Investment Q&A

Q: I'm wondering if you've had a chance to look at Espial (T.ESP) yet. With the trend towards cutting traditional cable in favour of video on demand plus the advent of smart TVs, they may be very well positioned to do well.

Thanks for a most invaluable service.

Q: I am considering buying 2 smaller companies--Input Financial (INP on venture)and Sandvine (SVC). I did a search on previous answers and found them most useful.
However I also use technicals and find that both right now have some extreme readings which normally would indicated they are trading at an unsustainable high.
Is it a reasonable time to take a position, given caveats (especial on Input Financial) which you mentioned in your early January answers?
Bryon in Elmira

Q: Hello and Happy New Year,

I need to reduce my portfolio by one stock, it's between AYA & MCR. Both stocks returns have been equal for me. Could you please advise on which one to drop.

Thanks

Q: OTC : One week ahead of earnings reporting, Open Text announces buying OTX Group with cash (with some financing) and shares of OTC. At the moment the market does not like this - presumably because of the financing?? What do you expert analysts think of the deal and where the stock will go?

Q: Hello Stellar 5i Team, please help me with AYA. It appears frequently as a top pick even though your latest report is out of date and the stock is up 100% from Sept 2012. True revenue growth is off the charts in part from great but not cheap acquisitions. But the company is not profitable, has therefore no ROE, it no longer has a stellar balance sheet; enormous G&A costs at 75% of revenue offset the appealing 97% GP margin. Annualized cash flow of only $12 million as a percent of market cap an is puny at less than 2%. When will growth translate to high returns on equity and how do you make sense of valuations like the 244x cash flow and over 5x revenue? I have locked in my SUM gains and am attracted to the recent 15% decline in the AYA price but am really struggling with the fundamentals here.

Q: your opinion short term on HGN

Q: Could you please comment on the results of Sylogist Ltd (SYZ) which were released this morning? Thank you, Peter

Q: Hi 5i

Can I get your opinion on VCM?

They paid a special dividend and it looks like they have lots of cash and higher margins. Is it a good buy at $5.76?

Thank you

Q: Hi Peter and Team,

I have held WIN for for a long time and no matter how many deals they seem to sign the litigation costs seem to eat into any revenue gains. Is it time to move on to other opportunities?

thanks

Q: Current thoughts on BB ?

Q: What do you think of Symbility Solutions (TSX-V: SY) now?

Q: Some people propose screening companies using the following:
*level of compounding capital/level of capital efficiency
*High returns on equity / high profit margins
*Low to no debt
*High levels of mgt ownership
If applied to your say B+ and higher rated companies - which ones look to meet the criteria the closest.

Thank you.

Q: We happily renewed our subscription today for 2 years. Thank you for all the great research.

We own CAE and after patiently waiting for 3 years it has finally made a move. The company recently made a new defense contract . Do you follow this company and what do you think of the aerospace industry? thanks

Q: Do you know why DSG on the Nasdaq surged at the end of the day significantly above the Canadian price?
Thanks

Q: Good morning:
The future sky would be full of drones according to some people
for delivering and for monitoring purposes
I have a small position on both AVO and MDA
I wonder if any companies would benefit from this trend
of drones in the sky ? Thanks

Q: Would greatly appreciate your valued opinion on Arris Group(ARRS)?
Thanks.

Q: With respect to the Obama care fiasco, it would seem CGI (GIB.A) was not provided with reasonable time to implement and try the system. Of course, CGI could hardly come forward and contradict the US and its president on the matter. This makes for a rather uneasy context, and the reflection on the company's abilities may not be fair. And the alternative to CGI (ACCENTURE) is not exactly impeccable. The dust has not settled yet.

Q: Can you offer some commentary about contract manufacturing companies that produce electronic circuit boards and other components? I am looking at companies like SMTC, SANM, ESYS, SPA and ELTK. Are there other Canadian companies (besides SMTC) worth looking at?

Q: Having the health care contract terminated by the US Government is definitely bad optics for CGI Group, GIB.A, and I know this one contract is not a meaningful size for them, but how does this affect future govt contracts Canadian and US, which I believe are a significant portion of their annual revenue? Also unnamed sources say "that CGI has not been effective enough in fixing the problems with HealthCare.gov", so in view of their high profile of this issue over many weeks and inability to solve it, could this be a cockroach we see with many others we don't as yet? Thanks, J.

Q: HI. COULD I HAVE YOUR OPINION ON GIB.A-T. THANK YOU.