Investment Q&A

Q: Sorry for asking another question about SYZ, but something doesn't smell right here. It appears that a couple executives bought some small amounts of stocks (aprox $250K) late last year, which for a light trading stock like this creates some excitement and pushes the stock higher and then late January the CEO and and officer sold $7.1 millions worth of stock, just before a bad quarter and the stock drops like a rock. While maybe legal, it doesn't feel right to say the least and I don't understand how the sale went through as it trades very lightly.

Do you have any concerns about management practices? Does it point to deeper problems at the company?

Thanks M

Q: Hi 5iResearch team,

What would it be for CPG: buy, sell or hold.

Regards,
Harry

Q: With about 3.5'in the above I have considered replacing with something comparable with more growth potential or higher yield. Suggestions? Thank you.

Q: I am a ten year old boy with my own business. I have two different savings accounts. One is to save for a car and one is to save for retirement. I have a GIC right now but even that makes me not very much interest.

What should I invest my money in?

Q: If someone is retiring in 10 years should they follow the stocks in the income portfolio or the balance portfolio?
Thanks

Q: I have small positions in zwb and zwc. Would you recommend consolidating into zwc as it has a position in most Canadian banks. Which would you prefer for a long term hold in an rrsp account for income and stability of yield? Thanx for your services.

Q: Hi,
I currently own 8 of Mawers Funds (MAW-102,104,105,108,120,130 & 150) to provide broad diversification to the individual stocks I own. I just noticed that they have a new Emerging Markets Fund MAW160. As this is a relatively new fund I know that information is limited on it but can you comment if you think this would be a suitable fund that would add further diversification to the funds I currently own and if I were to purchase it which account would it best suit i.e.- non-registered-TFSA-RRSP?
Thank you.

Q: Hello 5i,
If you had to choose between Enghouse and Open Text today which would you choose for growth over the next 2-3 years. I own a small amount of each and want to consolidate.
Thank you
Dave

Q: With the Tomahawk Missile being deployed yesterday (and possibly in the future), would RTN be a viable option to hold hold over the next 3.5 years of the Trump Presidency?

Q: Please help me understand how an investor would go about buying some of the new shares being offered at $38.00 instead of buying existing shares on the market at today's price, most recently $40.00. If I wanted some, or in my case, more, shares of KBL, why would I buy in the market instead of the new issue?

Q: I am selling my DH holding in the very near future, and want to replace it with another company in the technology sector. I plan to take about a 4% position with my proceeds from the DH sale along with some additional uninvested capital. Along with my plan to increase my holding in ABT to about 2%, this move would increase my technology holdings to about 6%. I would strongly prefer to buy one company rather than two, and I am debating between KXS and OTEX. I know that KXS appears poised for further growth, while OTEX is more of a mature company, with a track record to support it. If you had to choose one, would you go with the proven entity in OTEX, or the company that appears poised for significant growth in KXS; or would you split the investment and buy both? I am trying to limit my holdings, as I have found that I had too many small positions that didn't really add to my bottom line while increasing my bookkeeping efforts. I would like to take the position some time next week, as I have learned that timing the market does not prove to be as valuable in the long run as spending time in the market. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to your response.

Q: Hi 5iResearch team,

I currently have a position on BAM.A which represents about 4% of my portfolio. Given that it has not done much price wise over the last year or so, I was thinking of moving some money from BAM.A and put it in FSZ.

Just wondering if you agree with this move and if you do what %age of my BAM.A current holding should I move.

Cheers,
Harry

Q: I am hoping you can recommend a good mexican etf, and should it be hedged. Thanks for all of your great work.

Q: Some stocks like GSY OR RPI.UN seem to be decent performers but trade very light.Could you expand on that.

Q: On the question from Ernest concerning this company as well as all dry bulkers - posible reason that prices are moving - speculation is that rates are improving for dry bulk carriers Ardmore etc. also moved.
Slainte, Chris

Q: Circling back on Leon's Furniture as a stable dividend paying stock with hidden potential...


Furniture business is a tough one but Leon's is likely the best operator:
- there is no shortage of tough competition in this fragmented industry: Ikea, Costco, Wallmart, Sleep Country, Superstores and partially Amazon on-line & US shopping (although only subset of their inventory like electronics as people won't buy entire dining set on-line or load in their trunk across the US border).

- on the positive, landscape is also improving: bought their biggest / most direct competitor The Brick in 2013, Target is out of Canada, Future Shop closed and Sears Home is almost bankrupt.


Checking the financials, I was surprised to find Leon's actually growing despite tough Canadian economy: 2015 SSS: +1.2% and 2106 SSS: +4.1% - but based on above, to build a conservative case, I assume no sales growth going forward.


What struck my eye in the latest company presentation on their website is the likely financial improvement to come from internal synergies left from The Brick acquisition. Two slides caught my attention:

- "1% SG&A reduction = $20M savings": classical Leon's ran at ~32% while post-Brick, it shot up to 37.5%. In 2016, it finally started coming down to 36.5% with IT systems integration late 2015. Assuming it can continue synergies and get 1% down yearly over the next 4 years, it would add $0.24 to EPS yearly ($20M/83M shares).

- "$50M per year for debt repayment": From MD&A, current debt is $240M after $50M was indeed repaid in 2016. interest at ~3% so yearly interest expense savings of $0.03 yearly ($240M/$50M = 4.8 years; $13.3M interest / 4.8 years = $2.77M and $2.77/83M shares = $0.03).

- 2016 EPS was $1.05. Even with no growth, SG&A and Interest reduction could add $0.27 in 2017 (0.24+0.03) - with same savings target over next 4 years bringing to 2020: SG&A to 32.5% (pre-Brick acquisition) and almost all debt paid, with EPS up to $2.13. Even if hit only part of these targets, there is a lot of potential internal clean-up to improve financials.


A couple of other supporting item to thesis:
- Very aligned Management as Leon family owns 67% of the stock;
- Own most of their real estate, some rumors of possible REIT spin-off last year to unlock value;
- 20% dividend increase last quarter after a few years flat;
- Insider buying (Mark Leon bought 52K shares on March 8 for ~$900K)


Now back at ~$17, valuation seems modest compared to its 10-year average. LNF seems a good value stock - flying under the radar. Is above reasonable / realistic thesis? Thanks for your comments!

Q: Hello, great website by the way.. my question is directed to the US market.. I'm looking for a small/mid-cap company with a clean balance sheet and a decent growth profile.
Any suggestions? Thank you.

Q: I consider WSP and STN my core holdings but now due to excellent appreciation they represent 7% and 3% of my portfolio. ARE has been a laggard and represents 1%. With ARE should I go back to SNC which I owned in the past (upside due to the recent acquisition?) or just keep WSP and STN as the only stocks in this area?

Q: I have a significant exposure to HCG which I want to reduce. I have been slowly selling some of my HCG shares the past few years, but I incur significant gains that I must pay taxes. My average cost is less than $3.00 per share. I was thinking of buying more HCG shares to increase my average cost and then sell within the year thereby paying less taxes. Do you think this is a sound strategy?

Q: I have cash in my children's RESP which I will withdraw in September. TPH.DB.E, a convertible debenture is maturing on September30, about the time I need to do the withdrawal.It is yielding over 7% (3.5% for 6 months) much better than other 6 month returns. Now that Morguard is the majority owner do you think this provides more safety making it more likely that the debenture will be paid out at face value at maturity. Does the company have adequate resources to mature the debenture?