Investment Q&A

Q: Hi Peter and Company,
Your thoughts and advice please, on these stocks. I am 72 and these are part of my RIF, fortunately not a large part. Thanks to you I have done just fine this past year.


MY COST
BXE $6.90
IDC $0.19 (very small position)
RFC $5.06
AVO $31.19

Excellent service!
Heather

Q: Would either one or both stocks be growth investments within a TFSA account, or, considering current market volatilty, would MBK.UN (Manulife US Regional Bank
Trust) be preferable?
Thank you for your valued input!

Q: I am a beginner in investments.My question is this: Do I have an avantage in buying American stocks these days with the Canadian dollar so low even if, for example I would buy for 10,00.00$ in US stocks and receive only about 7,500.00$ in value. Or would I be better off purchasing Canadian stocks and get their full value? Thanks.

Q: You have recently commented on a number of stocks which have declined "on interest rate fears". Why aren't rate increases already be reflected in stock prices ? Markets have known for ages that interest rates are likely to go up - though only slightly, and probably before year end. Is stock price volatility due to interest rate fears a reflection of speculative action ?

Q: Hi Peter & Co:

David's Tea just went public on the NASDAQ exchange. This is a Canadian company that I am told started in Toronto around 2008, and they now have over 150 stores in Canada and the US. Do you think this would be a good (short-term or long-term) investment?

Q: Hi, I trust you folks at 5i are well and in high spirits? I have incorporated the Growth Porfolio as part of my TFSA. Here is the thought. If the market were to suffer a substantial correction; say the TSX tanks 20%, how much will the Growth Porfolio likely to fall by? I don't know what the average beta of the Porfolio is, but I guess it might be north of 1.5 but are there any mitigating factors, say people will take the opportunity to pile into some of the constituents or will everything just drop like in 2008? Thanks as always. henry

Q: Hi,

What would be the defensive companies to buy in this environment when most of the investment managers appearing on BNN are recommending keeping between 20% to 40% cash. These companies would have the lowest decline if the market corrects. Would BIN fit this profile. Can you provide your top 10 in this category. Thanks

Q: Hello Peter & Co,
(1) On your summary table you indicate a start price for each security. If you also indicate a start date, we would have an idea of timeline.
(2) Big Correction: The Tech bubble and the 2008 downturn were both preceded (a few months earlier) by the flattening (even reversion) of the yield curve....we're nowhere near that as the yield curve is fairly steep.
(3) Sector allocation: If I only held the winners (like someone suggested), I would hold NO Energy; but that would not be wise, as you said. I reduced the Energy content last fall to 4% of my portfolio to energy producers (TOU,VET and WCP) and 6% to energy infrastructure (ENB,IPL,KEY and PPL).
For your Info
Thanks,
Antoine

Q: I have been a holder of Transforce for several years. My thesis for hanging on to it is that the company participates to some degree in the growth of ecommerce. I believe strongly in the future of ecommerce, but find it hard to find reasonably priced companies in that area to invest in. That is why I have invested in a shipper rather than the Amazons of the world. My questions are:
1) do TFI earnings in fact have a significant correlation to ecommerce or is that more apparent than real?
2) is FDX a buy right now on the ecommerce thesis? always seems out of my valuation and dividend is so low!
3) are there any other companies out there that you would recommend that fit into this theme (they don't have to be a shipper, I have looked there only because I like earnings and a dividend in the stocks I buy)
Cheers and good luck fellow investors!

Q: Hello 5i,


I need help in finding a good stock tracking software, one that considers different currencies and dividends also, as they are included in my portfolio. Is there software available specifically for this purpose. I do not need one with budgeting and all that other stuff. Your help will be much appreciated.


