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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 Peter,

I am trying to understand CSU's high P/E ratio which I see as 55-60P/E from one site to another. Please help me understand:
Q1 2018 = $8.50 EPS
Q2 2018 = $7.42 EPS
Q3 2018 = $8.95 EPS
Q4 2018 = $9.54 EPS (projected)
Total for the year = approximately $34.41. Current price is $912; therefore $912/34.41 = 26.5 P/E rather than the 55-60?
Read Answer Asked by Derrick on November 27, 2018
Q: Toy is looking like another TSGI. The stock has been on a steady downward slope since July, now down around 30% give or take. On the basis of projections for 2019 the shares are trading at about 21 times projected earnings. Sales are expected to increase by about 7% in 2019, with earnings growing at around 10%. What is a reasonable multiple that the shares should be trading at? Unless there is something on the horizon that will increase growth, a 21 times earnings multiple seems too high for the expected sales and earnings growth. Something closer to 10 times would seem more appropriate. And if so, there is a lot more hurt to come by continuing to hold the shares. Is there anything that I am missing? Why do you think that the current price is justified? Why should shareholders continue to own the shares? And why this continued weakness heading into the Christmas season?
Read Answer Asked by John on November 26, 2018
Q: Hello 5i team,
Since its inception, your balanced equity portfolio has generated something like 16% compound return pa; it has beaten the other "advisors" hands down and I enjoyed the ride. Congratulations!
Of the 6 major banks, BNS is the worst performer with a 5-year return of 7% compared to TD 47%, RY 35%, BMO 33%, NA 30% and CIBC 24%; and yet BNS is perennially in your BE portfolio. Why?
Thanks,
Antoine
Read Answer Asked by Antoine on November 26, 2018
Q: please provide 3 top equities for starting a position today. Ranked from 1 - 3 not considering any other factors.
Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Jordan on November 23, 2018
Q: RRSP vs TFSA vs non-registered accounts. Sector balancing aside, what would be your top 3 picks for each type of account? Incredible site, thanks for all your work.
Read Answer Asked by Stan on November 23, 2018
Q: I had let PHO shares rise substantially, trimmed close to the high which made me feel smart, then watched them go all the way down to current levels, which makes me question how smart I am. In hindsight it was no secret of a slow down in the sector spending, even in a good market likely the shares would have dropped substantially. Regarding spending cycles, historically is there any pattern time wise?
Read Answer Asked by Charles on November 23, 2018
Q: Hi Team,

I was looking at the GSY price movements for last 20 years and during dot-com and 2008 recession as well as 2011 correction the stock dropped down by almost 40-50%. It seems because of its small size and consumer credit business the stock gets hit hard during market downturns./recessions. The stock jumped from 17 to 53 in last 2 years and has dropped by 1/3 in last 2 months. Would like to get your thoughts..

Thanks
Ninad
Read Answer Asked by Ninad on November 23, 2018
Q: I ve been looking for a way to invest in the rise in popularity of car shares like zip car or car2go.

I haven’t found any pure plays but was thinking BYD may see a benefit from this trend. I feel like these vehicles must see lots of bumps and dings during their life in the city and users caring less about them than their personal vehicle. I would assume car share companies would prefer to work with larger auto body companies like Boyd for these repairs.

I’m curious to hear your thoughts on this and if you have any other ideas on how to invest in this trend.

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on November 22, 2018
Q: Thank you again for this excellent service. I have a question about Savaria. In their most recent quarterly results, for the 9 months ended September 2018, stock-based compensation is $899K on $12.9M income. If I have done my calculation correctly, the stock-based compensation is about 7% of expenses. I do not know how to find the base salaries for the management (which would presumably further increase the management cost for the firm).
Is this not a lot excessive? Should I be concerned about the "cost" of management and how this cost could dilute shares or profits?
Thank-you
Read Answer Asked by Dale on November 21, 2018
Q: I have owned shares of GSY for a number of years. Despite what I thought were very positive quarterly results and a strong outlook, GSY shares have taken a steep drop in the last few weeks. I noticed that insiders have made 35 buys (and no sells) totalling several million dollars in the last two weeks. I would think this is very significant news especially given that the President said on the conference call said that he did not feel that the company had credit quality issues (which seems to be a concern flagged by analysts). In previous conference calls, I have always found the President to be very transparent. Am I missing something here? If management uses their own money to buy millions of dollars of the stock, is this a strong signal that the stock is undervalued?
If you agree, is there any site you can go to which identifies the recent buying by management of the company stock, and presents the information in a table format?
Also, the Globe and Mail often does an article highlighting insider buys. I have not seen the GSY purchases identified, yet, they highlight much lesser insider buys. Any idea why? Is the data on the 5i website more current than other sources?

Thank you again for this wonderful service!
Read Answer Asked by Dale on November 21, 2018