Investment Q&A

Q: Hello Peter and Gang,

Would you please enlighten me on how prices are determined for stock trades. For example if I put in an order to buy a stock at a limit price of $1.00 (max that I would buy at). At the same time, someone puts in an order to sell the same stock at a limit price of $0.98 (minimum the seller would accept). Under this scenario, at what price would the trade be consummated? $1.00 or $0.98?

Also, if I put in an order to buy a stock at market price. Meanwhile for the same stock, one seller is asking $5.00, another one is asking $5.20 and yet another one is asking marking price. How would the "trade" price be determined in this case?

Thanks....

Q: Feature suggestion: Are you considering showing the portfolios directly on the website in the members section? I think this would add some convenience. Thanks for a great service.

Q: Hi 5i
I hope you could clarify an issue for me. When a Canadian company, say Methanex, declares a dividend in ($ USD) but the holdings have been purchased on a Canadian Exchange, would you expect the dividend hitting one's account (which can and does hold multiple currencies) be in CDN or USD $ currency? Does the base currency of the exchange play a part in this and/or is it up to the brokers' discretion to apply a certain policy in these cases?

Thanks

Q: A couple of years ago a guest on BNN stated that when a Canadian citizen has over $100,000 IN U.S. stocks, they have to inform the U.S. government. I this is so how does one go about telling the correct U.S. government department ? Thanks.

Q: Greetings Peter and team,

Your answers to members' questions are impressively lucid and objective. So, here is another one for you.

Jack Bogle, the father of the hugely successful concept of passive, US index fund investing does not recommend rebalancing in an individually selected asset allocation strategy. "If you want to do it, once a year is probably enough," he has stated.

Taxes and transaction costs diminish the benefits of rebalancing but Canadians have a lot of tax-deferred and tax-free room in their registered portfolios. Further, transaction costs keep coming down so that with trades above $10,000, investors can (almost) ignore them. With a million dollar trade they can do so, absolutely.

So why not rebalance every time that a given imbalance, say 10% develops?

Q: You have emphasized that it is better to invest in good companies than to try and time the market. However, when considering a new position, I have read that it may not be a good idea to enter a private equity fund near the end of a business cycle. Do you concur with this idea? Why or why not? Thank you kindly for your discussion of this issue.

Q: I have seen my investments total value in US stocks and non hedged ETFs going down lately, although individual stock price are doing OK.
I know it is very difficult to predict currency fluctuations, I would like your view and recommendation on how to protect my portfolio. Is buying hedged ETFs is the solution and what about your view on the Canadian dollar against the US $ and the Euro.
I value your opinion
Raouf

Q: Doing the tire-kicking here on your service (have received magazine for years)...looking over the company reports, at what point to you update them - every 'x' years or if there is a material change to the company? So when I see a company that has a report a year or two old, is that because nothing really has changed regarding the company or you just don't update them every year? Thanks.

Q: What just happened to the TSX over the last 2 hours? Is someone running algorithms looking for stops?
Thanks
Ian

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

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

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

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

Q: What is your definition of momentum? How do I find a particular stock has momentum and how long does the momentum last?

Q: Re: EIF and other companies that become targets of a short attack, typically how long do the shorts hold their short position before they start to cover it? Shouldn't the price rebound somewhat once they start buying?

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.

Q: I am a new member and just came into an inheritance. I want to preserve the capital and am wary of a big market correction looming on the horizon - soonish. So, where can I park my money to preserve its value while waiting for the financial Armageddon?

Q: At one point you were considering starting one or more ETFs based on your portfolios. Anything happening with that? Thank you.

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

Q: PLEASE MAKE YOUR OWN CALL ON WHETHER YOU LIKE TO ANSWER MY QUESTION PRIVATLEY OR PUBLICLY.

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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.