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: Hi 5i team, I have a general question on companies being removed or added to the different s&p tsx indexes. On Jan 23 a number of companies were added and many deleted (gte and exe among them), so my question is with these being very large indexes with many eft's and mutual funds holding them, is there actually a lot more buying or selling of these particular stocks by these funds or funds copying them. and if so do they have much lead time before the actual replacement date (jan 23) and would you see more adjustments continuing after the date possibly affecting normal trading of such companies.

thanks Tom
Read Answer Asked by Tom on January 30, 2017
Q: Hello 5i team. My question is in regards to taxation. I have an investment account at a CDN discount brokerage in US dollars. If I was to buy a cdn company say TD bank that trades on the US market and buy it in US dollars how would the dividends be treated? Would the dividends be paid in US dollars or paid in CDN dollars then converted back to US dollars? If they are paid in US dollars then are they subject to the 10-15% US withholding tax? I am trying to find investments that I can buy with US dollars but not be subject to the US withholding tax. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by pietro on January 27, 2017
Q: When doing my research, I have a defined method that includes 5I views but also Morningstar (for Quantitative view) Thomson Reuters for fundamental views and forward looking views and if buying USA stocks Bloomberg. Recently my brokerage made S&P research available and I am finding contradictions in how seemingly same facts are both viewed and presented. There are several quantitative S&P views on stocks that give "sell" ratings while the others give positive ratings. I was wondering if you use any of these sites for information an if you have a bias towards one being more accurate then another. Thanks Jim
Read Answer Asked by James on January 27, 2017
Q: I buy a number of my international stocks on the OTC Market, since my brokerage account does not let me directly transact on exchanges outside of North America. The American Depository Receipts (ADR) for a particular company ("xxxx") have the ticker format xxxxY, whereas the "fungible" shares (i.e. for which there is somewhere, at least in principle, an actual stock certificate issued by the company) have the ticker format xxxxF.

Assuming that there is at least some liquidity for the shares of a particular company, it is almost always the ADRs (xxxxY) that have the most trading volume. However, sometimes the fungible shares (xxxxF) are slightly more liquid than the ADRs.

In terms of risk (e.g. in the event of another major financial crisis) are the ADRs more risky, i.e. do they depend on the solvency of the custodial bank in New York (e.g. BNY)? On the other hand, who actually possesses the fungible shares (xxxxF)? Is it this same custodial bank? Is there a real stock certificate somewhere?

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Gregory on January 25, 2017
Q: As we get older we are thinking of making our portfolio less volatile. Therefore, we have been thinking of eliminating cyclical stocks, such as energy, companies like Agrium. Do you think this is the best route, or would you prefer, as I think you do, hold a smaller percentage of cyclical stocks? Also, would you consider a company like Finning, which is related to the energy sector in many ways, as a cyclical stock?
thanks again for a wonderful service
Read Answer Asked by joseph on January 24, 2017
Q: In response to a previous question you recommended GSY and TCL.A as good candidates as value stocks. I note that both are near their 52 week highs. I was under the impression that a value stock would have a share price that is not doing well. I would appreciate it if you would clarify for me your criteria to identify a value stock. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on January 24, 2017
Q: I would appreciate your insight on when to exit from growth and longer term portfolios. In winning positions one has luxury to take profit according to personal inclination. Some take at 15%, some 20% to 25%.

My special concern are loosing positions. I have heard of 13 week moving average, Chandelier stop (3ATR). They make sense in a trading situations. What will your advise be to get out from 5i type Growth and Long term portfolios when the stock has tanked. Could that a specific % loss say 8% to 10%. I am interested in your criteria.

Thanking you
Shah Husain
Read Answer Asked by Shah on January 24, 2017
Q: Great BNN show yesterday Peter! With equity markets near all time highs, how do you think one should protect against downside risk for their portfolio (if at all)? Holding gold companies in January/February 2016 proved to be a bit of a hedge against the overall market decline and I continue to do so for this reason (amongst others). Curious to hear your view on inverse ETFs as well.
Read Answer Asked by Patrick on January 20, 2017
Looking for more? Sign up for a FREE 14 day trial! No credit card required

We invite you to sign up for a 14 day free trial of 5i Research!
Experience all the benefits and tools we have to offer; stock research, model portfolios, Q&A with our experts, and so much more. Join a community of like-minded investors today!