Investment Q&A

Q: In a conservative mood a few years ago, and with a high Canadian dollar, we loaded up on consumer staples stocks. Now, we are thinking of lightening up and putting the money into another sector. We are having difficulty deciding which one to hold and which ones to sell, amongst Conagra, Campbell's Soup and General Mills. We have good profits in them all and they are in our RRSP. Can you give us an idea of how one would approach this and what criteria would be important and ultimately, which ones to hold and which to sell?
thanks

Q: My semi retired brother has no income except OAS and a small CPP and essentially no assets except approximately $50,000 from our mother's assets following her death. He lives extremely modestly in his own home so needs very little month to month but has asked for my help in structuring a relatively safe portfolio from the $50,000 that will grow modestly with time while providing dividend income. I tried to develop a list with fairly low PE's, potential growth, good dividends, some diversification and some international exposure. From your list of stocks plus my own thinking I have come up with the following: Scotia Bank (BNS), Bell Canada (BCE), MacDonald Dettweiler (MDA), Power Financial (PWF), Sunlife (SLF), Boardwalk Reit (BEI.UN), Chartwell (CSH.UN), and TransCanada (TRP). There are only 8 in the list and I would prefer 10. Can you please comment on and add to my list and possibly suggest alternates (for example I struggled with TRP instead of Enbridge but opted for TRP because of higher dividends and lower PE understanding that ENB could have higher revenue growth). I considered Dream Global Reit (DRG.UN) but felt there must be a problem when the PE is very low and the dividend is very high. I very much value your opinion.

Q: Hello Team,
What were you impressions following todays conference call-particularly regarding the possibility of circumventing Fx costs in International trade when payments are made in Bitgold.It would appear that it would provide a gigantic competitive edge to the platform.Any other thoughts in considering this novel business.Andrew

Q: I would like to get you opinion on NTG Clarity for a microcap investment. They highlighted that they anticipate record q1 revenue and as far as I can tell the company trades fairly cheap. Within in the context of a microcap investment and the risks associated with them, is this a good entry point? Thanks

Q: why is there so much insider selling in BRCM ?

Q: Good Afternoon Folks,

Would you be kind enough to update me on your views on mvn?

Dennis

Q: I'm going through your growth portfolio, what about Guestlogix makes you think they are a longer term growth stock.

Q: With the most recent disappointing quarter, can you see much downside risk, compared to upside potential over the next few years with Avigilon, thanks?

Q: Hi Peter/group
I own the following health care stocks
- CXR
- MSL
- PHM
- XLV
- GUD
Recently I sold Catamaran (CCT)and on your recommendation I purchased CXR unfortunately it has gone down 15% in a month my question is take the loss and sell or?...Thanks for your thoughts... PS CXR seems to be getting especially hit hard as it is up substantially this year

Q: Hello9 Peter & Co,
Having no exposure to Lifecos, I'm debating between SLF and MFC; why has SLF (in your portfolio)so badly underperformed in 2015 ytd?
Thanks,
Antoine

Q: Hi Peter,
I was wondering if you had a simple explanation for market activity on days like this. If we believe Bloomberg, it seems that some slightly better economic news has prompted this sudden plunge in the market on fears of rate hikes. I'm trying to understand why this would cause anyone to sell, and what exactly they expect to happen? Do people sell all their stocks and then decide to just wait however many months it will take for a quarter percent rate hike to get back into the market? Is there some kind of expected gain here? Its not like the likelihood of rate hikes ought to be any kind of surprise anyway, so why are people pressing sell on everything?

Q: My portfolio of rate reset preferred shares (ENB, FTS, MFC, TD) is underwater by 5%. It's average dividend rate is 4% & all rate reset dates occur in 2019. I have two questions. 1) Why are rate reset preferred shares doing so poorly? 2) Is there any hope that their share price will improve in the future? Thanks ... Cal

Q: I'm helping my retiring parents clean-up/rebalance their portfolio. This is a two-part question that's related.

i) How important is it to compare their portfolio's performance to a benchmark?
ii) If i) is important, which funds/etfs can serve as a good benchmark considering their desire to generate a 3.5% dividend in a balanced portfolio?

Q: Hi 5i team,
I'd appreciate a clarification to your response to Michele this morning. You suggested it would be okay to add to OTC but in a post a few days earlier, after the big plunge of OTC, you indicated that you may have to review it's inclusion in the growth portfolio. I'm not sure if it means you've had another look at OTC and decided it's good to hold, even given current conditions. I'd appreciate clarification since I had been thinking about purchasing more (but luckily wasn't too quick to pull the trigger since it lost significant share price).
As always, thank you for everything you do!!!

Q: Hello, was wondering your thoughts on this company going forward.

Thank you
Anthony

Q: Hi Peter and Team!!! I am looking to add the following to my portfolio...Sunlife, SNC, BAM.A and Russell Metals. Your thoughts on these choices?? any caveats??? Thank you so much for your service!! Cheers, Tamara

Q: Could you give us your opinion on this company

Q: Hello Team,
! follow your stock commentaries with great interest!
As to above technology companies which would be your preferred choice?
I hold a small position in ESRX. Would you recommend alternatives?

Q: I have all of the holdings from your growth portfolio in my TFSA as per the percentages you recommended. I now have $10,000 more to add to my account. Would you recommend that I top up the companies that have done well or the companies that are down since buying them all? And/or would you suggest 3 or 4 that you think are the best bet at this time (so I don't have too many trading fees)?
Thanks so much, your advise is appreciated

Q: Can I have your thoughts on the latest quarter. Thanks.