Investment Q&A

Q: Good Morning,

Solium Capital has dropped into undervalued territory (according to the Royal Bank). It is a technology company, has a lower Beta, derives its revenue from recurring software licensing fees, has a global presence - Canada, U.S., Europe, Australia - has positioned itself for continuing growth, and has a great management team which has a track record of successfully growing businesses from scratch and then selling them. My question - will Solium be a likely takeout candidate in the coming quarters?

Q: Hi Peter et al, I see BCE has been downgraded by two analysts from Hold to Sell. It has performed so well for me and I love the dividend, so what am I missing? Is it tome to unload some of it? It's about 6% of my portfolio so I could take a bit off... Thanks!

Q: I have held this stock for many years and it has performed very well. The company has recently indicated that 2015 revenues and earnings will be lower due to the strong US$. What is your opinion of this stock - would you advise selling now, and if so what healthcare companies do you recommend?

Thanks

Geoff

Q: With their recent results in mind would you consider this a good entry point?do you see much potential for growth?

Q: REIT values have been improving, American dollar strengthening, but mrg.un has been languishing in spite of the fact that American properties are held. Should we be switching to another REIT? Is there an explanation other than it is thinly traded?

Bruce

Q: Hi,Peter
If you remove oil, gas and precious metals of the equation, in your opinion, and in direct relation to your significantly bullish views on the world economy in your written comments on BNN, what commodity has the most leverage from the following: agriculture (fertilizer, grains) uranium, copper, metals (iron ore, steel, tungsten,lead, RE, etc...)coal or any particular commodity(ies) you think of, and from there could you highlight a few Canadian companies that will benefit the most from it.
Thank you very much,
Claude

Q: I am investigating this one. It is at about half book, more out of favor than its sector, appears to have lots of upside if you look at 52wk range but a nasty looking multi-year chart. I would appreciate any knowledge you could share on this one. Should it survive $35 oil if oil goes there. Is something broken in this company that you are aware of. Many thanks for a great service.

Q: I just sold IBM and GE, Otherwise little US exposure. Also, I also have limited exposure to Canadian oil about 4%. One consideration for US is Vanguard US dividend Appreciation (hedged). They do have a non hedged. Since I only have 4% oil exposure maybe BTE or something else. BNS or TD is another thought since banks are down. Your thoughts would greatly appreciated.

BTW great job.

Q: I was looking at the different European etfs in Canada
ZEQ, XEH, XEU, EUR and VE. In your opinion which one of these
would you pick as and investment vehicle in Europe at the present time and why

Q: Hello 5I Team
I see that Mike Newman noted that 50% of MFC's revenue came from the U.S. and Asia. I believe that MFC have made quite a focus on the wealth management business in the U.S. Such things should be fairly positive for MFC should they not, considering the weak loonie.

Thank You
Clarence

Q: I am always looking for better entry points into water related stocks. They generally trade at a premium. MWA recently dropped after earnings. I appreciate any insight you can offer on MWA and, as always, appreciate your efforts.

Q: It took a big fall after the quarterly report this week. I see BMO downgraded the stock around concerns of increased competition. Looks like an interesting valuation with nice dividend yield at current price. My concern is that it's very dependent on one or two drugs so I'm a bit nervous in buying. Thoughts? Thanks

Q: Hello team
I know you have respect for Jason Donville and I do also. Yesterday on BNN he floored a question on DHX media. He seemed to have an issue with the way they dealt with some revenue stream accounting which I don't quite understand. There was nothing dishonest about it but he seemed to feel that the ROE (he likes 20% ROE) and profitability metrics weren't there. He seemed to question the revenue stream from the media inventory.
I know the 5I team likes the stock so what is your balance on what Jason says. Is 20% ROE a stretch in some cases.
It takes two to make a market !
Without Prejudice
Thank You
Clarence

Q: In response to a question on how to download market data directly into Excel, this is what I use:

=NUMBERVALUE(WEBSERVICE("finance.yahoo.com/d/quotes.csv?s=" & A2 & "&f=l1"))

In this case cell A2 contains the symbol I would like the information for (ie ALA.TO for AltaGas). The l1 looks up the last trade price. The website below shows other codes to use to lookup other information.

http://www.jarloo.com/yahoo_finance/

For example =NUMBERVALUE(WEBSERVICE("finance.yahoo.com/d/quotes.csv?s=" & A2 & "&f=j1")) will get the Market cap.

Unfortunately WEBSERVICE is a non-volatile function, meaning it doesn’t re-download the information from the web automatically. To refresh, you need to either

- Hit CTRL+ ALT + F9
- If that doesn’t work for some reason on your computer you must use VBA to refresh at opening (Application.CalculateFull) .

It is a little complicated for some, but is the only good way I have found if you want to stick with Excel and not move to Google Sheets.

Q: just wondering if you have put a call out to those guys yet as promised?

Q: I have already been reducing my financial weighting and doing some rebalancing - and not just because TD decided to take their own sweet time with the dividend! My current Energy sector weighting is 7.7% with the banks...well you know I'm your typical Canadian. I'm thinking on increasing the Energy weighting to roughly 10% by adding to existing positions in PEY, VET and a good oil reserve modelling company. Lately when I read the questions I get the sense you are advising against the purchase of energy companies yet rebalancing (selling the overweight to buy the underweight) seems to be a good strategy. I guess I am a little confused - should I delay rebalancing until the Energy sector is less volatile?
Thanks

Q: Peter I have held this stock since I joined your group and has served me well I was however disappointed how far it in rating last year the leadership seems more focused on tv ratigs than the core buissness .I have about a 20% gain in capital on it .My question is would you sell and pick up AW ?
Kind Regards
Stan

Q: Could please advise if you have any insight on Imperus technologies.(lab.v).There are in the hot internet gambling space and the president and board of directors just took part in of financing putting in $500,000.00 and $250,000.00 each.The people they have brought on board have an impressive track record.They also just completed a takeover of a larger private company called Diwip.They seem to be ramping up to get into the mobile space.Looks very promising.
Thank you,

Q: Hello Peter. holding this stock for quite some time (before launch of 5i) and has done very well for me. As such it is now a 9% portfolio weight. As much as I still like it, but getting bit worried from portfolio management point. Do you think it would be prudent to reduce weight say to 5% . Your opinion, please. If you recommend selling some then please advise some 2-3 other choices with a similar characteristics - safety, income and growth. Thanks.

Q: Hi Peter,
I would like to download market data on stocks from a source for analysis. Could you please give me a source for this data preferably in excel format.
Regards
Simon