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: I consider myself to be an investor, rather than a trader; my time horizon for any stock purchase is 3 years or more. However, with the recent volatility in the markets I am tempted to hedge a small part of my portfolio with hedge ETFs such as HIX and HIU. Since this is new territory for me I am calling on your expertise to answer a few questions: do you recommend hedging; if so, what percentage of a portfolio do you recommend should be hedged; to use HIU and HIX properly would I need to treat them as short term trades? Since the whole prospect of hedging appears to me to be trading, which I am not keen on for myself, I am very hesitant to employ a hedging strategy.
Thank you for a great service.
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on February 05, 2014
Q: HI Peter and Team,

I have been slowly adding to my positions over the last couple of days with a focus on good solid businesses that have been hit with the current market conditions. (AVO, CGX, DHX, SNL). I am wondering if now is the time to add to DH, SJ, SUM, GIB. All of these seem to have been harder than most. Your thoughts.

Thanks a million
Read Answer Asked by kelly on February 05, 2014
Q: Great service; impressive results; but I’m missing something (and paying for it). Your ratings are on each companies' “quality”, but you use something else to select your model portfolio, your adjustments to it, and Peter’s top picks on BNN. Can I find this anywhere on your site? You can make this question private if you wish.
Read Answer Asked by Bill on February 05, 2014
Q: Peter, i thought i read in one of your answers awhile back that you might introduce a growth portfolio or even a dividend portfolio in addition to your balanced portfolio. Any thoughts dave
Read Answer Asked by david on February 05, 2014
Q: Hi Peter,

I believe your have mentioned in the past that the traditional approach to portfolio balancing as you age (ie, moving away from higher risk equities to lower risk fixed income) is questionable and that research shows holding a higher portion of equities much later in your life is a better approach.

Can you point me to articles or other sources of research that support that theme. I am a member of Canadian Moneysaver, if that is helpful.

Thanks for a great service.
Read Answer Asked by Jim on February 05, 2014
Q: I would appreciate your opinion of HIU and HIX as a means of hedging. Are they a "trader's" tool that should not be held for long periods?
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on February 05, 2014
Q: As a new member I have looked at your model portfolio and am wondering if the 20 stocks are still applicable for someone to start with today.
OR are stocks like CSU and VRX fully valued with the 100% plus returns that they have yielded.
I realize that you do re balance the portfolio from time to time but is this a good starting point?
Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Kenneth on February 05, 2014
Q: Well done on BNN Peter! An excellent all-round presentation. Don.
Read Answer Asked by Donald on February 05, 2014
Q: Wanted to tip my hat to Peter Hodson for his comments on BNN. The clip is a "must watch" for all retail investors:

http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip1067272
Read Answer Asked by malcolm on February 04, 2014
Q: Peter,

You have commented in the past that you like companies to show some momentum in terms of sales and earnings. When we have skittish (down?) markets like we have now, with talk of declining sales and profits, how do you determine if that momentum still exists - wait for a few weeks of upticks?
Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on February 04, 2014
Q: Would you please comment on what is going on in the markets today; is this a buying opportunity or should we wait. What do you do with your portfolio on days like this?
Read Answer Asked by Richard on February 03, 2014
Q: Is this a relatively sound strategy:
"Buy all stocks in a single sector (100% market share) to mitigate risk of competition between the players."

For example, in a stable and growing market like Canadian telecom, I'll just buy Telus, Rogers AND BCE which makes up for 90% (?) of the telecom market. Sounds like a no-brainer. Of course there is risk from outside competition but it sounds like since the Verizon entry into Canada didn't materialize, there isn't much competition anyway.

There is over-concentration risks etc and also regulatory risk, however.
Read Answer Asked by Eugene on February 03, 2014
Q: Hello Everyone:
If one wishes to protect portfolio from sudden drop what might be your suggestion. I am toying with selling HXD Puts. Is this a viable strategy? and how many Puts I will need for a $100K portfolio?

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Shah on February 03, 2014
Q: Do not know if this question has been addressed here before.
What are your views on using stop losses?
Read Answer Asked by Andie on February 02, 2014
Q: Peter; For anyone interested in the fracking industry they should get the March 2013 copy of National Geographic. It explains in detail the total system and it's problems and benefits . It is really an eye opener.
Rod
Read Answer Asked by Rodney on February 02, 2014
Q: Hi guys. There is alot of news regarding emerging market economies raising their interest rates in order to boost their plunging currency. is there any possibility of Canada doing the same any time soon?

Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by john on January 31, 2014
Q: Picking-up on a previous comment from a subscriber
about "RBCdirectinvesting" honouring DRIP discounts within their accounts, I called them to confirm this and they DO in fact provide this service, but only for selected equity's based on the holdings of their Client's and subject to review periodicaly.
My question to 5iResearch is:
Is there a web-site that lists companies that provide a discount (in a DRIP) to share purchases?
To my knowledge RBC is the only Discount Brokerage that honours this (albiet on a selected basis). Any comments from 5i Subscriber's is welcome.

Thanks in advance!
Read Answer Asked by Scot on January 31, 2014
Q: I have followed Ross Healy for many years and have a lot of respect for him despite getting into some of his loosing recommendations that cost me dearly. I have come to conclude that he is a master at identifying overvalued companies, but on the opposite end many of his picks turn out to be value traps. Mr. Healy constantly harps on the “price to book” ratio of a company and I have heard him state that every other metric is just fluff. My question relates to how you believe “price to book” factors as a metric for evaluating stock picks. How (if at all) does the price to book ratio factor into 5i’s recommendations, and how important do you feel this metric is when evaluating a company’s stock price?
Read Answer Asked by Steven on January 30, 2014
Q: A suggestion to other members. I use canadianinsider.com to see if management has faith in their own company. After the AD and EIF problems, I looked at HNL & insiders have been selling since November.

I give these managements an "F" and either sell or avoid buying them.
Read Answer Asked by William on January 29, 2014
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!