Investment Q&A

Q: Hello 5i
My portfolio is imbalanced and i have been thinking
about bringing it back into balance. The imbalance is due
at least partly because i wanted to go heavy on comsumer
products, as i don't have much in fixed income. I know, of
course, that consumer staples are not a substitute for
fixed income. But, i thought they would bring some
stability.
The breakdown is as follows:
consumer staples 25%
financials 16%
Industiral 14%
energy 5%
telecom 6%
materials 11%
information tech 11%
Utilities 7%
health 3% (Note: I am moving out of healthcare stocks for an eft)
intrntl etfs 6%

I am thinking about bringing this back into line
and also getting some more fixed income.

The real problem with this is that I will have some fairly large
capital gains to pay. A nice problem to have, I suppose. But, I
was wondering whether since many of these stocks are in what
are generally considered very safe sectors, s, it is worth taking the tax hit
to rebalance? I realise, of course,
to rebalance? I realise, of course,
that it is difficult to comment since
you don't know the individual case. But, i would none
the less, appreciate any suggestions.
thanks for the great service, cl

Q: I'm looking for percentage allocation by sector with,of course, a bias on the best growth opportunities. Could yoy provide this?
Thanks

Q: I'm looking to park some cash for 3-6 months. I'm familiar with CLF CBO and XSB and I expect products from other companies will be similar but what are Floating Rate instruments such as notes? What are they and how do they compare is safety to the 1-5 year laddered ETF's? Thanks again Henry

Q: I would like to add some global exposure to my trading account portfolio. I have short listed 3 ETFs, with XFH and ZEA excluding North America and VXC containing a significant exposure to the US market. I already have exposure to US securities but I would appreciate your perspective on which option may perform best.

Also, would you recommend a hedged or unhedged vehicle at this point.

Recommendations on alternative approaches are also appreciated.

Thank you.

Rossana

Q: Can I have your outlook on CBO for the next year or two.

Thanks

Q: For those who are considering buying Valeant, I recommend watching what a Rotman School of Business finance professor had to say about it today, on BNN. I attribute little weight to many guests that come on BNN, because of conflicts of interest, but Ramy is a professor who I have met and trust. His financial analysis methods are certainly modern and respected. What he said about EBITDA was also interesting/worrying considering how many BNN guests use it to back their ideas. dishttp://www.bnn.ca/Video/player.aspx?vid=736200

Q: Hi 5i - a general portfolio management question:

Assume that I start with 20 stocks at 5% each. I have CPG, DH, CXI and AYA that are all down from the ACB. Say that those stocks mentioned are now varying from 2-3.5% FMV - assuming that I still like those companies (and the overall weighting in the sector makes sense), should I be putting new money in those stocks to bring the FMV back up to 5%? I am averaging down, but also re-balancing the portfolio - any suggestions?

Q: Do you preceive that there will be less tax selling this year due to the volitility of the markets for the last 10 months.

Q: These questions are in regard to Peter’s comment today about maintaining a balanced (sector weighted) portfolio: 1. If one was starting fresh with a $1m equity portfolio, how many names would you choose if building a portfolio from the Summary List? Regardless of sector (next question), would they all be equal weight by name?
2. I see that you have applied 14 sectors to your summary names – 4 more than the TSX/S&P breakdowns (Services, Industrial Goods, Financial Services and Consumer Goods seem to be adjuncts to the usual 10). In determining sector weighting of the portfolio, would you choose names so that all 14 sectors were of equal weight (i.e. 7% each)? If so, how far would you let a sector run before re-balancing?
3. If one decided to follow your Balanced Portfolio, would you buy all 27 of your current names? Would they be all equal weight or at the current weights in your portfolio?
4. What would be the highest percentage for a single name to run before re-balancing?

I realize sector/stock weighting cannot be made into a science, but I’m just trying to get a toehold conceptually. Thanks a lot.

Q: Is there a symbol to track "Options Adjusted Spread".

Q: Hi there, please give me your opinion on the below allocations for Financials, Health Care, and Industrials:

Financials (18% weight)
BNS.TO, CSH.UN, EFN, FSZ.TO, MRC.TO, SLF.TO, TCN.TO

Health Care (9% weight)
CPH.TO, CXR.TO, GUD.TO, PHM.V

Industrials (11% Weight)
DRT.TO, LGT.B, NFI.TO, PUR.TO, STN.TO, WSP.TO

To me its a solid bunch of companies but I need to trim this list (or perhaps remove and add others) but am having a hard time - looking for your opinion.

Thanks!

Q: Is there a way to run a screen for stocks that are:
1) doing buybacks (perhaps using a % of shares outstanding range)
and
2) over a certain p/e (eg 30x)
Thanks Cameron

Q: Given the trade deal that was signed today would you have any sector-stock selections that could benefit. What would you recommend for a protein stock. sap, hlf, Clearwater or mapleleaf.
Thank you as always.
Chris

Q: Hi, what would you consider appropriate weightings (%) to the following sectors in an all equity portfolio in today's market?

Communications
Consumer Discretionary
Consumer Staples
Energy
Financials
Health Care
Industrials
Materials
Technology
Utilities

Looking to create a more diversified portfolio and seem to struggle on an appropriate weight for each. Thanks!

Q: In general, how many stocks are necessary to be adequately diversified? I know that your model portfolios have 20 positions each, but if I owned fewer stocks, it would make if possible to monitor each positiion in more depth. I would appreciate your thoughts.
Thanks,

Q: Hi Peter and team the markets seems to have more worse days than better are we going back to the 2008-2009 days slowly. How bad are things is it a specific underlying problem (China, Recession, US raising rates fear) seems that nothing is making the market turn around? Thanks Nick

Q: Market is droping like crazy should we still hold?.

Q: I would appreciate your opinion on the upcoming Federal election as to how an NDP win may affect the market.Certainly if Capital gains and dividend incentives are eliminated the effect on the stock market will be profoundly negative to the point that,if an NDP win seems likely,one may be well advised to sell a good portion of stocks.If some or many investors vacate the market completely then advisory services such as yours may also be affected.Your opinion is appreciated. Thank you, Don.

Q: I have just recently tried to find value stocks to invest in and am currently watching about 40 stocks and I would be interested to know what you consider to be the main value indicators to watch such as P/E ratio, debt to cash flow ratios, state of balance sheet etc. I would also be interested to know what indices you consider important before making a decision to buy a particular stock. For example, a P/E ratio below 20.. You may well have been asked this question before and if so please refer me to your response. Thanks

.

Q: feel free to post if helpful. delete if not of use.

this second decline, from down 100 points to now down 660, has been occurring after the US Press Secretary appeared to be saying the White House and Yellen will not make any knee jerk reactions regarding QE4 or interest rates based on a few bad days in the market.

This morning, many "talking heads" were calling for Yellen or the White House to "do something". My favorite, so far has been Suze Orman before market open:

"I am taking this year off but it is hard to sit silently and watch these markets. Fed Chair Yellen help us out. Commit to no rate increases".

I don't know if I should laugh or cry at her tweet.