Investment Q&A

Q: Goodmorning 5i,
Best of the season to you all. And I concur with previous writers who have lauded your advice. I have profited as a result of your expertise and generosity in sharing it, as well. My question has to do with options. I believe that you sell call options. In his book, "Money for Nothing", I believe Derek Foster said that he only sells puts, as he doesn't want to have the stocks he bought at low prices, because of put options, called away. I have been selling call options and note that they are not often called away. And sometimes when they are, I do a simple calculation to see whether I would be better to buy them back, if I think they are going to continue rising. I have worried from time to time, though, about being called away. Especially when there are high capital gains in a non registered account. I suspect you also have higher capital gains possible on many of the stocks you sell call options on, as well. I was wondering what your take is on this question.=?

Q: Bitcoin
I am just exploring investing in Bitcoin and moving up the learning curve regarding Bitcoin Wallets, Companies, ETF's etc. This is for a small "1/2%" position to aid my overall understanding and determine if this is something of interest. My initial thoughts after doing some reading that this is a risky "commodity" to enter into.
1: Currently, I only have a rudimentary feel for potential gains and / or pitfalls. I have heard promoters say it could potentially be $300,000+ in a few years, perhaps $50,000 within a year. Do you have any comments you could offer on Risk/Reward aspects?
2: What is the best way to invest in Bitcoin? WealthSimple has trading in Bitcoin on their App (Similar to PayPal I assume, which we cannot access her in Canada.), there are several "Bitcoin Wallets" out there, ETF's as well. I hear fees to make transactions are not always transparent. WealthSimple trades for Bitcoin are funded by the spread quoted.
The bottom line is, for very small speculative positions, I am unsure if Bitcoin should be a consideration or if I should stick to small growth stocks? What advice would you offer me?

Thanks

Q: This is a comment and not a question, I have been very happy with the service since I joined, your insights and comments have been invaluable. I highly recommend the service to my friends and family when we are discussing the stock market. .
I enjoy reading the questions on all companies regardless of the country. I have gleamed knowledge on other markets and would be very disappointed if you were to separate the question databases by countries.
If a question is on a company or country that I do not have or want in my portfolio I will just scan and go on to the next question, I think separate databases are not needed.

thanks again for the valuable knowledge you pass on .

Q: With regards to Air Canada's new $850 millions public offering, is there a financial or strategic difference between the "overnight marketed offering" and a regular offering / bought deal.

Q: Like to echo Chris's comment "thank you both for the incredible service you have provided over the years"...and saying investment like terms, the annual subscription fee for 5iR is undervalued relative to the investment returns generated by 5I R for happy subscribers like me. 5IR is phenomenal!!!......Tom
P.S. Santa certainly won't be leaving a lump of coal in 5iR's stocking.....hahahaha

Q: Peter and Ryan. First off I want to thank you both for the incredible service you have provided over the years. You have been instrumental in the success of a lot of my investments. 5 years from retiring and my portfolio looks awesome. Just wanted to provide some feedback and where you see5I going forward. When I first joined many years ago the question forum was very Canadian focused. It allowed us to hear about some amazing small mid cap Canadian companies. More recently (as I suspect membership has grown) many of the questions are around US companies. As much as I enjoyed hearing about the odd interesting US stock it makes for a very busy and unfocused question forum. Wondering if you would consider.
1. Two separate question forums. One for CDN and one for US
2. Creat a US based model portfolios. Income, balanced and growth

I for one would be happy to pay for a separate US based 5I membership fee. Im not sure if this will conflict with your new position Hedge Fund management role. Please do not take this as criticism, only feedback as I greatly value your opinions

Many thanks. Chris

Q: Hi 5i,
I had seen a report you produce earlier this year listing the companies that cut their dividends. I thought you were going to update it regularly. I am having difficulty locating it in the website. Would you please provide the path to it. Thanks

Q: Yesterday I noticed my book value of BEPC had dropped by about 30%. This morning my online self directed platform still hadn’t adjusted my shares owned to reflect a 3 for 2 split. How long should it take for my brokerage firm to show the correct number of shares owned and why would a company do a 3 for 2 split in the first place?

