Investment Q&A

Q: You said A&W. UN was Okay or all right, then why did it keep going down from the forties? I would have placed a sell on it at $37.00 regardless of its income.

Q: A&W has not been performing well lately. What seems to be the problem?
Thank you.

Q: Hi 5i: Early this year I recommended AW.un for my wife's account. It went up nicely but has since dropped significantly. Her investment horizon is medium to long term so holding it is not a problem unless the fundamentals have gone bad. I realize same store growth has not been good recently, which is not a surprise. Is there anything else going on that would make it advisable to cut losses now?

Q: Sold aw.un been a good run in an income RIF looking to replace it with Npi or Cpx or a similar utility . I am well diversified and switch does not alter weighting.

Would appreciate your opinion on this matter.

Thanks

Q: I have held the Keg for the past few years. I am thinking about selling in favour of buying a and w on recent weakness. Can you fully dissect each company and provide an opinion on each?

Q: I have A&W, CGX, and BPF.un in my consumer discretionary. I've been thinking of switching out A & W for TOY or DOL for diversification. Does this seem like a reasonable approach for a conservative retiree? Which would be the more stable choice for one in my position, or do you have another suggestion? Thank you so much for your continued help and advice. (CGX has done very well for me)

Q: Am thinking of taking profits in AW.UN and switching to KBL. any suggestions? Herb I thought your report on KBL was interesting and the company still has some growth possibilities! I have AW.UN in my cash account and also my TFSA. Thankyou for your company reports!

Q: Hi, can you rank these companies as I'd like to start a long term core position in one or two of them. Please take current valuation and market environment into consideration.

Q: I had sold AW a while back at a nice profit, thanks for your quality advice on these shares last year. I did not think the shares would get this weak, im thinking of getting back in. When is the next quarterly report due? what is a fair price for the shares if same store sales growth does not return?

Thanks

Kuldar

Q: I hold the above in a RIF and have weighted to cover the required withdrawal amount with dividends. Does this sound appropriate and if not, would appreciate your thoughts. Do you see a major loss of principal if markets continue its downward trend. Thanks for all your help.

Q: Good afternoon 5i,
I recently sold AW.UN in my RRIF as I am trying to limit the non-portfolio holdings. Could you recommend a replacement from the income portfolio or should I just buy it back? Already hold most of the Income Portfolio holdings but willing to sell in other accounts to insert in RRIF.Thanks for the always helpful advice.

Ted

Q: I have been following A&W and Boyd for years and years.
I finally bought A&W recently. Now I would like to switch
the A&W for Boyd. I have more stocks than i really need ,
and not enough spare cash to hold meaningful positions in both. I think that I would prefer the growth that
Boyd might offer over the income from A&W,since although
the position is 2% , the income really isn't meaningful


Would his switch be a reasonable one ?

Thanks in advance for considering this question.

Q: This company was the focus of a recent positive write-up in ROB magazine:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-magazine/rogmaghow-aw-is-remaking-itself-into-a-hipsterhaven/article35099606/

With plans to open 40 new locations over the next year I don't believe the growth story is over, just paused. It seems to me that SSSG as a measure of growth is somewhat flawed for this type of business as locations have to be open for 2 years, or as a minimum 5 quarters, to be meaningful, correct? And they treat their franchisees a whole lot better than Tim's where a rebellion is happening.

It may be out of the 5i portfolio but it's still in mine where it's been since 2013. I note the distribution has been upped several times to the point it yields 6% on my original investment so I'd be more inclined to add to the position on its recent weakness.

Q: I do not know why a loss on A&W psychologically hurts more than the joy derived by seeing most of my other 5i equities that have increased by more than three times the loss. Also I find it hard to sell my losers when I should(there is always hope)and the need to keep my winners when they should be trimmed. Selling my winning and paying bank stocks (too much over indulged in) and putting the funds into XGD (which I should and did) is contrary to all my instincts but is rationally correct. Boy, his is tough!!

Thank you for the appropriate, timely advise and guidance, without which things would surely go awry.
Stanley

Q: Now that you have dropped AW.UN from income portfolio, what is replacing it?

Q: Based on your Jan. 15, 2017 research report - when AW.UN was trading at $38.20 and your continuing good comments on AW.UN. I bought the stock on what I thought was recent weakness at $36.28.
So I feel blindsided by your email on June 1 removing AW.UN from your income portfolio. Also as a buy and hold investor I found your rational for selling somewhat weak and surprised a replacement was not recommended. Please comment. Thanks.

Q: Premier Wynn announced today minimum wage goes to $ 14.00 an hour Jan. 1st 2018 and then to & 15.00 Jan 1st 2019. Alberta is similar $ 15.00 in 2019. B C will have a NDP government soon and they may follow. Not good for Service Industry like A & W, Tim's, Cara etc. What other Industries will be effected ? Part Time workers to get same benefits. Corporate Leaders are concerned. Good for Workers.

Your comments please.

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan, and Team,

Sorry for another A&W question, but do you think the Ontario government's plan to raise the minimum wage to $15.00 will hurt this stock (as well as others in this space)? I suppose that A&W could raise their prices, but they already seem to be at the high end pricing of the quick-service-restaurant space.

Thanks as always for the pertinent advice.

Q: I assume that the price of AW is declining in response to the perceived slower growth of the company. If this is the case, would it then be viewed as similar to that of Boston Pizza? If that is the case, what might we expect the share price to be when a multiple similar to that of Boston Pizza is applied?

Appreciate the insight.

Paul F.

Q: Hi Team,
A&W price falling for 8 sessions to today $34.50 Can you comment on it Please !
Thanks as always
Tak