Investment Q&A

Q: Thank you for your great advise. I currently have a good positive portfolio thanks in large part to your suggestions. I need to increase my consumer defensive by about 1.5%. I currently own the above companies at different weights. ATD 3.5% PBH and L at 2% and DOL at 1%. Where would you add or would you suggest another company. Please rank in terms of preference.

Thanks, Yves

Q: What 3 Cdn and 3 US equities would you currently select (without regard to sector) as your best picks for an investor seeking both a) the six "safest" equities over the next 12 months as in lowest downside risk in your opinion, and b) the six most likely to provide at least a 5% total return over that period? Tough one but perhaps very helpful for part of an overall portfolio - Ken

Q: Hi 5i
Would you please provide me with a list of (3 CAN and 3 USA),
low beta stocks/ETF with some opportunity for growth.

Thank you

Q: I have held this company for 4 years. It pays a good dividend and in earlier years it paid special dividends once a year. The share price has dropped 30% since acquisition. Given its growth prospects, do you think it should be sold? If so what would you buy in its place?

Q: Hi Peter, Rayan and team,

During last March sell off I bought VFV ETF in my RRSP account and I had a healthy profit. I am looking to sell half my position to buy Canadian and US beaten up stock that have a good potential to rebound. Can you please suggest some good quality names.
Thanks

Q: I am growing increasingly impatient with GIB.A, PKI, and RTX. I am considering replacing each of these with the company I have indicated after them. What are your thoughts? OR should I temper my impatience?
Much appreciated as always. ram

Q: I am underweight consumer discretionary stocks (also underweight US stocks). I only own AMZN and REAL in this space. Considering ATZ or GRMN. Are there any others I should consider. What would be your suggestion to add? My portfolio has a mix of about 25 US and Canadian stocks based on reading your question section daily. Thanks for all you do for the independent investor!

Q: Hi,
I'd like long term hold of five years, preferably without too much volatility. Which 2 or 3 stocks would be your best bet and why?

Q: Hi, any thoughts or explanations for the recent weakness of Maple Leaf Foods?

Q: Jeff Brown and Chris Hunt who work for a financial firm - they have been online recently predicting the market will drop 92%. They have a picture with red arrows and charts, etc. I do not know them. Apparently Chris Hunt made many predictions over the last while which have come true he claims. The last one being his prediction of the sell-off in March. Larry Berman who is well-known is also bearish on utube - his recommendations are usually short plays. Is this just standard when the market has more downs than ups? Should we take these comments seriously? I appreciate your advice - thanks, Dennis.

Q: Given the recent corrections, what are some names (Canada and US) you would add? Thanks!

Q: What are your thoughts on buying into SNC and Air Canada on their lows?

Q: Good afternoon,

The technology portion of my portfolio has grown too large (about 37%) and I’m trying to figure out how to get it back to about 25%? My issue is that I’m interested in too many tech options (I.e., the ones that I own plus others I’d like to buy). I’m looking for suggestions on which I should sell, add to or replace by buying a better option. Some were initiated with half positions that went down and some full positions grew so the proportions all over the place. I have a long time horizon and many are held in a registered account (except SHOP and NVDA). I own: KXS (3.5%), CSU (3.8%), SHOP (2.7%), PHO (<1%), ZS (3.3%), TEAM (1%), NVDA (6.1%), AAPL (11%), MSFT (4.6%) and I’m interested in buying REAL, DOCU and GOOG. I’d like to own what are viewed as solid tech companies for future innovation and growth and I’m willing to add, remove or replace any of these companies.

I also need to add materials and REITs to my portfolio since I currently have no holdings in these. I’ll use my tech trimmings to add to these sectors. Suggestions of top companies for these two sectors would also be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks for all the great work and suggestions you provide,
Lisa

Q: Hi,
I would like to start a new position in L and CSB and increase my existing position to CCL. Defensive portion of my portfolio, long term hold. Would you endorse? Also, can you please comment on L current valuation. Thank you!

Q: I am not a active investor. I want to invest some money with a investment horizon of 10-15 years.
Can you suggest me 5 companies that should do good over the next 10-15 years

Q: This question is about diversification and percentage of stocks vs ETFs. In my overall portfolio (combined tfsa, rrsp, and non-registered), I have roughly 37% VFV/ZSP, and the rest fairly equally weighted across ENB, KXS, SHOP, VGH, AQN, BEP.UN/C, BIP.UN/C, BNS, CPX, GDI, NVDA, RY, TEAM, VGG, TRP, BAM.A. I'm in my mid 30s and have a long time frame, but would prefer to position for short term performance as much as possible. So, with some cash to allocate, can you please recommend a couple US and CAN stocks to add to this mix (or recommend just adding to what I hold)? Also, given your recent market update on covid vs sector performance, what would you do with the VFV/ZSP allocation? I am open to moving that allocation to stocks instead of an ETF, and am wondering if I should take that path, and how best to position there given the big tech names/top holdings in the ETFs, vs some holdings across sectors that are currently down. Thanks!

Q: I would like to increase my portfolio exposure to materials and industrials. When it comes to materials, I own NTR and was thing of adding a position in SJ. I am not entirely comfortable with this buy (concerns about slow growth), but I can't simply find a better alternative. What are buyable (quality + reasonable valuation) companies in the materials sector that you think are better than SJ? When it comes to industrials, I was think of starting long-term positions in EIF and CAE because of their recovery potential due to low valuation. Is there anything that you find concerning in these two?

Q: I am looking to potentially harvest some tax loss for future use and have the following questions:
BTE - if I sold BTE, what is a good proxy to park the money in with similar torque to improving sector fundamentals?
PTE - is there any hope for this or is it finally time for me to accept that it was a bad investment
Nobilis - I noticed it reappeared on the OTC as NRTSF but looks like the price and volumes are close to zero (or am I missing something?)....time to donate to my broker in exchange for a capital loss?

Thanks as always!!!

Scott

Q: I hold both CAE (TFSA) and RTX (RRSP) as my industrial exposure and am starting to feel that it is too much focus on aerospace. The delisting of RTX from the DOW raises more concerns and it has been disappointing. Do you think both need to be held? If one was to be let go which one would you choose? What are your current favorite industrials in both Canada and the US as potential replacements and why? Do not need funds anytime soon as federal defined benefits pension/retirement is still 25+ years away.

Thanks so much for the fantastic service!

Q: Could you provide your opinion on these companies? Are they a buy at current prices? Thanks.