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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: I hope all is well at 5i and you are enjoying the sunny summer. I wish we had more rain here in Niagara.

Garth asked an interesting question last week which you answered on Friday. He was asking about all-in-one ETFs and specifically such as VGRO, XGRO, ZGRO or HGRO. 5i recommended VGRO over ZGRO with no mention of HGRO.

I did my usual half-baked research (engineer not a financial guy) and found some interesting things using the G&M watchlist plot routines. I just plotted a comparison of ETFs using 1, 2 and 3 year intervals relative to last Friday (July 15th). First, I compared VCNS, VBAL, and VGRO. To my surprise, the worst performer for each relative time interval (1,2 and 3 years) was VCNS and the best by far was VGRO. For 1,2 and 3 years VCNS was -13.4, -7.5 and -3.7% while VGO was -12.7, 2.9 and 5.7% from July 15th). Seems Garth was on to something by asking about GRO ETFs.

Then I compared the 4 GRO ETFs that Garth was asking about. The one year returns relative to July 15th were all essentially the same at about -13%. However, HGRO was hands down the winner for the 2 and 3 year relative time periods from July 15th i.e., 10.6 and 20.5% for HGRO versus 2.9 and 5.7% for VGRO. I realize VGRO has a 2.2% dividend (according to G&M) but not that doesn’t make up the difference. I also realize HGRO is just shy of 3 years history but close enough for me.

Is HGRO doing something with significant increased risk or is something wrong with my research oven?

Maybe an article in your ETF & Mutual Fund Update report would be helpful.

Thanks, as usual.
Read Answer Asked by Danny-boy on July 18, 2022
Q: How would you allocate a large amount of cash in todays environment?
Lump sum or DCA?
Read Answer Asked by Timothy on July 18, 2022
Q: Hi, Any comments on recent price action .Why Sylogist continues to make new multi year lows, while Tech sector, in general has gained some traction, over past week or so. There was a mention here of stock's long term support at $6.50 - $6.75 level. Why would retail investors keep selling, despite its solid organic growth prospects/possible acquisitions and very low risk to dividend ? based on its history dividend yield is now flirting with 7.50 - 8% - Is there a concern of a dividend cut ? We beefed up our holding along with 5i recently and like the company. What is the next support level and is it worth buying more now? We have owned it for several years and stock has fallen below our ACB of $6.57 and weight has dropped from 5% to below 2.5%. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by rajeev on July 18, 2022
Q: Greetings,

1) Which vehicle manufacturers may potentially "catch up" with Tesla over the next decade? (U.S or Canadian listed)

2) I have compared Ford vs General Motors and even though they seemingly do the same thing their current state of affairs appear different. Should we Buy Ford or GM or both (hedge my bets!) ?


Many thanks!


Read Answer Asked by Arzoo on July 18, 2022
Q: hello 5i:
Recently, I asked about selling AC and moving the money to EIF. You were positive on this. AC has been sold, and though good earnings growth for EIF is projected, I've found that they miss Analyst expectations on all metrics (Earnings/Share, Cash Flow, and Free Cash Flow) as often, or more, than they hit them.
With that in mind, how much faith can I put in an Earnings Growth projection? Is there a metric I'm missing and should be looking at?
Is there and Industrial space company similar to this, but with a better record of meeting expectations?
thanks
Paul L
Read Answer Asked by Paul on July 18, 2022
Q: Good afternoon 5i,

TD has the dividend payments of VIU and VEE respectively at $0.80 and $0.86. Is there a withholding on these amounts since they're foreign or is that automatically built in to the price for share. I'm simply trying to estimate my dividend payment from both.

Why do their payments vary quarter to quarter when other ETF's (e.g. ZSP) keep the same payment rate per quarter?

Thanks in advance. - Jeff
Read Answer Asked by Jeff on July 18, 2022
Q: Hi 5i, What is your current read on the attractiveness of investing in TLT? I assume it would be best to hold in a registered account but you could please confirm. If acquiring just one bond fund today, would this be your preferred choice, and/or is there a comparable CDN bond fund worth considering? Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Martha on July 18, 2022
Q: Good morning 5i staff,
I am thinking about selling PLC for a tax loss and buying again in 30 days. I know the previous exdividend date was in June but I don't know how to find out when the next one is, as this might affect my decision. Do you see any catalysts that would affect this stock in the next thirty days, or do you think that it will not rise much in that time?
thanks for all your great advice
Read Answer Asked by joseph on July 18, 2022
Q: So much news these days about the ramp up to electric vehicles and the eventual elimination of internal combustion engines.

Governments have committed to installing charging stations to accommodate future demand.

What is the current status of power generating facilities. How easily can they ramp up supply to satisfy the future demand or is there already enough capacity.

What are your favourite power generators to satisfy future demand. Thank you
Read Answer Asked by JACK on July 18, 2022