Investment Q&A

Q: I hold Aecon (ARE) and have been planning to keep it for at least a year. But the recent earnings report shows significant drop in profit and earnings per share for both the year and quarter; although the dividend did increase nicely. I would be most interested in your opinion on its future.

You provide a great service for the independent investor. Many thanks
Elliott

Q: RDX - What do you think of the company and its recent transition to a franchise business model? I am still a little sceptical of the balance sheet but the company appears to be turning things around. They forecasted 2014 EPS guidance of 8 -12 cents per share. Is this to good to be true? Thanks.

Q: My question is about Enbridge. After having your read your report, I quickly looked at its P/E value which was in the 80s. For such a large company, I figured it was a bit extreme and quickly concluded (possibly to quickly) that this was a bit of line. However, I put it on my watch list and slowly watched it creep up a few dollars.

Tonight I decided to give a further look and although the company has a huge moat, excellent revenue increases over the years, I also realized the following:

- Net income, free cash flow, EPS, ROE, ROA, Gross Margin have been consistently going down over the past 5 years (some of which had quite large decreases)
- Long term Debt, Shares outstanding have gone up over the past 5 years.

What is it that makes this company attractive? It appears to
be a well liked company, for today and for its medium and long term prospects. However, key financial metrics appear to give a different story. Naturally, there must be more than financial metrics that make a company worth investing in or accountants would all be rich. What is that I am missing?

Thank You.

Q: BEP.UN This is not urgent.

In your research report you mention the related party transactions as an advantage, but are they not also a risk?

Seems that there could be instances where interests between ordinary shareholders and the parent could be misaligned (buying less-than-necessary services from the parent for example - I work for a complicated multinational - this does happen). A quick Google search to try to find the ownership structure for Brookfield companies yielded this:

http://sirf-online.org/2013/03/11/paper-world-of-brookfield-asset-management/

I'm not saying the article has everything right but I'd be interested in your comments.

Basically I would never consider buying this if it wasn't for the 5i conflict free pledge because I can't figure out the structure of it all and with the related parties I wouldn't ever be sure I was getting unbiased advise. Given you're rating, however, that makes me think it might be a unique opportunity if you've done your homework... Hence I am very intrigued to know how you assess the stock in context of the bigger Brookfield picture.

As this is one of your assessed and top rated companies, hopefully you can provide a fairly thorough response as I suspect others might be interested too as an addendum to the report.

Thank you

Q: Hello,

I have a few stocks on my watchlist so I was observing them intraday, my platform provides news on the stocks you're watching. One message I kept seeing was "Option Volume Spike Up, Option Volume Spike down" How does option volume affect intraday price movements?

Thank you

Q: Are there ETF's that fall under the 'ethical' umbrella? If so, can you suggest some names for income, dividend and more aggressive growth?

I recall previous questions about ethical investing - a word search would be useful.

Q: Hi Peter..

Looking over the spousal RRSP...the account is down over $15 000. I have around $14 000 dollars to invest. The portfolio of some stocks include Canadian Oil Sands, Bombardier and Rogers. The rest is in mutual funds. I want to get as much capital appreciation as possible since the account is down so much. I am down on Bombardier but hate to sell it...I think I have a $2000.00 left at mark value at this time. Should I sell bombardier? In what stocks or stock should I invest in. Remember I want as much capital growth as possible, while still investing in solid comapnies. While reading your responses from other questions you have mentioned some of the following companies:

AVO
Syz
SGY
CXR
STN
CSU
VRS (I have some already in other accounts)
DHX (I have some of this in other accounts)
AYA (lookin to buy in other accounts)
or does something else seem more fitting??

What would you do in my position? Thanks for your time and knowledge

Derek

Q: Thank you for the excellent advise on securities. 5iR is a wonderful value investment itself.
Can you provide an outlook on the forestry industry over the next few quarters? I have been bullish especially with the decline of the Cdn dollar, the strength in the housing market and potential for an uplift in exports. I am interested in CFP, WEF,IFP.A.

Q: Update....Peter....I recently e-mailed questions about energy in my holds. As backgrounder, I recently cut 5%, selling Paramount and Crescent Point. To reduce the exposure to this section, I'm inclined to sell CVE, a large market company as the smaller ones are expect to provide more likelihood of "pop" but from there, I'm having difficulties to get the mix "right" with oil and gas, and then add service providers.....Tom

Q: Peter and Staff:

What are your current thoughts on the Canadian energy sector as a whole? Gas vs. conventional oils vs oil sands oil?
In the gas sector PPY vs DEE (or other suggestions)
Oil (conventional and oil sands) SU vs CPG vs CVE

Thanks

Phil

Q: Would you have any change in your Nov 2012 assessment of Richelieu Hardware - RCH for 2014? I'm seeing analysts "strong buys" on this. Thanks

Q: Any thoughts on Old Republic International (ORI-N)? Looks cheap, apparently CEO is buying stock. Thanks, Brad

Q: Hi Peter and Team,

In previous answers to questions you've said that 1) earnings, 2) interest rates, and 3) flows of capital (e.g., from bonds to stocks) tend to be the main drivers of market activity.

What is your take please on these drivers so far this year in Canada? Are any trends emerging?

Many thanks.

Michael

Q: Do you anticipate a substantial pullback in the market in the next while?
How would you recommend to prepare for the possibility and
Would things would you recommend to do if it should come more suddenly than rxpected?

Thanks

Q: My granddaughter is 8 years old and has $15K in her RESP. Please suggest 3 or 4 names with good growth, reasonable valuation can be bought and held and will work well as a group. Thank you.

Q: Hello Peter and Staff
Should I be concerned re SLF. Since purchase, based mostly on recommendation here, plus some personal research, on Feb. 28 it has been steadily down - almost 5% - in less than 4 wks. Is there something new in the interim. Should I hang on hoping to make up that 5% and perhaps make a little more over the balance of the year. Thanks very much

Q: Do you follow any company that is in the 3D printing space, hardware and software. Are any Canadian companies involved in this very interesting process.
Thank you.
Terry

Q: Are the membership fees an allowable tax expense for federal and Prov Quebec . Also I hold both BNS and TD . Which of these two banks would you sell if you needed to raise some capital . Many Thanks Rick

Q: it is quite often suggested that so called allternatives can be benefical to diversify. could you advise? and also what would your opinion as to the weight and could you please comment on xal for this purpose? thank you kindly Larry

Q: I own BTO and am still in a positive position even with its drop to 3.43 today. Should I hold or better to switch to another gold. Only other one I hold is Goldcorp. Thanks. Helen