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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: Let me echo the earlier comment about the valuable insights from your Canadian Quarterly Earnings Pulse Report.......Wow, like an "executive summary" that puts plenty into perspective........Many thanks and looking forward to "digesting" future Pulse Reports, too!!!........Tom
Read Answer Asked by Tom on August 22, 2022
Q: I just read your new Canadian Quarterly Earnings Pulse Report; great report and very pertinent! Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Gerry on August 20, 2022
Q: Hi

What is 5i's take on your first Sentiment Survey - anything surprise you particularly?

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by mike on August 18, 2022
Q: Hi, you mention short interest from time to time. Using MTTR as an example, you say that short interest is very high at 15%. I assume this is a negative as there are a lot of shorts (or shares short) that want to drive the price down. However, some view this as a positive as any good news can force all the shorts to cover. There are also different views on days to cover. MTTR shows 6 days. Some view higher numbers, such as 10, as positive as it means there could be a sustained rally if the shorts have to spread out their buying over a longer period rather than a quick spike.

What short interest levels and number of days to cover do you view as being positive or negative influences on a stock price?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Dave on August 18, 2022
Q: Dear 5i
I believe its probably a good time to start buying back into the market slowly over the next couple months but i`m concerned that i`ll buy quite a bit only to see values go down once a recession hits . I know there`s no guarantee of a recession but it does look very likely that we will have one to at least some degree . With the recession possibility in mind do you still think buying selective stocks and ETF`s over the next two or so months is a wise strategy ?
Thanks
Bill C
Read Answer Asked by Bill on August 16, 2022
Q: I have a sizeable RRSP holding with many Canadian and US companies. Soon I’ll start trading out of the money covered calls to enhance the portfolio yield. I understand how covered calls work but when I actually start trading them my knowledge will grow considerably and don’t want to make rookie mistakes. I’m thinking of starting with telecom, utilities, and banks as they have big share counts and option interest. Does this make sense, also what do you look for when trading covered calls? Specific sectors, large stable companies?
Thanks for your help!
Read Answer Asked by Mark on August 15, 2022
Q: I have had the impression that covered calls were a riskier type of investment but when I look at the beta, std dev, alpha, sharpe ratio, etc I don't see much difference between the two ETFs listed. Are they both considered about equal?
Read Answer Asked by Betty on August 15, 2022
Q: What's your view on using protective puts and covered calls?

Read Answer Asked by Tony on August 12, 2022
Q: Hi guys

I read something recent from Vitaliy Katsenelson (love his writing) which really hit home..... his thought that buying a stock is an "act of arrogance." I have copied part of it below. Please make it Public if you think his thoughts have value. You often remind us, like Mr. Katsenelson, that there is always someone else on the other side of a trade - with opposite thoughts on an equity.

Thoughtful Arrogance

Volatility can be both a feature and a bug of investing. Value investors attempt to treat it as a feature. We try to take advantage of the exuberance of the upswing and the pessimism of the downswing. I use the words attempt and try because though this approach sounds great in theory, reality proves to be a lot more challenging. This gap between theory and practice is created because volatility doesn’t waltz in a vacuum.

Upswings are accompanied by optimism and a positive news , or at least the positive spin the crowd puts on the news – this pushes a stock up. Downswings don’t happen in a vacuum, either; they are accompanied and usually driven by negative news, which results in Mr. Market marking down the value of your initial investment. Fear sets in. What if Mr. Market is right? What if this new news and the army of commentators on CNBC are right?

As the great American philosopher Mike Tyson said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Theory gives you the game plan (buy more when the stock is down), but then the market punches you in the mouth.

Our ultimate goal is to narrow the gap between theory and practice and take advantage of volatility. We do this through thoughtful arrogance.

Let me explain.

Investing is an act of arrogance. You are basically saying, “I am right and the person on the other side of the transaction, who is buying a stock from me or selling it to me, is wrong.” Value investing takes that arrogance to an even greater extreme, as you are often buying unloved, if not hated, stocks.

