Investment Q&A

Q: Hi, is there any sign we small investor can detect ahead of companies doing finance instead of waking up next day price dropping ? thanks for your great works.

Q: After the Sino Forest debacle we were told that the books were not easily checked because it was a foreign company. Is that a fact?
Also Mad Money Cramer at one point said never buy a Chinese company, are the requirements for a foreign company as far as reporting and being audited different then for a US company or a Canadian company?

thanks for the great service, Jean

Q: Hello Team
What's your thoughts or best guesswork, IF "money" flow out from China Corp sector listed in U.S markets, which market or sectors would be benefit from it? The H.K market dropped 5% yesterday, moving day is coming ?
THANKS for the amazing services and valuable lessons we learned from 5i our family portfolio value recovered from March lows, it turned all time high a few days ago. takeaways we learned from 5i : Tech is the lead, Non Hedged, BIG picture
HXQ: 80% the rest of 20% equally mixed with FAASGM (FB, APPLE, AMAZON, SOXX, GOOGLE, MSFT. )

Q: Hi Guys
I also have a subscription to Simply Wall Street. I find their APP excellent, and like their analysis of companies.
Can you give me your opinion of what you think generally of their information, and specifically about their calculation of Fair Value.
Thanks !

Q: My outlook on the market is that there is a lot more downside risk than upside potential. I am thinking to use bull and bear ETF's to reduce market risk in a pair trade of sorts. For example, go long NASDAQ (QQQ) and short S&P (SH). The other one I'm thinking about is long investment grade (LQD) and short high yield (SJB). What do you think of the strategy generally? Secondly, what is your opinion on my choices?

Q: Good Afternoon,
I recall that you released a list of Canadian domiciled companies that pay dividends in USD. CSU comes to mind, where can I find this list? Not sure whether you did a blog & discussion on this subject matter or was it simply a list, not sure.
thanks

Q: Hi 5i Team,
If stock Ex-Div date is tomorrow and I buy stock today will 2 days Settlement date prevent me from getting dividend pay for this month?
Thanks in advance for your clarification

Q: When calculating a company's dividend payout ratio, I have seen some analysts use earnings while others use free cash flow. What is the difference between the two metrics, and which one gives a better picture of a company's ability to fund its dividend.

Q: I am going to buy some bitcoin. Could you guide me please
Many thanks. Btw 1%

Q: Shandong Gold, a Chinese Gold company, recently bought TMAC Resources which has an interest in Hope Bay project. This may be a small deal but does the 5I Team know if the Canadian Government has any measures currently in place to protect our vulnerable Canadian corporations in weak sectors like energy from foreign predators.
Thank You
Clarence

Q: what companies do you think will grow and prosper after the current covid crisis
Thanks
Peter

Q: Re the question the other day about a service similar to 5i but for the USA... would Keystone Financial fit the bill? Not sure if they are conflict-free though, and a bit pricey.

Q: Every so often I read an article which mentions “bail-in”. I would like you to explain this process and how it would affect an investor from being invested in stocks, banks as well as other companies, to holding cash. I currently have a healthy cash balance and am waiting for the markets to stabilize before I make more investments. Thank you.

Q: Dear 5i
This is probably a silly question but here goes . When the US indexes all rise as they are today and the TSX is closed , does that mean all the ETFs and CD stocks I hold on the TSX ( which include US stocks in some of the ETFs) miss out on all the gains , or does it take until the next trading day on the TSX to actually see those gains?
Thanks
Bill C

Q: “Management teams prioritized liquidity and balance sheet strength,” Goldman said in a report to clients published earlier this week. “Heightened uncertainty prompted companies to reduce capital expenditures, buybacks, and dividends.”

Given this statement what do you consider the main focus areas for analyzing a company? PE? Book value? Free cash flow? Payout ratio? Debt/Equity? Revenue changes?

Thanks.

Q: No Bid
5i made reference in March to companies like FSZ going no bid. Can you please explain further what this means. I am assuming no investors were bidding on the stock and short sellers would bid\ask the price down on smaller companies like FSZ. Thx

Q: I am trying to understand the value of diversification in our investments, particularly, for a buy-and-hold investor. I have the impression (correct me if I am wrong) that 5i regards ownership of one or more equities in each of the eleven TSX sectors as diversification (along with a portion of fixed income). To that end, I have been seeking (unsuccessfully) data that shows the progress of each of these sectors over time. I would like to know, for example, whether in the long term, one successful sector can compensate for another failing sector? As a rough proxy, in the absence of such data, I have examined the i-Shares sector etfs over the past twenty years and come to the conclusion that owning all sectors at all times may not be the best strategy. Over that period of time, one might have been better off to use only three sectors, namely, consumer staples, healthcare and information technology than to invest in all of the sectors. I would appreciate your view of what diversification means and what data you use to support that view. Thank you.

Q: Good morning, Peter/Ryan!
I am interested in finding more detailed info about European and emerging market dividend paying stocks, essentially of the "blue chip" variety. Do you know of any specific resources that provides coverage in that area? As well, would you by chance have any recommendations of specific stocks and/or ETFs along those lines … maybe 4 or 5?
Thanks a lot!
Paul

Q: For an individual bond that I hold to maturity, I would consider the yield to maturity as being more relevant than the current yield. But when it comes to a bond etf what is the relevant metric? Possibly the average current yield? As presumably the underlying bonds are not held to maturity as they would be bought and sold to keep the etf's duration in line with its target.

Q: In your recent presentation, you screened for "shareholder yield". I have been unable to find this data in the usual places (Yahoo, Google, my RBC and BMO sites, TMX). Can you tell me if you know any free sites that would provide this for Canadian stocks?