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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: Hi,
I would like to buy some preferred shares as I don't have any Preferred's in any of my accounts but with so many different descriptions out there I'm not sure what I should be looking for. For instance I would like to have a high yield ( > 4.5% ) and a guaranteed return of capital on a set date if held until that date (if there is such a thing out there). I see many new offerings come out through TD & Scotia iTrade but these are usually closed very quickly.

For instance this one came out this morning:
"TD Direct Investing would like to inform you that the following New Issue has just been announced.

Element Fleet Management Corp. - 5.75% 5 Year Rate Reset Preferred Shares, Series I

Short Description: Offering of Cumulative, 5-Year Rate Reset Preferred Shares, Series I via Bought Deal
Price: $25.00 CDN per share.
Settlement: On or about May 5, 2017."

This sounded good but by the time I tried finding out more about the offering it was closed already.

So, is there some guidance you can give on what "buzz words" to look for when a new issue comes out so I can put my "expression of interest" in before the offering is closed?
I guess what I would really like to know are the following:
1) Are 5-Year Rate Reset Preferred shares the best option for capital preservation?
2) Is it best to try and buy Preferred shares on a new offering or to look in the open market?
3) Is there a Preferred share Class that guarantees your original capital outlay?
4) Any other guidance you can offer in looking for the best: time / place / kind when looking for Preferred's?
5) And finally, once I find a suitable Preferred offering - which account type would you recommend best to hold in for tax purposes (i.e.- reg. vs non-reg.)
Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Alan on April 27, 2017
Q: An interesting Globe article on Sunday entitled “This investor purchases ‘small, obscure, ugly and scary’ stocks” lead me to David Desjardins personal site where he talks about his “Net cash value” investing approach and more specifically his recent research report on Western Resources or WRX which he deems to be trading below it’s NCAV.

What are 5i’s thoughts on Western Resources? Anything you have on the company would be appreciated, thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Craig on April 27, 2017
Q: Which one of these 4 companies would you buy today
for growth and long term hold? (disregarding sector)
In which order would you rank them?
Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Uli on April 27, 2017
Q: Please give your updated (and substantive) opinion on Seagate. Your previous commentaries, although recent, were written before the gap down in STX price today. What are the company’s prospects? Is it strong enough to compete against Western Digital and others? Is STX at today’s lower price a good buy? Is dividend safe? Does STX have the wherewithal to make acquisitionists in a flash memory maker. I am looking more for your insight—your instincts based on facts. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Adam on April 27, 2017
Q: Can you confirm that ZUB is the better from a performance analysis standpoint. My take is that as both are priced (?) in CAN $, ZBK will reflect changes in the US/CAN $ relationship which are separate from the underlying bank performances while ZUB because it is hedged will be a more accurate measure of the underlying assets behaviour. Is this correct?
Read Answer Asked by Mike on April 27, 2017
Q: I know you commented on DBO on Monday, but the share price has dropped another 10% since then.The share price has been dropping for almost a year now. I was considering giving it another quarter but I feel mgmt is taking the company in the wrong direction with the talk about moving into the Motion Industrial training market, which is very niche. That and the numbers continue to disappoint every quarter. Is it time to let DBO go? Earnings are mid June.
Read Answer Asked by Adam on April 27, 2017
Q: Hello,

I just want to make sure I fully understand the dividend and tax differences amongst different companies. Could you please list where these different scenarios are best held (TFSA, RRSP, Non Registered), how much they are taxed, and any other important tax information (i.e. which dividends need to be reported, eligible dividends, other common scenarios etc.). This question obviously has many parts so dock as many questions as you see fit.

A) US company with US dividend trading on US exchange:

B) US company without dividend trading on US exchange:

C) Canadian company with US dividend on Canadian Exchange:

D) Canadian company with no dividend trading on US exchange:


Thanks in advance!

Alex
Read Answer Asked by Alex on April 27, 2017
Q: Sorry another comment that Members owning CRH may find comforting and certainly shows the clear difference between it and Valeant/Concordia:

"At March 31, 2017 , the Company had $9,232,240 in cash and cash equivalents compared to $9,507,004 at the end of 2016. The decrease in cash and equivalents is primarily a reflection of cash generated from operations, less cash used to finance acquisitions during the first quarter of 2017"


Looking at the Cash Flow Statement: they generated CF-Op of $8M and acquisition cost was $7.5M. Net Debt did go up ~$3M to fund some distribution to non-controlling interest (need to dig more into note 4 for details).


The main point through is CRH earns real cash and finances its acquisitions mainly from its cash flow and not from out of control debt - as the Motley Fool article was suggesting.
Read Answer Asked by Jennifer on April 27, 2017
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