Investment Q&A

Q: Hi Peter,

Just wanted to say it is sure nice to read your insights on the market(Your article in the FP...Five reasons to ignore stock market doomsayers).

It seems that nearly everyday lately the Globe and Mail and the Financial Post have a story from some so called expert calling the end of the market.
"The experts seem to crawl out of the woodwork at this time of year every year".

Thanks, Charlie

Q: Hi team:

this stock has dropped below it's 50 days and 200 days MA
is there any fundamental reason for it ?
hold or sell ?
thanks

Q: Hi 5i
Thx for your help and bang for my buck. There is no comparison to other investment advice I have encountered. My question is with regards to an investment site called american bulls ( japanese candlesticks ).They also have a Canadian version. It works well for trading stocks especially commodity stocks such as SGY and FM and TCK.B to name a few. I am mostly buy and hold but have traded in a TFSA and I find the signals to be fairly accurate especially when things happen quickly as in the oil and material sectors.

Q: I am a 60 year old retired conservative investor with a reasonable pension plus CPP. We have a well balanced portfolio that is roughly 67% equities and 33% fixed income. The fixed income includes a 7.5% Insured Annuity (yielding 5.1% pre-tax GIC-equivalent), 12.5% Fisgard Capital (1st mortgages yielding 5%), 2.5% Fisgard (2nd mortgages yielding 7.5%), and 10% cash (yielding 1%).

I am strongly considering directing some of the cash towards doubling up the Insured Annuity (this one yielding a pre-tax GIC-equivalent 5.2%). However, this is a "forever" decision. The annuity is not indexed, but compares favorably with long term bond mutual funds over 15-20 years. This would max-out my annuity allocation at 15%. What are your thoughts on this strategy?

The 2nd option being considered is Capital Direct (1st and 2nd mortgages), yielding 7-8%. My concern here is that I also have a 5% weighting in Sentry REIT (yielding 8%). Would that be too much concentration in the "mortgage" sector (Fisgard-15%, Sentry-5%, plus potential Capital Direct 7%)?

Do you have any other options for me to consider in the fixed income sector?

Thanks for your help.
Steve

Q: Re David’s question on the RSI. It and many other options are available on TMX money charts as a bottom indicator. You can choose various settings and save settings so you don’t have to enter it each time you are checking a stock.
TD Waterhouse also has many excellent options on their web site. I get an amazing amount of info from their program. You do have to have an account there to get all the perks though. To get an idea of the info that is available check out the Webbroker Tour site. Click on the Direct Investing Tour. The Research section will give you an idea of the wealth of info available.
They also have many free investment seminars, anyone can attend. Check to see if there is one in your area.

Q: Hi Team,

On May 8 Mehran asked about HHF. Are there any other hedge funds out there (Canadian or US) that you like and how much of a total portfolio for a conservative investor would you suggest holding in this type of security?

Many thanks.

Michael

Q: How do I locate the RSI for individual stocks ie: AEM ? Are they readily available ?

Q: I'm wondering if you could share your opinion on the reported rumblings in the bond markets and the speculation that equity market trouble is sure to follow. The reference is to the U.S. Markets as far as I can tell. Do you think there's a clear and present danger to Canadian equities?
Thanks very much.

Q: This is in response to Dennis, and his wife's $1M. I'm sorry, I don't know if you have instituted full portfolio services but I know it was considered in the past. If he and his wife are satified with the current service, upgrading would seem to be a cost-effective way to ad another opinion they seem to value.

Q: I have noticed that these stocks in particular have rising at a moderate but regular and almost even pace over the past several weeks. I assume that it is due in part to rising oil prices, as all of them are impacted by business in those areas, but I also suspect that the market is starting to see that they have business outside oil as well.

My question is, as a momentum influenced investor, how do you decide when "momentum" has set? Is is based on a percentage increase greater than the index, is it based on increases over historical averages or peer group technical charts or is it something as basic as a gut feel?

Appreciate the education you provide us all.

Paul F.

Q: Jimmy asked a question on May 4th regarding the CSC. I wrote it last year and used a book by Sean Cleary. see http://ca.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-302478.html?query=W.+Sean+Cleary. I used it as a complement, rather than substitute, to the two CSI textbooks. Good luck!!!

Q: I went to Chapters today to look for a book ob the Canadian Securities Course. There were alot to choose from. Just wondering if you or someone can recommend a good current book to help study and prepare for the CSC test. Thanks

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan and 5i team,

How do I make money in a bear market? If we go back to late '08 until mid '09 it was very hard not to albeit temporarily lose money. Are there ETF shorts you would recommend? Do you agree that when the yield curve inverts that its time to head to the exits, or by then will it have been too late? thanks so much for your help.

Q: Hi,

Do you ascribe any value to the tax loss carry forwards on company balance sheets? If so, how do you value such tax losses?

Q: I am having difficulty determining and rationalizing payout ratios. Different sites give different ratios. A couple days ago you answered a question on Pembina stating the dividend is safe. GlobeInvestor tells me the eps is 1.07 and the dividend per share is 1.74 giving a payout ratio of 162%. Several other prominent dividend companies also show payout ratios over 100% using the same methodology. Am I missing something or are these dividend payouts at risk?

Thanks so much!

Gary

Q: Hi everyone. Sure appreciate all the research. My question is on Coeur Mining. It trades on NYSE symbol CDE at a price about $5.63. It is also listed on the TSX with symbol CDM.WT at around $0.44. Would you be able to tell me what CDM.WT is?

Q: It appears that there is sector rotation going on from tech to resource class. Has oil bottomed out and price of commodities stabilized? Is it due to reversal of US dollar trend or other factors? Will you pl provide detailed explanation of these trends and your recommendation for sector allocations and winning short term strategy?
Regards,

Q: I notice they have just announced a bought deal offering of shares at 1.25 per share. Can you explain how they could offer shares at above the current price. Thanks.

Q: Hi, in your opinion, what are the best books to get a better understanding about a company's fundamentals, especially trying to compare companies to companies in different industries, thanks?

Q: For a long-term horizon, 20 years, what would be an appropriate percentage allocation to U.S. Equity for a pure equity portfolio? Is International equity also recommended? Thanks for the excellent service!