Investment Q&A

Q: Hi there,

I worked in the government for 15 years and I am 41 years old. I am eligible to get a transfer value for my service which would be roughly 250k within RRSP limits and 250K outside RRSP limits (or) I can collect an indexed pension pension of approx $2600 (todays value) at age 60. I did the calculation and I find that if I make about 7% I am better off than the pension plan taking the transfer value..Please give your opinion on this. Is this doable? If I do end up taking the transfer value can you suggest how I should invest it? I have a period of 20 years before I can withdraw from it. Would it be appropriate if I invest a portion of it by mirroring your model and divident portfolio? What should I do for international allocation? US allocation? Are there some investments which I can make which are not very market dependant? This is very important for me and I value your opinions. I realise this is more than one question so fell free to use more than one question credit as appropriate to respond. Thanks very much.

Q: What do you think of CP's answer regarding how they calculate their earnings?

http://business.financialpost.com/news/transportation/canadian-pacific-railway-executives-off-guard-by-bs-comment-in-conference-call

And on a related note, was there anything in CNR's (Canadian National Railway) earnings to cause concern? Management reaffirmed forward guidance and it looks "cheaper" now, on a forward p/e basis, than it has in a long while.

Thanks,

John

Q: Should I prefer LGT.A or LGT.B ?

Q: BAM is down today. what is your opinion of the company and if you like it, is this a good entry point?

Q: I have just read that 7 minutes after the market close, 250,000 shares of ZEN were crossed. Is trading of these shares legal after the market is closed? Thanks

Q: Thank-you for your excellent article on preferred shares providing much needed perspective on a very complex and misunderstood asset class. The comment below however could be unintentionally misleading. Other than a default situation (which can occur in any asset class), an investors capital would never fall to essentially zero. While there could be a decrease in value of these securities in certain market environments (like we are in now) there will always be an open market for them and they can be sold relatively easily to raise capital. Thanks.

"In other words, the investor could deal with the invested capital declining to essentially zero, as long as the income is maintained to meet whatever the cash flow needs are. Preferred shares can make a lot of sense when you need cash flow, but do not need the capital."

Q: Hi 5i,

What do you guys think about the recent financing of bam.a? This is a stock I have been looking to buy for a while. I am looking to perhaps sell home capital and replacing it with brookfield. I am a little cautious about valuation however, all the great stocks are always expensive.
Thanks for the great job, and keep doing those blogs!!

Q: Could you please sequence the below stocks taking into account Macro factors, sector, industry and most important company specific factors.
Using roughly the following criteria:
1 capital preservation
2 Dividend yield and growth prospects
3 quality of management
4 recession resistant ( some )

CHR.UN
DRG.UN
CAR.UN
LW.UN
MBK.UN
AW.UN
BEP.UN
CHE.UN
ECI.UN
ENB.UN
PZA
WIR.UN
ALA.UN
I own some of the above but adding would not be an overweigh issue. I am overweight energy.
Comments would also be appreciated
thanks
Yossi

Q: Peter,
Carmanah want to issue 40% of the existing float, will ask shareholder approval (done deal, of course...) get insiders to buy 500000 shares that (i think) will be sold immediately to the brokers as kindle for shorts. I called the CFO who was "surprised" by my call. This deal I do not like, but as usual I could be very wrong or not. This is a company that I have followed for 13 years and had his share of hiccups but riding the solar wave has given the new CFO wings to call Canacord, Comark (upgraded the stock to to pick 03/31..) and Salman (upgraded the stock from 3.15 to 4.6 0n march 5th..)as underwriters.
Are we facing down the road the days of reckoning or is this regular business deal.
Your experienced judgement will be appreciated.

Q: Is this still going to be sold?

Q: I own WSP/AW.UN/HNL/CGX/STN/BDI/CRW/IFP. Are all these stocks considered as services stocks? Since I own so little of each I would like to sell some and increase the holding in the ones that I should keep. Which ones should I sell and which ones should I keep?

Thanks
Dolores

Q: What two relatively safe stocks would be good addition to the following list of stocks: BAC, BEP.UN, MFC, ET, T.

Thank you.
Milan

Q: With oil prices stabilizing or increasing, what are the implications of the reduction in the high fuel margin tailwind that resulted from falling fuel prices? Is recent weakness just profit taking or is this part of the reaction to high multiples in the consumer staples sector. I have reduced my position from 28% to 17% over the last few months. Would you recommend reducing some more? To what level?

THanks,
Hans

Q: What % range would you consider acceptable ( min to max ) for financial stocks for a middle aged dividend investor with 7 years to work and a goal of building up a portfolio that will pay dividend income upon retirement. I invest in all sectors with ETFs, individual stocks and a small number of mutual funds ( Chow etc ). My portfolio includes small mid cap and large cap, both in Canada and worldwide. I find even non industry specific ETFs are on average 20% in financial stocks. Tough to keep under 20% when you start buying PWF, BMO, BNS, SLF etc.

Many thanks

Paul

Q: Atd.b has not had strong technicals lately, coupled with what I would call heavy inside selling, in excess of 29m. Could I please have your further thoughts
Thanks

Q: Keith Richards at Value Trend Wealth Management who appeared on BNN Market Call Tonight is of the view that S&P500 could see a 20% plus correction this summer. His reasoning was primarily based on Technical Analysis. He also mentioned that at present, retail investors (dumb money) are twice as much bullish as sophisticated investors like pension fund managers (smart money). What are your thoughts on this prediction for an imminent market correction?

Q: I am a shareholder fo this one. Fro the past few months it has inched up hitting new highs almost every week. How do you intepret this kind of trading? Is it possible evidence of quiet accumulation by a fund or institution? No reported inside buying except for some smallish trades as recently as this week. I can see it being taken private by the Pollard family or bought out.

Q: Hi Gang Do not paint all Prefs with the same brush I hold 18% in the above prefs and classify them as fixed income .My fear is when they are called is my tax liability .I hope they are not called and have not traded below issue price for a long time I even sold some for$28 a few years back .But I agree with most of your assessment on pertpetual prefs in this interest rate envoiment.
Regards Stan

Q: TD seems to be having a problem again with its site. (streaming quotes etc.)

Q: what is the difference between the A and B shares. One seems to trade and the A shares hardly at all? Thanks as always