Investment Q&A

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan, and Team,

Motive Financial, a division of Canadian Western Bank, is currently paying 2.8% on their high-interest savings account. In this lower interest environment, I'm wondering how the smaller operators can 'afford' this. Your insight is always appreciated.

Q: Regarding dividends payment in US. You are right as every broker has its rules. For webbroker at TD you have to open a US account and transfer securities to the US to be able to keep dividends from being converted. For BMO and Questrade the account holds both US and Cdn securities and the dividends are paid in the currency it is declared and not converted unless you request the conversion.

Q: Something that would be of enormous help to members currently buying stocks on dip (as opposed to ETF(s)) is a write-up that identifies companies (other than energy companies) that have balance sheets in a state where much lower sales for over a year could mean bankrupcies or share dilutions. I'm looking at forestry stocks, for example, and question what will happen if their sales go down 50%. Will they be able to pay their debts if this goes on 12-18 months? Even A&W, which appears on the surface to be a safe and boring income stock. What if sales go down 50% for a year, could franchise be under enough pressure to be forced to walk away? Buying a franchise is very expensive, afterall. I realize this could take time to write something like this, but no-one in the news is talking about the fact that some companies that need a minimum of sales before running in trouble with debt. Would appreciate your thoughts if you think this thesis is without merit. Thank you team!

Q: On the question Mar. 5 by James about Canadian companies and US dividends, I called my broker and discussed my dividends remaining in US currency, he said that I would have to transfer the Canadian stocks to my US side of the account and then the dividends would be paid in US money and then if I wanted to sell the stock I could sell it in US money or they would move it back to the Canadian side. With the Norbert Gambit situation, I thought you could only transfer Canadian stocks that were also listed on the US side. The stock I transferred AQN (Algonquin Power) I didn't think was listed on the US side too. I have other stocks in the same situation but I don't think a lot of them are dual listed. Should I go ahead and transfer the other ones over or I am not getting the right information from the broker? Thanks Dennis

Q: An exchange question: is it common for buy or sell orders that are not multiples of 100 to be bypassed?

I recently had a purchase order for 150 shares say at $10.01. 100 shares will filled at $10.01, the stock then dropped to $10.00, but my order was not filled. I.E. some other order was filled for $10.00. Annoying! RBC said this was a function of the exchanges.

Is there a logical explanation?

Thanks.

Q: Are options always exercised when in the money?

i.e. I hold calls that expire in the money. Will my broker exercise them and put shares in my account? If I have no cash will they buy and sell the shares for me?

Say there are five thousand $60 call contracts in existence. Stock hits $60 at 4PM Friday. Will all 500,000 shares be called away from the writers? I have had this scenario happen to me and my shares were called away.

Thanks

Q: Nazim asked a question today that has been on my mind, "why hold stocks?" To follow up on your answer in which you opined that much of the downside may already have factored into prices, how can that be? The market is only down to levels it was at in the fall/summer. I am a long term investor but I moved to cash last week because of the risks. In weighing the potential downside risks (which could be huge) vs short term upside, why stay in the market? I just don't see how the effects of this virus will not be a lot worse than what has already been accounted for in the market. People are not going out, travelling, etc. and this must have a huge effect on the market going forward. Is this not a recipe for a recession? In which case, why not get out of the kitchen?

Q: Governor B.O.C said things will/can become much worst due to virus if I understand correct market will not do better in immediate future if so why hold stocks?

Q: Hi,
I read an article on how a hedge fund made money during the coronavirus sell off. (https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-hedge-a-coronavirus-11583321400). Can you give a small primer on how this is done..or typical hedging strategies. Thanks. Shyam

Q: Gey Guys,

I basically follow your balance portfolio and the stocks that I hold are between 2% to 6 %. Does it make sense in these unsure days to lower everything down to 3% and hold more cash?
Thanks
Jim

Q: Hi,
In this down market and in your professional experience, how do you recommend legging into the market? Lets say you have $100k in cash to invest, would you invest that in equal % parts over the next X months? If you think mild to severe recessions last between 9 months-2 years, best to leg in in equal % parts over that time? Or what do you think about investing more as the markets drop more? So lets say market drops 10%, invest 10%, market drops down another 10%, invest 20%? Thoughts? Investment horizon is 10 yrs+.

Thanks!

Q: I recall that during the crash of 2008 some pundits recommended that a good entry point was when the price of a blue-chip stock fell to where it yielded a 4% dividend. I’m assuming this meant that the yield was better than potential interest that could be earned on bond prices during a flight to “safety”. If I’m somewhere near accurate with this statement and given the low interest rate environment we are in, what, in your opinion should today’s investor be looking for in terms of a yield target for dividend-paying Blue-chips, assuming the market is going to continue to decline? Thanks

Q: I have never asked a single private question and how come some of the answers I received are designated as "private question" (like the one I just asked about AD today) and never appeared on the "Questions" tab.

Can you check and see if there is some problem with my link or the program. Thanks.

Q: I'm looking for ways to hedge exposure to the perpetual preferred market?
I own a large portfolio of Canadian bank, insurance and utility perpetual prefs. All of which I have profits on. This weeks carnage bled into the pref market. I don't try selling because the spread between the bid and the ask is too wide. Not to mention triggering capitoI gains tax.
I was able to place shorts on CPD, ZPR and HPR the day they went ex dividend and that has worked somewhat but to little to late. I don't like using shorts simply because short gains are considered income to the CRA. Plus the duration of the short trade is small as to not payout someone elses dividend!!
There must be a better way to solve this issue? I'm unable to find an ETF that is the polar opposite of CPD. I'm open to all suggestions....options, inverse ETF suggestions, TLT maybe??
Help...

Q: Hi 5i team,
Found this SP500 chart interesting to share "the reasons for selling " but the nice thing with the chart " You see why you don't have to sell"
Regards,
https://mobile.twitter.com/michaelbatnick/status/1233418188207067138

Q: With these drops in the market, we should be in for some pretty decent buying opportunities in the future !!

Q: If I want to buy ZTL, I have this message: "purchase this security online, a limit price must be entered. If you wish to submit this buy order at Market, please contact a representative ": I don't get why you can't buy at the market price ...Thanks. Martin.

Q: Dear 5i,

Many stocks such as Google have a high purchase price per share such that one needs quite a lot of money up front to purchase a board lot of 100 shares. Are there any disadvantages for individual investors who wish to buy and sell odd board lots like 1 to 10 shares?

thanks for your opinion

Q: Can you explain why gold has dropped sharply today? My expectation is that through times of uncertainty, gold should usually go up?

Q: I'm curious about what happened to REITs and utilities on Friday. They got absolutely hammered. Some of the utilities, in particular, like Boralex and Capital Power were down 6%-8%. Both sectors plunged like anvils. They performed worse than most tech stocks, yet the fears over the virus should not be able to impact their revenue and profit at all. Do you have any ideas here?