Q: I was wondering if you have any recommendations for some Jan'21 bounce back stocks after late 2020 tax loss selling?

Q: What is your opinion regarding a general cash percentage allocation in a portfolio? If you had some would you suggest an alternative vehicle for a cash holding like an EFT or a mutual fund to hold a cash instead of banks which offer a dismal rates for straight cash holdings.
Thank you for your service. It has been always very valuable for me.

Q: When Peter last appeared on BNN Market call, I’m sure he mentioned that in fact stocks that are more expensive to buy outperform stocks that are cheaper. Could I get a clarification and if true, an explanation for that statement. I know some folks may stay away from an Amazon or Shopify simply because the price for one share seems so high. Thanks

Q: I became a 5i subscriber approximately four years ago and one of the first companies I bought was SHOP at $69. I sold my position last week for a $28,000 gain. At the time I never heard of Shopify, thanks for the service you provide. Needless to say I will be a subscriber for life.

Q: I usually see headlines such as these: J.P. Morgan Poaches $1.2 Billion Alex. Brown Advisor Team

I understand the advisors are moving over but does it mean their customers whose money they are investing/managing automatically move too or is the headline meant to show how much assets the team was managing? I never really understand these poaches but I see a lot of them happening in the US.

Thanks

Q: Hi gang,

With all the talk about ESG I was wondering if it could be added to your stock info page? I realize it may not factor high in your evaluation of a company, but a lot of fund managers are referencing in their answers to questions about stocks.

For example today's guest on Market Call used it in her response to a Q on ATD, stating that because they sell cigarettes in their convenience store, she would not invest in the company.

Thx again for all your great work!

Q: These Canadian banks and probably others seem to be strong proponents of ESG principles in running their companies. It seems clear that at least some aspects of ESG impacts profit negatively and therefor share price. A recent Financial Post column suggests the growth of this approach will erode the performance of companies and ultimately the Canadian economy. At the same time some investors see it as essential in choosing investments. Has 5i written about this trend and what weight do you place on it in making investment recommendations? Your opinion would be very helpful.

Q: We are 100% fully of the view that a great company is going to be a good investment, long term, despite whatever the market does.
Re your response above to Antonio.

Thank you, I have over the few years of reading your answers taken this idea to heart and am now much more comfortable with market or company moves.. I sleep well at night and have avoided some emotional market mistakes as a result.
So thank you again and good holiday to everyone.
Peter

Q: The takeover date is fast approaching and based on the current stock price, it doesn't look like the market is anticipating a higher offer in spite of minority shareholder opposition. Question -- Shares of GC are being held in a registered Employee Share Plan. In addition to receiving the proxy to vote for/against the deal, there is also a form included with the proxy to tender shares at the $39 price that is date sensitive. If shares are tended at the $39 price and then a higher price is later offered, will the shareholder that tendered the shares at $39 still receive the higher offer? The employee would prefer to vote against the $39 in anticipation of a higher offer but would not want to be in the position of being stuck with the shares by not tendering them on the form sent with the proxy. Than you.

Q: Your thoughts on:
1. Stock Rover versus any other of your suggestions for stock & portfolio tracking sites/businesses (that include tracking Canadian stocks (e.g. TSE) stocks)?
2. How secure is it to have these companies (e.g. stock rover) track our individual portfolios? They are gathering such personal financial information on us that i imagine other third parties would love to get their hands on- How much risk of our data ($ personal holdings/worth) being shared, or not so much?

Q: Hello 5i Team
I am calculating 3, 5, 10 and 20 year compound annual growth (CAG) rates for dividends for select companies.
The questions I have are:
1 – Are CAG rates calculated for the company fiscal years (i.e. the Canadian Banks fiscal year ends October 31) or the calendar year (December 31)?
2 – Are CAG rates calculated for the dividend declaration date, record date or payment date? For some companies the payment date is after their fiscal year ends (i.e. CNQ with a year end of December 31 and the fourth quarter payment date is January 01 of the following year).
3 – Do you know what Bloomberg/Eikon/TSX use in their calculations?
Thanks

Q: Hi 5i,

Do you know where you can find the "downside beta" and "upside beta" for TSX listed stocks?

Thanks
John