However, arrogance comes in different forms. Plain vanilla arrogance is very dangerous in investing. Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son built Softbank out of nothing. He is one of the richest people in Japan, he is a visionary, and he has had one of the best multidecade investment track records.

However, today his Vision Funds are at the tip of the spear of dotcom 2.0 as it shatters against the rock-hard wall of economic reality, losing his investors tens of billions of dollars this year. Mr. Son is solely responsible for it. He recently admitted, “When we were turning out big profits, I become somewhat delirious.” Success went to his head. He started thinking that he had the Midas touch. This is why temperament is so important in investing: We are our own biggest enemy.

And then there is thoughtful arrogance.

This arrogance requires amnesia of your past successes and failures; it is earned with your current sweat, through thorough research. Your research leads you to conclusions that often disagree but sometimes agree with the prevailing trends in the market. Arrogance – belief in your process and research – allows you to follow through on your conclusions, even if the market scorns them.

Stuart
Read Answer Asked by Stuart on August 12, 2022
Q: Hi Peter
Not a question, but a comment

In Market call today, a caller from
Vancouver requested to invite you. Andrew Bell made a note. The analyst of the day, Jamie Murray, acknowledged and mentioned you as really good
Hoping you will get a call soon
Read Answer Asked by Greyhair on August 11, 2022
Q: Good morning 5i
Your portfolio tracker tells me that i have too many funds. I hold stocks as well as the funds. Some, like iwc and iwo are in smaller proportions. I guess I became a bit too enthusiastic and i am wondering whether you could make some suggestion as to how best to rationalize these. They are: RSP
VOO
IWO
IWC
ICLN
VEA
VWO
VYMI
thanks for your excellent service
Read Answer Asked by joseph on August 10, 2022
Q: This is not a question, but an experience I'd like to share.

I have subscribed to Peter's covered call selling for many years. For instance I had a September expiry $30 CC on CCXI that gave me a $1.50 credit. So, the stock was selling at 24 and the CC strike was 30 and the credit for selling the call was 1.5. So potentially I could make a max profit of 7.50. Not bad I thought.

Then I woke up this am and was confronted with this:

https://www.tipranks.com/news/press-releases/amgen-to-acquire-chemocentryx-for-4-billion-in-cash

Be prepared for that eventuality if you use the CC strategy. Even though it happens much less frequently then desired it does hurt the greed part of our ego. No doubt about that.

Sheldon
Read Answer Asked by Sheldon on August 05, 2022
Q: Dear 5i crystal ball.
Re recent comments on a market rallying just before and/or after announcement of a recession. The merits of which said recession seem to be debatable, but the market rally is in plain sight. Much of what I'm reading suggests that with increasing rates, the economy will slow, as intended, inflation will succumb, and a real recession will occur sometime in the next 12 months, accompanied by a market downturn. Accepting that the market is forward looking is the market currently looking beyond the real recession yet to occur, and therefore the current rally is sustainable, or are we to expect another market dowturn in the near future?
Thanks.
Peter.
Read Answer Asked by Peter on August 04, 2022
Q: Not a question but a comment re rrif mandatory withdrawals. Rather than sell a stock, You can do a withdrawal in kind and transfer the stock to your cash account. That way you can defer decision re which stock “to sell” if you don’t really want to sell.
Read Answer Asked by deirdre on August 02, 2022
Q: If one holds foreign companies via an ADR on the NYSE and the US dollar plummets, is the investor ‘protected’ in any way? Stock price? Dividend? I’m wondering what is the best way to hold investments in foreign companies.

Thanks…
Read Answer Asked by Ronald on July 29, 2022
Q: what are some good things to keep in mind that help you keep things in perspective regarding the fluctuations and negativity.. for me its having a rational solid response to a quarterly earnings thanks for the help
Read Answer Asked by cliff on July 29, 2022