Investment Q&A

Q: Peter, my partner is interested in investing in companies that do not do animal testing and are in general ethical funds. Can you suggest any ETFs that make this their priority? I found a few UK funds but I was looking for something that may be listed on North American exchanges that we could directly invest in.

Q: In the questions you receive the term position is used when referring to stock holdings. Would you please explain what is meant by the phrases a full position & 2 half positions. Thanks.

Q: Markets in general. Andrew McCreath is stating that markets are over priced and "agrees with the OECD that the valuation accorded stocks has gotten ahead of the fundamentals". Is it time to sell or at least be extremely cautious at this point?

Q: Not a question, but a comment. Regarding continuing calls for a US portfolio by 5i. I am against it and do not want to see it happen. The way I see it is I pay for Canadian small to mid cap expertise from an expert in this field, why water that down? You can't be all things to all people. Thank you, and keep up the good work.

Q: If Graham goes to the Barrons website (barrons.com)and searches Telstra ADR there are some recent articles re Telstra that may assist in his decision.

Q: Hi, purely in terms of relative security of the dividend among these high dividend payers could you please rank in order VSN, KWH, ALA, ENF, RNW, IPL, INE.PR.C. Thanks.

Q: Telstra is an Australian telcom, not sure if you can help me with this. I have held it for several years and like the 5% dividend but my IA keeps wanting me to sell. I notice all his buy recommendations are funds or ETF's. What do you think of Telstra?

Q: I recently purchased share certificates that included warrants, I have converted those certificates to actual cash shares and deposited them into my non-registered trading account. My question is this: when, or if the time comes that I am able to exercise those warrants, can I make that purchase from my TFSA trading account, even though the original shares those warrants came with were deposited into a different account? Eg., each warrant allows me to buy one share at .10 while each share certificate trades at $1.00 and I have 10,000 warrants. Can I exercise those 10,000 warrants using cash from my TFSA then place all 10,000 shares into my TFSA (a "transfer in kind" I am assuming)when the value will now be far greater and would far exceed my contribution limit. I am thinking it would be just like purchasing normal shares in my TFSA then they double or triple, if I were to be so lucky, I just don't know how the warrant is viewed by CRA

Q: Hello, my question is about an article I read in CMS. Bill Gross says investors need to watch only one number in 2017 to figure out what returns are going to look like across the various markets, and that’s whether the 10-year Treasury yield crosses the 2.6% mark. As of today the 10-year yield is 2.48%. "If 2.6% is broken on the upside...a secular bear bond market has begun," Gross said. "Watch the 2.6% level. Much more important than Dow 20,000. Much more important than $60-a-barrel oil. Much more important than dollar/euro parity at 1.00. It is the key to interest rate levels and perhaps stock prices in 2017."
So my questions are, what will happen if it crosses the 2.6% mark? Does this mean that the yield on bond ETFs such as XBB and VSB will increase? Does this mean that this will be good for the stoch market in general? What is a secular bear bond market?Regards, Gervais

Q: Do you know what is going on with Pounce Technologies? Ever since they took over Slyce POI.H has been halted. TD doesn't have any info.
Thanks Colette

Q: US has started to show some upward movement. Do you consider it a 'buy'at this time and a secure income producer? Thank you, Bob

Q: can you suggest 4 etf,s "not hedged" that addresses 1. US large cap,
2. US midcap, 3. US tech that would include amazon, google yahoo.
and finally us bank etf. also not hedged.

Q: For the last 3 months this stock trades an average of 1.4 million shares daily between 3.5 - 4 cents.Can you explain this strange pattern, accumulation perhaps ?
Thanks

Q: Hi, I've noticed in a couple of questions asked by others that they have mentioned a US Portfolio that you will be adding. Will this in fact be happening and if so when?

Q: Hi there,

I am looking to establish holdings in several Canadian energy companies and would like your input. Could you name 4 small/mid cap Oil and gas stocks that you think are poised to have the most upside if crude can settle in the $55/60 range this year? Also, your favourite service stock from among Trican Well, Precision Drilling, Calfrac or any that you prefer to these three.

Thanks!

Q: Having worked in the USA for a while, I have some investments in 401K Mutual funds. The performance is substandard at best, compared to following 5i advice and my Cdn portfolio.

Unfortunately liquidation and transfer of the funds north would initiate huge tax consequences. Could you recommend some US equivalents to the conservative mix you have in the Income portfolio.

Thank you


Steve

Q: I want to invest in a new TFSA for a 67 year old female who is starting retirement. They have ample income from various sources so the TFSA is pure growth over 5 to 10 years.

Would you agree to split the 52 k in SIS, SHOP, KXS, GUD, TOY, GSY, BYD.UN & ZCL each at an equal weighting around 12%? In this scenario do you agree with a larger than the traditional 5% weighing per equity? I know your team has endorsed a more concentrated approach at times. Going forward she will add 1 new equity annually at the full $5,500 assuming that continues.

Thanks in advance, very happy with your service!
Greg.

Q: I have three accounts at my broker as follows: Canadian equities and American equities in my margin account (non-registered); Fixed income including bonds, bond ETFs, bond mutual funds, preferred shares, convertible debentures, REITs, international mutual funds, and Canadian equities (all are income producing and generally have a yield in excess of 3%) and RESP for my children. For diversification purposes you have said no one investment should make up no more than 5% of your portfolio. In my case I would consider RESPs a separate entity and unique investment strategy.For the sake of diversification would you combine the RRSP account and margin account together? I have investments in my margin account which exceed 5% of the margin account holdings which should necessitate a sale for diversification purposes. The result may differ if they are part of the combined margin and RRSP account. I eagerly await your reply. Thank you

Q: I bought these few years ago ..had to endure low valuation now came back but is slipping again..I bought them at 44....would like to recuperate as much as possible...I can wait a bit but not 4 years....when should I sell
or do you have another suggestion...I already lost on Nortel so i am pretty tight

Q: please give me your best suggestions for six U.S. stock buys at this time (even though US stocks are not your specialty until you start a US model portfolio) Thanks as always.