH as downside protection for my portfolio. Now it appears the downside hedge has been removed. Is my assessment correct? If so can you recommend a better allocation if I sell FFH?
Read Answer Asked by Greg on July 19, 2017
Q: Hi 5i: Early this year I recommended AW.un for my wife's account. It went up nicely but has since dropped significantly. Her investment horizon is medium to long term so holding it is not a problem unless the fundamentals have gone bad. I realize same store growth has not been good recently, which is not a surprise. Is there anything else going on that would make it advisable to cut losses now?
Read Answer Asked by Roland on July 19, 2017
Q: Hi guys,

Can I get your thoughts on Artis REIT? I've been watching them for some time now. They have managed the Alberta downturn relatively well. Do you know, based on forecasts, when their cash flows are expected to grow again? Do you like the direction the company is taking (I seem to recall they are looking at getting out of US retail)?

As for Medical Facilities Corp, is the price drop all about the change of leadership? I own some but am not sure if I should be buying a bit more at these levels. The yield is very enticing.

Thanks,
Aaron
Read Answer Asked by Aaron on July 19, 2017
Q: With respect to the new offering, TD Waterhouse identifies the selling shareholder as "Her Majesty the Queen in right of Alberta by its agent Alberta Investment Management Corporation" which will no longer own any shares after closing. Does this make any sense? Do you see this as positive, negative or indifferent, and what percentage does Transalta still own? I have about a 3% position (held for a long time) and might consider adding.
Thank-you
Read Answer Asked by grant on July 19, 2017
Q: What do you think of the Phillips Hager & North High Yield Bond fund? I understand the lead manager is Hanif Mamdani. The fund seems to have half its assets in Canadian and half in American high-yield bonds. The MER is 0.87% which doesn't seem too bad for this kind of fund. The chart they post on the web looks outstanding (http://funds.rbcgam.com/pdf/fund-pages/monthly/rbf1280_e.pdf). How risky is this fund going forward?
Read Answer Asked by Philip on July 19, 2017
Q: I have IPL 2.3% and PPL 3.9% in a taxable account. Held them for years and I am about breakeven not counting the dividend. I am thinking of selling IPL and buying ENB. Would this be good idea for the long term?
Read Answer Asked by Robert on July 19, 2017
Q: Sold aw.un been a good run in an income RIF looking to replace it with Npi or Cpx or a similar utility . I am well diversified and switch does not alter weighting.

Would appreciate your opinion on this matter.

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by James on July 19, 2017
Q: Hi 5i,
Just a comment. For anyone looking at historical returns to evaluate the future prospects for a balanced (equity + fixed income) portfolio, it is extremely important to consider that the next 30 years of fixed income returns are virtually guaranteed to be significantly different than the past 30 to 40 years. Bond yields (interest returns) were in a generally declining trend, originally from nosebleed levels, for about 35 years from approximately 1980, during which even government bond yields dropped from double digit peaks to the negligible rates available over the past couple of years. The portfolios of investors who held bonds of significant duration early in that period reaped high interest rate bond returns while they watched the paper value of their bonds increase with each downward tick in interest rates. The fixed income component was potentially a tremendous contributor to very good portfolio returns over much of that extended period of declining interest rates.
Looking out over the next 30 years, the prospect is vastly different. Bonds don’t have anything remotely approaching the same kind of return potential. Current interest rate returns are still very low as rates are recently just beginning to move off what may later be viewed as ‘the bottom.’ The prospect for people who hold bonds of any significant duration while rates rise is that their holdings become less valuable. Low interest instruments may need to be held to maturity in order to avoid a loss of principal. In the meantime, those low interest bond returns will be a drag on any better portfolio returns that may be generated by equity holdings. If you have 50% of your portfolio in bonds that pay 2%, and you hope for an 8% overall portfolio return, you have to generate a return of 14% from your equities. Maybe bond yields will return to levels where they are not so detrimental to significant portfolio returns over the next 5 to 10 years but maybe they won’t. If they do, then holding bonds while the rates are rising can be painful. If they don’t, then they may go through an extended period where the chief value in bonds is the secure return of capital at maturity but the return prospects until maturity are relatively dismal.
The fact that someone buying a 10-year Canada Bond in 1982 got a 16% annual rate of return on it is not an indication of what anyone putting together a bond portfolio or balanced portfolio today can expect it to realize. It is completely irrelevant.
To assess the return prospects of a balanced portfolio today, you need to consider the relevant details and prospects for today's bonds, not the irrelevant details and portfolio contributions of bonds that have long since expired.

(Please print only if you think doing so may be helpful.)
Read Answer Asked by Lance on July 19, 2017
Q: Given the recent questions concerning FIH my interest in India has been piqued.

My question might be outside your scope .... but I just received what appears to be an email promotion from Deutche Bank India. The offering is for a FD (fixed deposit) GIC for 5 years with a graduated interest rate starting at 6.9% for years 1 and 2 and moving up from there to 8%. Too good to be true? Obviously the interest rates are appealing.

I could try to copy and paste the ad if you are unable to find it.

Thanks for your help.

A dividend seeking senior!
Read Answer Asked by Donald on July 19, 2017
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