Investment Q&A

Q: Hello 5i,
What is the difference between the total debt/equity ratio and the leverage ratio? i.e. Manulife has a d/e ratio of .3 and a leverage ratio of 18.4.
Stanley

Q: I have been recently trying to learn about stock options especially calls and not puts for starters. And I've been looking at theoretical call options values to see if expected growth of the underlying stock is an input. It seems that the input is "volatility" which surprises me because volatility is both up and down. I get that volatility has a link to growth but why wouldn't a call option theoretical value focus on just the upside volatility which seems much more linked to growth. After all, a theoretical stock value includes an assumption about growth not volatility, so why not so for a call option value? Thanks.

Q: Could you provide a quick explanation of what happened to CXR?

When I was young and foolish (still currently foolish, just a little older), I loaded up about 1/3 of my portfolio about half way down from it's peak, only to watch it pretty much lose 100% from there (always the optimist....thought it might rebound). I know (think) debt did them in, but what else happened. What were the red flags that surely the stock would've shown? What are the differences between them and other companies that take on debt?

Q: For stocks that are expected to grow in the long term, for example recovery stocks or beaten up stocks, do you think its a good idea to buy call options instead of stocks?
Thank you

Q: I am reading "Machine Learning for Algorithmic Trading" by Stefan Janson. It states that algorithmic trading in '19 accounted for 35% of institutional trading (excluding HFT) that is increasingly dominated by ML driven systems (Rebellion Research, Sentient, Aidyia,..) and of course we all know about Renaissance.
I am curious about any comment you might have on that topic, do you see value in this for your style of trading and maybe even considered using it. Your results are already spectacular, so my question is driven only by intellectual curiosity.
Peter

Q: Hi Guys
Just an observation, People should remember their investing in a company's future prospects and pay less attention to the share price.
If you look at a long term graph of successful companies like Amazon & Apple you will see my point.
If your constantly worried about the share price, it seems to me these people are investing way way more money than they can afford to lose.

Q: Hi 5i,

Would it be possible to include the top 3 stocks to purchase in the next month from the "model reports" when you issue the report".

This would save a lot of member questions.

Q: TRP.PR.J is being redeemed at the end of this month. Are there any signs or warnings that a company may be redeeming their preferred shares? I would prefer not to invest in a particular preferred share if it is being redeemed in near future unless redemption is at a premium to current market value.

Q: Hi team,
I am wondering how ETFs collect their fees. For example, I am attracted by PDC's dividend of $4.27%, but it has a relatively high MER of 0.56%. Should I deduct the MER from the dividend to get a more realistic value of the return I can expect from PDC?

Q: When i transfer cash from my USD accounts into my CDN dollar accounts I accept the rate my bank offers. Is there a way to better the transfer rate? thanks Al

Q: There is a consistent discrepancy between what appears as the book value in my Qtrade and RBC account and what appears in my 5iresearch portfolio. I've verified that the share numbers and cost prices are correct. The differences are much higher on my American stocks where the MV is always higher than what shows in my original accounts. Is there an explanation for this?

Q: I'm wondering if you could recommend a free watchlist (stock) tracker. I've used Globeinvestor for years but now they've limited its use without a paid substription.

Thanks as always.

Dave

Q: According to Sedar the taking over company paid out the money on Friday. How long would it normally take for the funds to show up in my account?

Q: For ETFs with smaller AUM (like some Canadian ESG/SRI etfs) what is the most you would invest in that fund. For example would you be comfortable investing $100K in a fund with $10M AUM? Would you look at some other metric or just stay away from smaller funds all together?

Thanks!

Q: Hi 5i,
I will use OTEX for my question but any interlisted company with US$ revenue will do say SHOP.
With the CDN$ raising how does this impact canadian share price? Is it possible that this represents a headwind? Wouldn't it be prudent now to journal/convert CDN shares into US shares. If CDN$ strengthens my canadian share values my decline if the company revenue is mostly US$. If CDN$ weakens that is ok I will make bigger profit if i convert back to CDN$. Am I correct?

Q: Hi 5i,
Doing some Sunday morning tinkering, and have noted that in Portfolio Analytics you classify NFI and VMC as Consumer Cyclical. Could you explain the rationale for that, because if I follow that classification for those 2 companies it has quite an impact on my actual and recommended sector weightings. I had thought they were both broadly Industrials before being further fine tuned to machinery and heavy equipment, based on the products they provide and the "consumers" (municipalities mainly) of those products.
Thanks,
Peter

Q: I have 5i for its portfolios which I follow, invest and succeed with as I update with you each month (thank you very much!). I also have Mornngstar which provides a different view of my portfolio and access to assessments of companies in my portfolio and relevant information. As a DIY investor I believe I need to be informed as to what is happening thus I look at my portfolio every day even though it is said you need to look at it only once a year! Simply Wall ST. is another venue for portfolio information. This shows my portfolio, again, in a different light. Since I only depend on 5i for the most part (sometimes I sell a loser earlier than suggested or add to winners) and its portfolio analytics, and since I do not really act on the information provided by the other companies but it is comforting to know and explain about my portfolio.
MY QUESTION IS: Do I really need Simply Wall Street and Morningstar?
Stanley

Q: On April 19 you responded to a question, stating the SI of GME was 19%. Where do you get that data. And is it the same today? Thanks

Q: In a recent question a subscriber described their portfolio as a percentage of balance, growth and income stocks. What stock parameters would you suggest that I use to categorize stocks into balance, growth and income stocks. Thanks … Cal

Q: Is an update for the "Canadian Stocks That Pay US Dividends" blog planned? - the current list is 2 years old containing names like ECA (now OVV and Denver based) and BHC which I show as having no dividend. Others like BEPC and BIPC could be added and the list might be amended to include current yield to be more useful to income investors. They may be other adds or deletes too...