Investment Q&A

Q: How would you rank these companies in terms of growth and risk level? which 2 do you believe offer the best risk/reward potential?

Q: Hi, 5i.

What are your top picks for consumer staples at this time?

Thank you,
Robert

Q: Hello Peter,
I have done well on bombardier and was thinking of selling my position and adding to alimentation couche tard to bring to 5% weight given the current debate on the control structure. The stock is down on the news and was wondering if the switch would make sense given Bombardier is more speculative, but 5% weighting of couche tard makes me a bit nervous. Please advise.

Q: Hi,
I may have timed out in my last attempt to ask this question so please ignore it if it's still in the queue.

I'm looking to add either PBH or ATD.B. I currently only own Loblaws in this space. Do you have a preference for a long term hold in an RRSP account?

Thank you,

Robert

PS. Love the ability to tag my favourite Q&As.

Q: Hello 5i team,
Could you shed some light on the recent comments by Alain Bouchard regarding Bay Street's opposition to extending the dual share structure while Prem Watsa just got the OK to extend the dual share structure; what is the conflict here? and how would this affect me as a shareholder?
Thanks,
Antoine

Q: Hello Peter
I have ATD.b in my portfolio,and after reading today article in The Globe And Mail http://www.theglobeandmail.com//report-on-business/couche-tard-chairman-says-bay-street-investors-blocking-founders-control/article29699072/ I would appreciate your opinion. Is this situation posing any serious danger to ATD.B (sell of) or is this opportunity to buy more of this stock, or do nothing is better option?
Thanks Andrew

Q: Hi 5i, I'm investing on my NEW TFSA, the stocks I'm thinking on choosing from are: PBH KXS ATD.B GUD NFI RRX OTC.
I would like to reduce the number of stocks to 4. Which one would you suggest I go with, for a 5 year investment, I would like to max my growth and I do not mind taking some risk.
Thanks

Q: I've been thinking about the long term prospects of ATD.B recently. In a North America where non-gas vehicles may see adoption rates that could outpace even the most optimistic estimates (cue the Tesla Model 3 and general Silicon Valley enthusiasm), where does that leave ATD.B?

Q: ATD.B announced the sale of assets this morning. Is there more to this than just the disposition of unproductive assets ?
Thanks, Nancy

Q: On the balance sheet November 2015 I note 4.7B in Equity. I note 7.3B in Goodwill and Intangible assets. The new acquisition will probably increase this significantly. Can I get your take on this. Also can you explain tax treatment when you write off Goodwill and Intangibles. Regards

Q: i am curious as to the pullback in the stock, is it earnings related, or rise in cdn. dollar or price of oil. dave

Q: I see you like this company over EMP.A which reported bad earnings due to write-off of goodwill from their safeway purchase & sales down in Western Canada due to low oil - I think this is just an excuse - the reason is probably poor integration - people need to eat! It seems to me that from a long-term perspective ( I am an investor not a trader ) EMP.a might present a better opportunity than ATD because: PEG ratio 1, PE to ROE is 1 - pay a dollar for a dollar of earnings, growth through acquisition with its inherent risk & virtually no dividend - I have a problem buying a stock that does not pay at least 3% with a history of increasing.
This situation reminds me of L when they had issues which brought their stock down- finally got their logistics system on track - stock steady increase over last three years.
Comments please.

Q: Do you know how ATD.B plans to pay for their acquisition of some of Imperial Oils gas stations?

Q: I am looking at adding to Consumer Non Cyclicals and will be holding for the long term (5+ years). Do you have any suggestions that have good growth opportunities and look fairly attractive right now?

Q: What would be your top picks in consumer staples stocks for 2016?

Q: What Canadian Companies have a great deal of their sales in USA and will benefit from low Canadian Dollar. I can think od atd.b, mal, lnr, mg, . Which ones would you recommend.

Q: we have purchased 450 shares of this stick at 28 50. would it be wise to sell 200 shares for profit or is there a good reason to keep it for a while thanks bill

Q: Could the following analyst be asking a valid question or is his POV just a ploy in the old game of getting one to trade?

"Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.’s share price has soared 60 per cent in the last year thanks to factors such as falling gasoline prices, a rising U.S. dollar, low interest rates and access to credit. But how long can the highs last?

“Seven years ago, a reverse scenario prevailed and we couldn’t convince enough investors to buy the stock,” David Hartley of Credit Suisse said in a note to clients on Monday. “Could we be at reverse point of inflection now?”

Also, just how important to ATD's profitability are gas margins compared to the rest of the business?

Full story is here: http://business.financialpost.com/investing/trading-desk/how-long-can-the-highs-last-for-alimentation-couche-tard-inc-shares

Thanks, J.

Q: Over the past few days, I have heard several talking heads on BNN (which I watch infrequently) disparage the Consumer Staples sector and ATD specifically, saying the valuations are too high. Which metrics are they using? You haven't rated ATD yet so I haven't found the answer on this site.
I like watching the technicals (but don't react to them). Neither the sector as a whole nor ATD is overbought and in fact the sector is closer to oversold. And, ATD has been on an unbroken uptrend since July of 2009 - but is that a bad thing?

Q: Hi Peter and Team,

I saw this article on National Post that could be driving down ATD.B. Sounds like Credit Suisse analysts are saying that its price to cash flow ratio is inflated and that it's driving a bubble in consumer stocks. What are your thoughts on this? I have a fairly large position (~8%) in ATD.B and don't want to get caught in a sector falling out of favor (like what just happened in biotech).

Jordan