Investment Q&A

Q: can you explain why the volume traded for example on td bank on friday sept 18th was so high? Other stocks were the same, ie bdi, sj, wfc, atd.b etc. I looked at a 3 year chart of td bank and the volume yesterday was huge and way higher than anything over the 3 years.
thanks

Q: BMO have ETF's that have "covered calls"
Could you explain what a covered call is, and are there any tax implications with these products?

Q: I received several calls from a company that sounds like a pump and dump organization that encouraging me to buy Aqua Power. They are relentless in their message promising a large return. The news from APSI looks good but I am suspicious of the approach they are using. I appreciate sharing your knowledge of APSI and the Company that is promoting it "Investors Edge located in Costa Rica"

Thanks

Q: Hi, 5i.

I'd like to purchase some US dollars to buy a US listed company or two. It doesn't strike me that now is a good time since our dollar is so low compared to the US dollar and so I'm having trouble grasping the correct thinking on this.

Say, for example, I buy Disney today and get a 20% total return in the next 5 years. However, say that our dollar is trading around 20% higher in 5 years than it is today. Would I effectively have no return if I sold Disney after 5 years and converted to Canadian dollars?

Thank you for your help.

Robert

Q: Please suggest a few companies listed on Canadian exchanges,but who get most of their revenue from the U.S.A.

Q: ET & quite a no.of other 5I's stocks will be added to the small cap index as at close on Sep 18.SJ will be added to TSX.Please advise impact.Thanks a lot for your usual great services & views

Q: Good Evening
When reviewing the insider reports I come accross to the following term under the heading Nature of Transaction: " Buy Under Company Plan." Can you please explain what is meant by "Buying Under Company Plan"??
I understand the buying and selling in the open market but I am not sure how the buying under company plan works. Are the insiders required to buy company shares at specific intervals?
Thank you

Q: Seems crooked that two directors sold shares last week before yesterdays announcement.Any comment?

Q: Hello Peter & Co,
I appreciate your quick response to my sector query for a particular stock; I just found a great source for such info.
Go to TMX Money, click on Investor Tools, click on Stock Screener, make your sector choice and you will get a list of companies in that sector.
Hope that my co-subscribers will find this useful.
Thanks,
Antoine

Q: I apologize in advance for this rather off-the-wall question.
A number of years ago I opened a separate account and I deposit $1000 per month on the 4th of each month. The account then automatically buys the same TSX etf a day or two later. I did this as a test to see if it would outperform my trading, but that is a different matter. My question is this -- wouldn't most retail investors be on average buyers early in any given month, and more likely a seller at the end of a month, everything else being equal. It seems like most of have more cash, on avarage, available at the beginning of the month, for a number of reasons. Would market prices therefore not tend to be higher early on a monthly basis rather than later? Do you know if this has ever been studied?
Cheers
John

Q: I know 5i prefers not to hedge and considers it diversification. However, I consider foreign exchange to be a commodity and fluctuates without much warning and therefore consider it to be high risk. Diversification of a portfolio makes a lot of sense, however, if you look at the US CDN dollar rate fluctuations over the past 10 years, the US dollar has been as high as 1.65 then dropped below the value of the CDN dollar and is now trading around 1.35. Hindsight is wonderful, but I do not think any person can predict what will happen with foreign exchange. Short term perhaps, but unlike the stock market where you can buy and hold good companies with the expectation that they will go up in value, I prefer not to hedge.

Stephen

Q: At what point is it feasible to allocate a percentage value to stocks in a portfolio, as opposed to a dollar value? For instance, if an investor starts out with $100,000 in cash, it's easy to pick 20 stocks and allocate 5% to each to come up with a nicely rounded, well diversified portfolio. But, if an investor is starting out with only $50,000, or $25,000, does the same principle apply? Or should one arbitrarily assign a dollar value -- perhaps min. of $5000 per stock, and build from there ... so that a $25K portfolio might only have 5 good stocks in different sectors? Would that be enough protection/diversity?

I'm asking this to set the course for a few young adults in my family (nieces, nephews) who are starting out on their investment life, and are inheriting some funds.

As a follow up to that thought, would you structure this amount of cash differently for a 25 year old than you might for a 45 year old, with the same amount of cash?

Thanks for your help and insight, as always.

Q: Looking into Husky and noticed on a website it is in the top 10 of shorted stocks in the Toronto exchange, does this ever influence your opinion of a stock when others are betting on a falling share price?

Q: Just like the last time you increased your prices, you have been very fair with current members. I know I totally appreciate that, as many others do. You are providing a very unique, yet wonderful service! Thank you!!!

It's your discretion whether to publish this, but when I read the notification, it sounded like if I renew for two years I'll pay the "old" price of $119.95 for the first year, but $119.95 less 10% for the second year. However, just re-reading now, it seems this was intentional as you consider the Two year membership as a package, not two one year memberships.

Honestly, I'd pay even more for this service as it has reaped returns far superior to what I would get on my own, or with ANY advisor.

Q: Dewflation--it may sound weird but my greatest feat is an outbreak of deflation, perhaps world-wide.

In deflation, I know to avoid commodities but what else to avoid and what to invest in ---how do you handle investments in deflation.

Bryon in Elmira

Q: I have just recently tried to find value stocks to invest in and am currently watching about 40 stocks and I would be interested to know what you consider to be the main value indicators to watch such as P/E ratio, debt to cash flow ratios, state of balance sheet etc. I would also be interested to know what indices you consider important before making a decision to buy a particular stock. For example, a P/E ratio below 20.. You may well have been asked this question before and if so please refer me to your response. Thanks

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Q: Can you comment on the fact that BNN Market Call takes place during the trading day and not all of us can be watching while we are at work. I have frequently come home to see their picks and I an interested in a stock, but find it has traded up 10% or more just after the pick is announced on the television. This seems unfair for those who cannot watch. Do you have any pull with the BNN producers. Maybe we can get them to air it at 1:00 after the market has closed. Do you have any advice for other than to wait to see if the stock trades down to a reasonable level before buying?

Q: Hi, Maybe an odd question but wondering about your thoughts on using Beneish m-score and Altman z-score in the stock screening process for a long term investor.

Q: Can you explain how you calculate ROE, using as examples a couple of the companies for which you have written reports?

Q: With respect to Shyam's query Aug 27 regarding resources for fixed income/bond investing I found a book by Hank Cunningham entitled "In Your Best Interest: The Ultimate Guide to the Canadian Bond Market" to be quite informative. Mr. Cunningham used to be a frequent guest on BNN and I believe is well respected.