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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: Hello 5i Team
I am looking at adding funds to the small/mid cap energy companies, as I already own my desired holding in the majors (CNQ, IMO, SU) as a base position.

I am reviewing the royalty plays Prairie Sky Royalty and Freehold Royalty as potential companies due to the royalty companies having no exposure to operating costs/risks.

Please provide your opinion which is the better company of the two to purchase or should I split the dollar amount between the two companies? Should I wait till the Q4 results are published (Feb 10 for PSK, unknown for FRU) before making my final decision?

I note that CN Pension trust through Rife Resources Ltd. and Canpar Holdings Ltd. has a related interest, however I could not find how many shares CN Pension trust actually owns. Would you be able to provide the ownership of FRU by CN Pension trust.
Is there a major shareholder of PSK?
Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on January 29, 2020
Q: Do you consider any of these dividends to be unsustainable? Any other comments on these companies?
Read Answer Asked by James on December 11, 2019
Q: 5i
Oil represents about 5% of my portfolio and is comprised of Freehold, Vermillion, Surge and Whitecap. I cannot get a good feel as to where the price of oil is headed in the next 2 years. Appears to me there are conflicting views. Should I get out of the oil sector, invest in good dividend paying stocks that would be more stable and re enter the oil market or not at a later date. All my oil stocks do pay high dividends, are they sustainable. Appreciate your insight on both the oil market and potential stocks to invest in regardless of sector if you feel exiting the oil market may be the way to go.

W
Read Answer Asked by Wayne on December 09, 2019
Q: Hi 5iR Team, TD puts out a monthly consolidated report of its stock coverage universe. In the Sept. 30th report I looked at their Junior/Intermediate O&G stocks. I noticed that if I arbitrarily picked an upside % of 70% i.e. current price and TD's Target Price there were 13 stocks. The lowest was TOG at 70% upside and the highest NVA at 152%. In addition, some of the stocks like WCP and FRU are yielding 8%+. For me as an investor this is compelling data. Lastly, reading further into the report TD's O&G sector thinking as stated by their senior analyst is not Bullish. In other words TD does not appear to be exaggerating the facts, attempting to make some case for investors buying O&G stocks.........but the analysts in the field certainly feel incredibly positive on a number of Junior/Intermediate names.
How do I sort this out??
What would be 5iR's top Jr/Int. O&G picks?
Thanks team. Cheers, Chris

Read Answer Asked by Chris on November 19, 2019
Q: I picked up some FRU on the recent sell off. At the time I thought PSK was the more stable stock! How does FRU compare to PSK now? Is FRU in danger of succumbing to the same problems that have just hit PSK? Which do you consider the better stock?
Read Answer Asked by Gerald on October 30, 2019
Q: At around $7 it looks as tho FRU is heading for its IPO price almost 20 years ago, and PSK is not much better. the question seems to be - is this an indicator of future oil price and its value to the economy? Both these equities used to be considered relatively stable and possessing underlying value, current and future. Is this no longer true?
Read Answer Asked by Mike on October 25, 2019
Q: I've been looking over FRU since I saw your most recent answer to a Q about it. Seems remarkable the it is now trading at a price last seen in 2000! It is trading below it's 2008 low. My question is: Considering that oil is a declining asset has this company managed to increase its land holdings in oil over the last 20 years or is it on a slow decline? Also, how did it perform in the 2008 Great Recession?
Read Answer Asked by Gerald on October 11, 2019
Q: At $50ish WTI, if all I cared about was the DIV. sustainability and no bankruptcy, which of the above would you list as best.
thanks
Yossi
Read Answer Asked by JOSEPH on September 05, 2019
Q: Good Morning 5i,

So on this fine Friday long weekend morning, I'd like to pick the brains of people who've "been there and done that" much longer and more successfully than I, and have seen some things in the financial world first hand that I have not.

I want your opinion on oil and gas. Are we not watching one of these classic "blood in the streets" scenarios you always read about as investors and wish you'd had the fortitude to plug your nose and dive in? The shares of almost every publicly traded company in the space are being thrown away for nothing. The good ones, the bad ones, the ones making money, the ones losing money, good balance sheets, bad balance sheets - it's almost irrelevant. If they're in the space they're being slaughtered.

So if the thesis is:

a) it will take a lot longer to power the world with worm casings, pixie dust, and unicorn farts than some would have us believe (i.e. hydrocarbons are not going anywhere in the foreseeable future)

b) a surprising number of these companies have solid balance sheets

c) a surprising number of these companies are earning profits hand over fist, doom and gloom aside

If a, b, and c are indeed true, you'd have to believe a lot of these companies trading at historic lows will eventually make investors a lot of money. Like buying Florida real estate in 2009.

What am I missing? What holes can be shot in this thesis, looking at it objectively?

I take the point that there is no catalyst to change things or excite investors in this space (although I do get surprised from time to time that the fact that a company can throw off ridiculous amounts of profit and return it to shareholders via dividends and buybacks doesn't itself become a catalyst, but I digress...)

I also take the point that these scenarios can persist for a lot longer than people think they can before things change.

Single-company risk is always there, I understand that, but I reject the idea that all of these companies are headed for bankruptcy.

Aside from patience and the stomach to watch your investment get hammered in the short term - where exactly are the risks?? This seems like such a great buying opportunity that I feel I have to be missing something.

Thank you for whatever insight you can share, and happy long weekend to you and your families!

Ryan






Read Answer Asked by Ryan on September 02, 2019