Investment Q&A

Q: There are times when I wonder about continuous disclosure rules and adherence to them. At the open on Friday, CP traded down sharply on much higher than average volumes. Over the weekend a major announcement. KSU did not trade up much on price during Friday but experienced higher than average trading volumes. Should a retail investor care or is their an issue here? Do the regulators watch this type of activity surrounding a major announcement?

Q: Hi 5i team.

Is there an efficient way to search for ETFs that represent certain specific groups of Co's or overall sector? For example, Telco CAD/US or combo?

Thanks for your help.

Q: Hello Team
Now that Superior has the ability to be more aggressive in their U.S. acquisitions, do you foresee them listing on a U.S. exchange? Is there a material advantage in them doing that?
Thank You
Clarence.

Q: Good day gentlemen.
Your thoughts on Scotia's new notes.
Thanks, Peter

Q: Can you suggest a few Canadian Companies that is dual listed inCanada and the US that pays its dividends in US currency. I have AEM, TFII, CSU, BAM and MG journaled over to a US account. I am looking at AQN, N, and TRI.

Looking mainly for income.

Thanks!

Q: In your answer to David, you state that WELL had a positive EBITDA, yet when I bring up the profile, the EBITDA MARGIN shows negative -8%. Is the EBITDA reference in the answer to David different from EBITDA MARGIN % ? 5i refers to EBITDA a lot in your answers and I notice BNN guests do also. I notice that, with the exception of AC (Air Canada), all the stocks in the BE PORTFOLIO have positive EBITDA MARGINS. In contrast, some of the US stocks everybody keeps asking you about have a negative EBITDA MARGIN: AFRM, CRWD, U, and PLTR is a whopping -115%. So when you warn this humble subscriber that a stock is risky, how useful is it to look up the EBITDA MARGIN? For example, how should I interpret XBC having an EBITDA MARGIN at +1.8%, or DFLY at -199.5%

Q: Can you provide more guidance on how to view debt? You appear concerned about EFX debt although debt to equity is only 0.32 and total debt is only about 2 X cash flow. OTEX on the other hand has debt/equity of 0.97 and debt/cash flow of about 4.
Thanks for your guidance.

Q: Can you explain simply how consensus estimates for quarter results are arrived at.
CSIQ with predicted loss of .55 had earnings of .11
Thank you for your thoughtful analysis
Peter

Q: i own a small cap stock that habitually sees a trade of 100 or 200 shares in the last hour of trading to bring the closing price down to less than its daily high. If I traded like that I am certain I would be investigated and possibly even demarketed by TD brokers. Why is it that when a firm like Goldman does that (as in my particular stock), its OK? Is there one rule for retail investors and another rule for institutional brokers? Same goes for those houses that trade to walk the price down so they can trade a block. Is that not stock price manipulation?

Q: Good morning. Happy St Patrick’s day to everyone
If I wanted to find stocks in the semiconductor sector thru 5 I is there an area to go to - also if we were looking for value stocks vs growth stocks - can I somehow do a search request in the ask a question area by using the word growth etc

Thank you for all you do - always enjoy my time on your site.

Q: Are you still reporting on companies that have increased dividends? If so, please remind where we can find this information.

Q: Lots of concern regarding this company and want to get an idea about how to handle the dramatic drop in share price. If you were a shareholder that bought in at say 9-10$ range would you think any differently about the company than you would if you bought in at 2-3$. I notice that when any high flyer has a hiccup, your answers are generally to "hold for now" and that the "stock is up 140% from last year". We certainly were aware of the risks with this company and should not be surprised that some investments just won't work out. It's easier to "let go" if your gains dropped back to near your purchase price than if your losses are nearer to 75%. Any lessons learned or is it still too early to give up on XBC?
Thank you for any comments

Q: you referenced in a previous question that Trading volume and 'travel' is also important. Is there a certain term or way to track "travel" for individual companies stock prices and what do you like to see for "travel" for a daily chart... I am sure straight up is ideal but not what we tend to see.

Q: Investing forums are great places to have a respectful and civil discussion/debate with fellow investors. It’s a resource that seems to be underused by 5i members, possibly because it is difficult to navigate.

Are there any plans to make the 5i Forums more use friendly?

Now a user has to open each subforum to see if anyone has posted or replied to a post.

There is no way of knowing if someone has replied to a post.
It says This forum supports BBCode tags. But only a few. There is no easy way to quote a poster or part of a post so that other posters know who or what you are replying to.

I’m new to 5i so maybe I’m missing something. I’m looking forward to exchanging ideas on investments, investment strategies and portfolio management with other members.

Q: Hi Guys
In a hypothetical $1 million portfolio, approximately how many different stocks or ETFs should be owned? Would a position represent 2% of the portfolio? Any comments on a portfolio's composition would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Q: In the lithium field, I have both LI and LAC
My question is two fold, am I better to double up and just own one stock and if so which one would be your choice? I know you recommend having at least 1 per cent of your portfolio in a stock. By selecting one, I’d achieve that
I guess it would also be like owning Linamar and Magna. Do you choose one or does this bring one more diversification?

Q: Hi Peter,
This is a general question, When looking at valuations specifically, like the EV/Sales, what number is considered the" middle ground" whereby the stock is neither cheap nor expensive?
Second question relating to the same EV/Sales formula, when looking at for example, SHOP, its EV/Sales based on the next twelve months (NTM) revenue is 33.3 while it is at 46,4 when it is based on the last twelve months (LTM) of revenue. I would have to say that the NTM is a better indicator. Am i correct , if so or not, why?

Thanks

Q: Greetings 5i Team,
I have noticed on occasion that you will respond that a particular security represents 'higher risk income'. This occurred earlier today when a question was posed concerning EIF.
When you say this, do you mean that the income itself is at a higher risk than say that of BCE or do you mean that the company itself tends to be a higher risk security as compared to others within its sector?
Thank you as always
SP

Q: Hi,
Can you help me to understand why the premium of BIPC is so high over BIP.UN? It increased to more than 40% today, $94 vs $66. On the other hand, the spread between BEPC vs BEP.UN is much narrower, up and down around 10%. Do you expect the the gap between BEPC and BEP.UN to widen? Thanks,
Martin

Q: On March 2nd the Globe published a list of all 219 companies in the S&P/TSX composite index grouped by sector and ranked based on their expected price returns (excluding dividend or distribution income), according to Refinitiv data. The closing price is as of March 1 and the expected returns are based on these closing prices. All other data is as of Feb. 28. It included the % yield and the number of Buys, Holds, and Sell recommendations.
Results show 1,710 Buys, 836 Holds, and 125 Sells.

Yesterday they did the same for the Small Caps based on the March 5 close.
Results show 952 Buys, 371 Holds, and 32 Sells.

While not surprised by the results, it does call in to question the objectivity of the recommendations.