Investment Q&A

Q: What would be your guess, in percentage, of another correction happening now like the one last Jan-Apr? It seems to me that there are more real risks now then there were then (interest rate fears, China tarrifs). Do you think if there are strong earnings in November it would move this market up? For some reason I don't think they would.

Q: Which stocks are screaming buy after today's meltdown?.

Q: Peter,

I am trying to come up with a range of debt to equity (ratio) that an investor should look at to determine relative safety of a stock. Do you have a specific ratio you consider acceptable or is it very industry and economic cycle specific? Do you trust the reported numbers you see in various on line publications or is it best to go to Sedar and figure it out oneself?

Thank you

Paul

Q: Interested in your view of this small stock.
Thanks,
Nancy

Q: Which is more relevant when looking at cash rich companies to invest in; cash per share or 5 year cash growth rate?

Q: Hi there,

The last week has had a mass sell of in stocks - particularly the tech sector - do you think this is another dip and then the bull market will be back to the races? Or is there going to be a long term downward correction? I know no one knows the actual answer but in your opinion and with your experience and expertise, what are your thoughts?

Thanks!

Q: Of the following Canadian stocks, which three or four would you consider will provide the lowest total return over the next, say, five years?

BEP.UN, EMA, FTS
IPL, ENB, TRP
BNS, NA, RY, TD
PWF, SLF
CAR.UN, CSH.UN, HR.UN, REI.UN
BCE

Q: I keep hearing about a tech company that has developed a method of replacing cyanide extraction for the benefication of gold ore at a better recovery and lower costs. Have you any info on this?

Q: Can you recommend any books about bonds? Something that covers the investing aspects as well as the mathematics and incorporates some bond market history would be ideal. Thanks.

Q: I seem to not be able to find your News Update (update referred to in a question from Tom on 3 Oct). I am often puzzled about where to find them. Plse direct me.

Q: Hello 5i.
In assessing companies you mention ROA, ROE and ROC. Aside from these would it be beneficial to compare ROC (sic. ROIC) with WACC? If WACC is more than ROIC and the company is shedding unprofitable assets, then would there be a case for still seeing that company in a favourable light?
Thank you
Stanley

Q: Is there a free site that provides information about moeny moving into and out of various sectors. (Sector rotation)

Q: From today's Globe and Mail: Equity markets opened lower Thursday as global bond yields surged higher. Mehul Daya, an analyst from South Africa-based Nedbank, believes bond yields are approaching the “Rubicon level,”

“The JPM Global Bond yield, after being in a tight channel, has now begun to accelerate higher. There is scope for the JPM Global Bond yield to rise another 20- 30bps, close to 2.70%, which is the ‘Rubicon level’ for global financial markets, in our view. If the JPM Global Bond yield rises above 2.70%, the cost of global capital would rise further, unleashing another risk-off phase."

Normally, 'risk off' means purchasing the very stocks which perform badly during rising rates, ie. dividend stocks. That would not seem to make much sense here. What sectors do you believe would be most and least affected by these rising bond yields? I know it supposedly helps the banks and insurers but we have been hearing that all year without much sustained impact on their stock prices. So I'm uncertain where to put new money.

Q: Since the announcement of the new USMCA agreement I've noticed the Canadian market trending downwards, even the Balanced portfolio has taken a broad based hit from it. Any concerns you can see with the agreement that could be causing this distortion (while the US market rallies)? Or is this more sector specific?

Q: Hi 5i - I have a portfolio weighting question. Assuming I have a portfolio with 60% Canadian, 30% US and 10% Other International, would the 60% Canadian portion be considered on its own for individual stock weightings? For example, if I consider a 5% position in BNS a full position, should I have 5% of my total overall portfolio in BNS or 5% of the 60% Canadian portfolio?

In general, what would you suggest?

Thanks, Neil

Q: The TSX appears to be shrugging off the US/Canada trade agreement without much interest, once again by far the worst performing north American index. Are you surprised at the lack of response? Would you expect much going forward or should money be moved into US markets?

Q: On Sept. 24 I asked where I could find forward PE for the TSX, and you kindly supplied a link (thank you) but I don't see forward PE there, trailing yes but not forward. Nor anywhere else I've tried. Any ideas?

Q: A U.S. based financial advisor who specializes in ETF’s and is bearish on the market states in his weekly newsletter that a retired individual should hold an equivalent percentage of bonds as their age in their portfolio:

What would be your thoughts on this degree of allocation and what would you suggest?

Would your allocation change if the individual has already accumulated sufficient capital to take them to the end and still leave a nice inheritance?

If you do think that a retiree should have a percentage of bonds in their portfolio can you provide some ETF’s?

Thank you for considering my questions.

Q: I recall reading in Q&A earlier in the year that in determining percentage of sector allocation in our portfolio we use the stocks only total sum and not include the sum of our ETF's. Did I understand that correctly? If so, then to understand our sector allocation of our ETFs do we take the average of the ETFs' specific given sector allocation(i.e. for Financials in VFV,SPY and VIG approx. 14.30%) ? So if we have Financials sector allocations of 15% in Stocks and 14.30% in ETF do we view it as approx. 15% Financials in our total portfolio or is is understood to be the sum of the two(29%)? In addition to our personal investment accounts we have an investment account within our small family business.Should I be adding the sum of this investment account to our personal accounts for tracking sector allocation? Thank you for your assistance with clarifying sector allocation .

Q: TFSA and US listed stocks. Recently you recommended SPY a NYSE stock and various other US listed stocks for a TFSA. Is it not true that US listed stocks are not tax exempt? That there is a withholding tax on dividends? An example would be HOT.UN . XSP is in CDN funds and therefore not subject to tax in a TFSA?
Thanks for clarification if I am wrong.