Thanks,

Q: I was hoping you could provide a rough outline as to how you would determine the inclusion of each sector in a balanced portfolio, and what weights you would allocate to each sector. I have reviewed each of the portfolios you have constructed, but I am still unclear, in some cases, as to which companies belong to which sectors, and what the ideal weighting for each sector is (e.g. financials, manufacturing, resources). I did read the descriptions of the sectors in the balanced equity and income portfolios (noting that your sector weight distribution varies between the portfolios), and understand the different goals of each, but I was wondering if you could either directly state, or point me to the appropriate resource which describes appropriate weights (or ranges of weights) of sectors within a balanced portfolio. If this question proves to be too broad for this forum, I will gratefully accept any guidance you would have to offer. Thank you for your time and efforts.

Q: Hi,

My question is regarding Andrew Peller's recent results and would like your comments. It looks like a strong quarter with increase in sales, gross margins and a dividend increase.
With a stock having no analyst coverage how does one get a guage on future earnings growth to know when a stock has become "expensive"?
Thanks

Q: Good Morning Peter, How do you look at selections from the month before that have lagged ? Is it a good chance to pick them up or do you steer clear ?
Thank you.

Q: In a $100,000 portfolio, keeping to a full position @ 5% = $5000, does it make sense to buy only 10 shares of CSU and/or approx 20 shares of VRX. As I am typing this I realize it is not the number of shares but the return on the $5000. Does this make sense.

Thank you as always.
Craig

Q: David Burrows on BNN believes in going with what is working and getting out of what is not working. He's one of the handful of BNN guests who seem worth listening to (Hodson is not bad either). What is working for me in Canada is tech, pharma, and some non-bank financials (ESL,CSU,MSL,EFN). What is not working are the pipelines and utilities (ALA,AQN). Should I be buying more of what works and selling down what isn't? Thanks for your comments.

Q: As investment companies such as Sprott diversify their fund holdings away from resource stocks is it fair to say that this ought to help liquidity and coverage of non-resource small cap stocks in Canada?

Q: I’m definitely more of a buy and hold investor than a trader, but with David Burrows’ words ringing in my ears – “The money’s gone! The market doesn’t know what you paid” -- I’m reassessing my Cenevous holding of two years (down about 30%) and I’m wary of the fact it’s close to breaking support, according to my Investorline data, at $20.23. In the same account (LIRA; currently has no cash), I also hold a small amount of the ZUB ETF. It’s at the upper end of its trading range for the last year and a half; is trending above its 20 and 200 day moving averages; on the verge of breaking out into a three-year high; and technically has moved up closing a gap with the S & P 500 trendline. I know it’s comparing apples to oranges, but I’m asking for a second opinion on dumping CVE for ZUB. (I have a full position in CVE, as well as full positions in WCP; PPY; and and a one-third position in SKX; in fact I’m considering clearing out all but SKX since there are bearish technical warnings for WCP and PPY as well). Other options: dump Cenevous for cash and either wait for another opportunity or buy Cenevous back at a cheaper price later in the year; or taking the Cenevous proceeds and putting them in Don Vialloux’ HAC ETF, which seems to trend steadily upwards, albeit unspectacularly, with his seasonal investing philosophy. ZUB, Cash or HAC? Your insight is very much appreciated.

Q: You have not commented on Norbord for a few months. Lumber futures have jumped nearly 20% in the past month while osb is barely creeping up. Looking forward, Europe and Asia are now both prime targets for Norbord and single family housing is picking up in the U.S. Do you think it is time to buy NBD or would a lumber company such as WEF be a better bet?
Thanks.

Q: There are changes to your webpages recently which really detract from reading through the questions and answers. Each time you click on 'read answer' another web page loads, and then returning to questions, takes you back to the top of the page, versus where you were reading, perhaps half way down through 20 questions. I very much appreciated the previous format, read a question, click on the answer and you stayed right in the main body of questions. Why have you changed the format? Thanks, Linda

Q: Exchange Income Fund has taken a sharp drop this morning of nearly 2%. Is there any news that would warrant this sell-off or is it just market related? Thanks!