Investment Q&A

Q: Greetings Peter, Lana and Team:
Dori Segal was on BNN today. He stated that its incorporation
as a corporation vs a reit is not an advantage to individuals
but is advantageous to pension funds and rrsp's. Please explain.

Thanks in advance,
BEN

Q: Good webinar today. Lots of great tips and information. Much appreciated.

One of many points I picked up was the comment on dividend ETFs, which included CDZ, iShares Canadian dividend growers. I've owned it for a few months on 5i's recommendation and it's up 8% in that time not including dividends, which seems fine to me. But I noted the comment today about dividend ETFs needing to own high dividend payers. CDZ was mentioned, specifically it including AGF Management in the fund. When I checked the current top fund holdings, the top 3 are AGF, EIF and BDT.

CDZ's profile states:

"The investment seeks to replicate the performance, net of expenses, of the S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats index. The index consists of common stocks or income trusts listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange which are constituents of the S&P Canada Broad Market index (BMI). The security must have increased ordinary cash dividends every year for at least five consecutive years, and the float-adjusted market capitalization of the security, at the time of the review, must be at least C$ 300 million."

Do AGF, EIF and BDT fit the profile? Or are they in the ETF solely for their high dividends? Thanks.

p.s. Would a webinar on ETFs some time in the future be useful for 5i and CMS members????

Q: Hi Peter
This is in responce to Bill's question re: odd lot order on CSU not filled even though the closing price is lower than his bid.
I had this happen to me last week, oddly enough, same stock, same broker. I was told the only thing you can do is to do a market order instead of a limit order. This may help, however, this stock has a wider bid/ask spread than most other stocks.

Gerry

Q: Hello.
I have a general question for you.
Why is it that most public companies get funding and distribute warrants through private placements?
Thanks
Kevin

Q: Hi Peter and colegues,
Thank you for the webinar on dividend investing - we enjoyed the informative presentation(wife and I)from you and Avrom. Would you recommend that dividend paying stocks be a larger part of a portfolio and more important for younger investors, since it could grow to a considerable yield on initial investment later on or should growth be more important initially since there is a longer investing time frame? (asking for our children) Thanks again! Keith

Q: I placed an order to purchase 50 shares of CSU at $240.00 which was not filled and closed at $239.61. On contacting TD Waterhouse they said the reason for not being filled was that my order was for an odd lot, rather than 100 shares. Does this sound reasonable?

Q: Hi,
I currently only have cash and Canadian stocks in my portfolio, the cash accounts for roughly 40% of my portfolio, but I am looking to invest into some EFT's, mutual funds and US stocks as well. can you please advise me roughly what weightings i should be giving to EFT's, mutual funds and US stocks under the assumption that my Canadian stocks are relatively diversified. And also which EFTs, mutual funds and US stocks would you recommend as of today? I am in my mid 20's and have a relatively long term horizon. Thanks in advance.

Q: Peter and Team, This is a fabulous service. Thank you. I watched your most asked questions video (great idea)and it raised a question in my mind regarding superficial losses/30 day rule re the CRA. If I own a Cdn stock that is listed on both the NY AND Toronto exchanges and I want to change holding it in Cdn. $ and switch to holding it in US$ - will the CRA count this switch as a sale of the CDN holding and a purchase of the US stock and then apply the 30 day rule. Thank you again, Nancy

Q: I read Ryan's article on what to put in a TFSA with interest and am wondering what you folks would think of putting index linked GIC's in? There would appear to be a "match" since there is no capital loss and TFSA's don't allow write offs of losses. Plus, TFSA would be a decent place for interest income since there is no tax preference given away, as there would be for dividend income. Now I realize that some of the index linked products in the market are pretty poor in terms of return but one offered by Scotia linked to a basket of TSX stocks looked decent.

Q: What is your opinion of market neutral hedge funds as an alternative to bonds in a rising interest environment? Is such a product available through ETF's and, if so, what would you recommend or, if not, what is available to the retail investor in this area? As always, many thanks for your valuable insight.

Q: Peter
Best of luck with your bike trip. I was wondering whether the fees paid to 5i can be written off against taxes? Or is it a gray area? Publish this at your discretion but it could be a minefield!!

Cheers Jim

Q: For those of us who are time challenged I very much like your bullet response to Paul's question on the Utility Sector, where 9 companies were covered (8 requested). Just wondering: in the new/future question limit would such a question count as 4, 8 or 1 question or perhaps a blending of 2 (best/worst)? Perhaps you could clarify the limits for questioners who ask for opinions on multiple stocks in one email, too. Thanks, J.

Q: This is in response to Dave's earlier question re: Stop Losses/Limits

A very simplified way of thinking of the orders is like this:

Stop Loss orders generally guarantee that your order will be filled - however, there is NO guarantee that it will be at the price you specified. (In the case of a rapidly falling stock price, there's a very good chance that your fill price will be BELOW your specified stop loss price. This usually happens when there is bad news: earnings misses, Sino Forest type situations etc.)

Stop Limits generally guarantee the PRICE of your order - but NOT that the order itself will even be filled. (Again, when there is a rush to exit a stock, there's a good chance that the limit order will be by-passed altogether and one is then exposed to whatever market risk is at hand at that time.)

Q: Hello team, wondering...could you - expain to me like I was a child....buy/sell/limit/stop. I'm confused. I saw you suggest to someone re RPi.un to put in a sell order at a higher amount than market. I have been told in the past that a sell order with a (limit or stop?) could be dangerous because in a free fall the stock could sell for much lower than I wanted to. Is there a reference for dummies on this sort of thing?
many thanks Dave

Q: Hi Peter, Further to your answer on SGY, is there a website I can access which will show when large investors (not necessarily insiders) are buying or selling big blocks of shares? Thank you.

Q: What are your thoughts on beta? Does it play any kind of role in your analysis? I was getting beta info from the TSX website but notice on the few I looked up this morning, that the info is marked NA.

Q: Hi.How low a stock should go down before you should sell i(10%,20%,30% )even if the company looks to be a good company (e.g..AVO,or AYA ) ?.Thanks.ebrahim

Q: Tech stock have really fallen off a cliff. Is there still a bull market for them left?

Q: Not a question but a comment, I am a shareholder of Constellation and did receive notice of their AGM.

Q: Free lunch! There's probably one being served for you this week or next if you're a shareholder and go between 11 and 2. This is where you want the better hotels and golf clubs for the best catering, not a convention centre, and be sure to arrive half an hour prior to the start time of the AGM, maybe schmooze with some bigwigs, too.

Our most memorable AGM yet was a few years ago where my wife and I sat cheek by jowl with Pamela Wallin and Hugh Segal to hear the colourful Ira Gluskin hold court on the state of the economy and tell anecdotes such as his Mother griping to him that she hadn't made any money on her GS shares from the time of the IPO, which he assured her she would, in time.

They not all drab and dull affairs. 'Tis the season, so enjoy your dividends.