Investment Q&A

Q: I’m not sure if this is in your mandate, but here goes : If a Canadian retail investor ( accredited) is looking to invest in some ‘ alternative strategies’ , where would you point them? Thanks

Q: I'm using XIU puts for my CAD portfolio and spy puts for my US portfolio, whenever i feel there is a market risk.
A few weeks ago one of the 5i questions was about XIU short selling for down risk protection.
My US portfolio is $290k. I'm interested in providing protection for70% of my portfolio for the next 6months. I would appreciate your opinion of how you would use the SPY short selling for that.one of the problems that i see is that you tie up too much margin and i use it when i buy risky equities ( like NLY).

Best Regards

Frank

Q: I receive emails from Contrarian Outlook on a regular basis and read them with interest. This week they’ve offered 8 high yielding US dividend/ income funds with potential upside. Are you familiar with this organization at all? Do you think their picks are valid? Examples: PDI, EOS, CSQ, EVT... I’m not looking for analysis of each fund but rather if you have a general opinion of this firm.

Thanks

Q: Jan 18 article on BNN regarding U.S. Hedge fund shorting Canadian Banks. According to them, 80% of Canadian companies are not generating enough cash to support their businesses - the highest in the world. Further they say that 80% of non financial stocks are cash flow negative which they measure as cash flow from operations minus capital expenditures.
Would 5i please comment on this? Most often I read and interpret what I'm reading as a strong opinion from you that most companies that you cover are doing well.

Q: Annual Exchange Rates - US dollar: Where can I get these exchange rates for the years 2011 to 2018? The Bank of Canada web site only shows 2017 and 2018. Thank you.

Q: I read this article in the Globe today that appeals to me because of it's simplicity, low cost (few commissions, no MER's) etc and it's relative performance as measured by the author.

I know it a very simple approach and mirrors the Buffet "Here's what you should do when I die" with my money.

Would be very interested on your take of this and if you think it would be a good idea or not and why.

Thanks

Sheldon

Q: I am retired, DB pension, and mostly hold equities that generate some dividend income as I prefer to be paid to wait. I believe I need more ex-Canada exposure. Other than VDU most of my portfolios are heavily oriented to Canadian equites and only a handful with apparently significant non-Cdn. revenue streams (ENB, HOT.UN, BAM.A. BIP.UN, TRI, SLF and MFC). Do you know of a source or list of Canadian listed equities that 1) have foreign income streams and 2) pay a growing dividend in Canada? How does someone go about finding this information?

Q: When i log to todays questions, I got Jan 17 questions. Surprised there's nothing so far for Jan 18. Fooklin

Q: 1. I am curious about what are the new website features/tools you are working on?

2. Any news on when your next webinar will take place?

Q: It's challenging to assess the earnings of REIT's if using the distribution payouts as a base of information. It would seem logical that payouts with a high return of capital would suggest weak results, yet individual price quotes suggest often refer to low P/E's.
Or maybe it's better to compare Return on Capital vs Cost of Capital?
Thanks from Randy

Q: I read with interest the question from Richard about the Canadian Income Tax System. I was wondering how 5i would handle it. Not very well. My view is that it should have been immediately directed to a blog for those who want to discuss it. It has no direct bearing on 5i's reason for being, and what I pay an annual fee for, which is:

Investment Research For Regular People
Conflict-Free Research on Investments: Stocks, Funds, IPOs
5i Research works only for you.
We are conflict-free.
Our research is independent.
No one else in the investment industry can honestly say that.

But instead of doing this, you presented specific views on the tax system. You would prefer a flat tax system. You make a broad statement that "lots of time, money and effort is made by Canadians to lower their tax burden, which we think everyone will agree is too high on average". Everyone doesn't agree with this. I for one absolutely don't want a regressive flat tax system and I also don't feel the tax burden is too high, on average, for what Canadians get back in services from the government. Could it be more efficient and effective, absolutely.

I subscribe to 5i for good conflict free investment advice. I continue to subscribe to the service as, on average, I'm generally pleased with the results. But I don't subscribe for quick, superficial, one sentence views on very complex topics that have no bearing on my investment decisions.

Q: Hi, a couple or questions here. First, I am wondering about switching a lot of my portfolio to US$ and investing there. Just thinking Canada as an investment place will be a bit dead for quite awhile. Apart from a few of the Cdn growth stock ideas you are touting which I would keep. Is this a good idea? Or if one is spending Cdn $ does the currency risk say stick to Canada. Or do you just hedge that somehow. Next, you have mentioned you are working on "new services". Would this be adding the USA to the Cdn service you now provide? Thanks.

Q: I spend a lot of time flying,do you know of or could you recommend any podcasts to listen to that is similar to your service or just stock picking in general thank you

Q: ZDY.U is thinly traded, so shares must be bought/sold carefully. Looking at this security under your 'Companies' tab, I see that at the time of this writing, there is a bid of 23.25 x 22000 while the current market price is 23.27. If I put in a sell order at 23.25 at that very instant for less than 22000 shares, is it likely that the order would get filled and my shares would sell at 23.25? Thank you.

Q: Can you please suggest a site where I can find the following 3 pieces of information regarding a companies next quarterly release: date of release,EPS estimate, and revenue
estimate. Thank you, Ian

Q: If Canaccord as an example raises capital for a public company, and usually if not always obtains warrants, is Canaccord then allowed to make an analysis with a buy recommandation on that stock ?
Is there a time restraint at the onset ? Is there a time restraint at near a period when warrants are about to expire ? For a junior company particularly when any or few analysts cover such a stock, my feeling is that Canaccord could influence strongly the stock price . I welcome your comments.
Thanks.

Q: We often hear about the advantage of keeping U.S. dollar denominated securities in an RRSP to avoid the 15% withholding tax. We need to look at the formula used on tax software to verify how much of the withholding tax that is refunded if in a non registered account. I just reviewed my tax return for last year and got all my 15% withholding tax refunded.

Paul

Q: Where can I find information on your company ratings system? Does a high rating indicate an attractive price or is it indicative of the company's fundamentals? Thank you.

Q: CTL has just announced a voluntary partial lot purchase or sale program, but at a cost of $3US a share (to a limit of $65US). Why would anyone participate for three or more shares given a $9.95 trading fee at, for example TD? These programs are usually free to a limit.

Q: Do you have a resource for accurate tabulated annual returns of the TSX and S&P500?