Investment Q&A

Q: Mainly for entertainment purposes, I listen to Jim Cramer. Something he said stuck with me. He said that one of his greatest mistakes was to not invest during the last oil downturn. That he missed the 50% plus recovery. Historically, isn't the time to buy the energy sector when the price of WTI is cut in half from its high? I'm thinking of buying SurgeEnergy, which has increased the dividend twice recently, so that for once, I'm not one of the last to buy an energy stock, which was the case in 2014! Can you punch a hole in my line of thought?

Q: Hi
I have some new money to put to work. Which three names in the growth portfolio would you suggest buying at current levels?
Thanks,
Curtis

Q: Dear 5i
I am two years away from retirement and currently switching over my portfolio to a self directed acct at Questrade .
I want to be fairly conservative in my portfolio and feel that a 30% Equity 70% Fixed income would be appropriate .
I will be using 5i for stock selection . I`m just uncertain if 70% Fixed income is too much or not considering possible interest rate hikes down the road . Are there other fixed income investments other than Bond ETF`s , GIC`s cash etc . Also with bond etf`s are both interest and yield paid or is it one or the other only ?
Thanks
Bill C.

Q: i am thinking about full position in both SIS and PBH. I bought a little SIS before Xmas but wonder if I should move in another direction on these 2 as they have done very well recently. I have been contemplating for a while but wonder if I should wait for a pull back. Would KXS or GSY be another option? I am not to heavy in any of these sectors.
On another note I bought SHOP a while back, thanks! Your team has been a wealth of knowledge.

Q: I would like to add VIG and SPY to my RRSP account for both a 5% weight. Would you recommend both for a 5% weight? The only US stock that I own is RSG.

Thanks

Q: I know you longer have CGX in your portfolio but if one want to keep this stock and is 7% of the portfolio should I sell to make it a 3% holding? It is in my daughter TFSA and do wonder if she should sell all and replace with one of technology stock as she has only PHO.V as her technology holding and has many years hopefully before needing the money.

Thanks
Dolores

Q: I'm having difficulty interpreting the CRA's defination of eligible expenses for investment consel. Are the fees paid for 5i's portfolio reviews considered an investment expense that can be claimed on tax returns? Thankyou for your reponse.

Q: Is general electric company a sell,hold or buy more
thank you.

selina

Q: Recently I asked a question about Crius "Where are the earnings?"

You replied on April 19th that "Crius made 44 million last year." I had hoped for something more detailed but I obviously should have asked a more detailed question.

To that end, Crius lost 74.9 million the year before (2015) although part of it was one time. If you combined the two years, the payout is hardly 60% of earnings.

My questions are:

1) Has Crius had positive earnings in years prior to 2016? I understand it's a relatively new company and a series of losses aren't that unusual.
2) I feel that you think Crius has turned a corner at this point and 2016 will be more typical than 2015. If so, could you explain your reasoning. I'm considering an investment.

Q: Can you explain what is Full Position ?

Q: The company is releasing earnings 2 months after the last release and not the usual 3 months. Is this a concern? Thank you.

Q: What is your opinion on long term hold of Broadridge Financial Solution (BR-N)

Q: Being only a few days from earnings release. Wouldn't CRH management be in the blackout period? Releasing a short report when management potentially cannot respond (not sure about this), would that not technically be a violation of the CFA ethics code of conduct under market manipulation? Would this not trigger some kind of review by the CSC or another regulator for taking advantage of the inopportune timing?

Q: With CRH down drastically two days in a row on two short reports, management has not made a response which leads me to believe these reports are probably true which will result in a poor earnings report. Shouldn't they have responded. Your opinion please. Thanks

Q: Peter: ARZ has gone through a significant drop over the last few months. On the RBC website Morningstar has it as "undervalued". What is your view for the future of this stock?
Have a great day... Joe Zadel

Q: Could you please comment on Condor Petroleum, I know Peter has commented on them many years ago.

Q: Thinking of adding a small cap with growth potential.
Would either CHH or NPC offer an opportunity in your view?
Many thanks
Wayne

Q: Hi Peter and Team,

Could you please comment below The Motley Fool's analysis about CRH.
"CRH made three acquisitions in 2016 for controlling interests of anesthesia companies with two of the acquisitions for 51% of the targets, and the third acquisition for approximately two-thirds of the business.
Because CRH now owns more than 50% of these companies, it is able to include 100% of the revenues and earnings from these firms on its balance sheet, boosting total earnings substantially while distributing only approximately half of the acquired value to shareholders.
On the bottom of the financial statements, we can see that net income “attributable to shareholders” was $10.6 million in 2016 and net income “attributable to non-controlling interests” was $5.5 million, meaning more than a third of the net income produced by CRH in 2016 is not attributable to shareholders of the company.
It is important to differentiate the two; looking at the financial statements from a high-level perspective, the numbers may seem impressive, and the growth rates often stated on press releases or in the media may make investors wonder why they didn’t pick this “growth gem;” however, the numbers used are clearly artificially inflated by more than one-third, and the overall indebtedness attributable to shareholders is more than one-third higher.
Shareholders who are not careful to take note of the adjustments may be disappointed when they understand that their overall equity as a percentage of the total company is actually shrinking.
The percentage of net income attributable to shareholders has been decreasing at an alarming rate due to the manner in which CRH is completing its acquisitions. As of Q4 2016, over 45% of the company’s quarterly net income was not attributable to shareholders, meaning in 2017 investors can expect to cut most of the numbers shown on the financial statements in half for the sake of accuracy."

Thanks

Q: How to catch a falling knife and when do you know it's hit the floor?

In your opinion, considering all the media, short attack pirates, and the massive volatility that have come to life so quickly. How would you play picking up CRH medical? I see technical levels at 7.99 for different measures as a resistance level. Or perhaps it would be prudent to spend time on the sidelines and watch this one. Or would it be best to watch the moves of institution buying as a sign of confidence for those who have done their homework vs. stop losses begetting further selling? I see this company as having a lot cleaner financials, so I don't feel too worried taking a small position at $8.00.

Q: I realize you guys have to be diplomatic, but the rationale that the shorts (different people in each case, by the way) were right on other stocks so they are probably right again is laughable. And it should be pointed out that just a month ago Motley Fool (not exactly the cream of the investment crop anyway) issued a very positive report on CRH.
http://www.fool.ca/2017/03/22/investors-forget-valeant-pharmaceuticals-intl-inc-check-out-crh-medical-corp-instead/

Thanks,

Alex