skip to content
  1. Home
  2. >
  3. Investment Q&A
You can view 3 more answers this month. Sign up for a free trial for unlimited access.

Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: What is the payout ratio on these two stocks? When i research there is conflicting information from a payout ratio of 60-70% to a high of over 175%.

What is the forward 1 year P/E ratios on these? Is this an important figure to watch?


Morningstar reports BIP.UN and BEP.UN free cash flow dropping 3 consecutive years and BEP.Un reporting Negative earnings. Would a short seller like the one on EIF pounce on this or do you view these companies as more safe?

Are these still good investments on a 10 year plus time horizon and would it be better held in a registered or unregistered account.

thanks
Read Answer Asked by Thomas on July 27, 2017
Q: Please help me understand this.Recently when oil price declines,Enb & other pipelines generally decline,& when oil price increased these 3 days,ENB et al is more or less moving sideways or down.Yesterday the LNG project in B.C. led by Petrons of Malaysia was cancelled at this point.This coincide with the ascension of a new government(NDP & GREEN) who openly oppose the project.Poor B.C.Does this has a negative impact.Thanks for your usual great services & views
Read Answer Asked by Peter on July 27, 2017
Q: Good morning,
I recently (last 2 weeks) added BCE, Enbridge and Goeasy to my kids' accounts with a 2-3 years investment horizon. Last night's guest on Market Call had nothing but bad things to say about these three companies as long term investments. I rely a lot on what I hear on market call is that a mistake and do you think my entry points were ok?
Thank you,
Chantal
Read Answer Asked by Chantal on July 26, 2017
Q: A friend of mine who wanted to access the cash portion of his portfolio was told by his advisor that that the cash was part of a "sleeve" and therefore could not draw on the cash that showed in his statement. He ended by having to sell some of his stocks to get the cash he needed.
Can you please explain what is "sleeve investing" and why he did not have access to the cash portion of his portfolio?
Thank you
Read Answer Asked by shirley on July 26, 2017
Q: My overall portfolio is down 3% the last 6-8 weeks which I justify as the downside of having equities in the portfolio. I am 40% in cash so the drawdown could have been worse. My concern is that the 3% drawdown is just over $20000 and that is a lot of money. We are 70 with defined benefit pensions and really don't need any more capital; just want to preserve what we have. You preach the downside of market timing, but I see $ 20000 worth of paper gains slipping through our fingers. Short of investing 100% in gic's should someone with my profile be more of a trader ie use tight downside tolerances and sell when a predetermined gain or loss is met rather than buy and hold. Please comment as I very much value your opinion. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Richard on July 24, 2017
Q: Hi 5I,
General question on how successful short sellers operate. Do they short the stocks daily, weekly or how do they keep the price down? If they continually short the stock, do they not end up owning a considerable % of the companies stocks in order to keep the price down? Is there a website that gives the % of the stock that is shorted? It appears that you need to be careful in the Canadian market that you are not on the opposite end of the short attacks. Are there any other Canadian stocks that are heavily shorted?
Thanks Keep up the good work.
Bob
Read Answer Asked by Robert on July 21, 2017
Q: PLEASE MAKE YOUR OWN CALL ON WHETHER YOU LIKE TO ANSWER MY QUESTION PRIVATLEY OR PUBLICLY.

---------------------

I'm very frustrated with my investment in EIF. I took a loss early after the shorts took the chance to destroy the EIF share price on its Q1 results. I re-acquire EIF later due to the positive signs from management on its Q2 results. Well, the market manipulators (Prescience Point and Cohones and others) once again gang up to give EIF another dunking today.

Why investors would take the words of market leeches (who spread lies for a living) over those of management is beyond comprehension. This is how the market works, unfortunately.

You know you can actually ruin any business by spreading rumours! Take for example, we all know that even the best run banks cannot withstand a run, and collapsing a bank is very easy (see HCG). That is how quick and easy it is to make money in shorting, sadly the law is totally blind on this.

HCG was an earlier victim and thanks Mr. Buffet I hope the shorts took a bloodbath on that one.

My questions are a). can EIF find the Buffet type of back stoppers to rid itself of the shorts? b). if not, can us small retails continue to hang in there and perhaps face the DH type of volatility until management gives up and sell the company, or c). I should just take my second loss on EIF and learn from hereon just stay away from short infested stocks?

Your insight is much appreciated. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Victor on July 21, 2017
Q: Hi 5i,

My portfolio has: AD, POW, REI,SRU, PPL, ATD, MG, BCE, EMA and GUD.
In your opinion do I have exposure to all sectors with quality stocks? Which ones would you suggest to add or get rid of?

Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by Lizette on July 21, 2017
Q: I am curious about a comment you made earlier. Someone asked about photon control, and you pointed out that nothing had changed with regard to the situation or prospects at this company, which your regard as very good. Yet since late April, the trend in its stock value has been steadily downward. Savaria is another of your favorites with great prospects, but its trend over the last six weeks, has again been consistently down. If the actual underlying performance of the company has not changed, what causes a stock to fall off like this, not for a day or a week, but consistently over a long period, given most investment is being done by professionals?
Read Answer Asked by John on July 20, 2017
Q: With the recent strength of the CDN$ I am looking for opportunities to take advantage of this. One thought is to sell current dual listed holdings and convert from Cdn to US and the other thought is to look for other undervalued foreign investments. Would appreciate your input and suggestions.

Thank-you and appreciate the great service your team provides.
Read Answer Asked by Alex on July 20, 2017
Q: I would like to ask for your opinion and comment on my investment approach with reference to hedged to CAD or un-hedged versions of ETF's available from Canadian issuers. My approach has been the following:
- keep US equity ETF un-hedged;
- keep developed and emerging international equity ETF's hedged to CAD;
- keep US bond ETF's hedged to CAD.
I am aware that this approach was not too benefitial during the past month or two, and I am starting to have second thoughts, but I figure I better ask for a second opinion from a pro before I make any changes. This is where you guys step in...
Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Rudolf on July 20, 2017