Investment Q&A

Q: Hi Guys
When you look at the sheer number of people within a 5 hour flight from Macau compared to Vegas you would think this gambling stock Las Vegas Sands with a nice dividend has a bright future.
What concerns me is the low book value,compared to the price of the stock.Do they not have valuable real estate holdings.
Finally how would you explain a sell off like 2008, I believe it went from around $100 down to $3.00. Lastly would you buy this stock around this price.
Thanks!

Q: could you give me the paticulars on the Black Berry convertible debentures. Whats it's ticker how much and when is yield payed out, how many shares of stock will one be able to get from one convertible debenture, etc. Any information that would be useful. Also will there be dilution issues if Fairfax converts all there convertible debentures

Q: Can you please recommend a couple of good global dividend paying (no USD exposure) ETF's for an older person 5 years from retirement--we already have canadian and USD dividend ETF exposure and wish to balance equity exposure globally.

Thanks for your help.

Q: Hi,
HR.un and REI.un have been great over the years, however, several of my Reits did not make the Reits list(question May 9). I hold about 1,000 shares of AAR.un, AX.un, DIR.un, MR.un, MRG.un, NWH.un, SMU.un, and SOT.un. Are there any in my list that you would be concerned with for the long term? As a retired, income seeker my Reit holdings have always been high and currently represents 14% of my portfolio.

Q: Dear Agent. Is it worthwhile for me to keep holding GE in my portfolio. Eddie.

Q: Hi 5i: RBC Direct Investing provided a report on Avigilon that quoted an analyst to the effect that security cameras have now become commoditized. Cameras sold by Chinese firms such as Hikvision, Vivotek and Uniview now sell for 30% - 40% less than the cameras sold by Avigilon. It may be that these cameras lack the supporting software provided by AVO and that it is this support feature that gives AVO an edge and that makes up for the difference in price. Do you have any information on this aspect of the comparison. But if it comes down to a simple price war between hardware vendors then I don't fancy AVO's chances

Q: I am a 60 year old retired conservative investor with a reasonable pension plus CPP. We have a well balanced portfolio that is roughly 67% equities and 33% fixed income. The fixed income includes a 7.5% Insured Annuity (yielding 5.1% pre-tax GIC-equivalent), 12.5% Fisgard Capital (1st mortgages yielding 5%), 2.5% Fisgard (2nd mortgages yielding 7.5%), and 10% cash (yielding 1%).

I am strongly considering directing some of the cash towards doubling up the Insured Annuity (this one yielding a pre-tax GIC-equivalent 5.2%). However, this is a "forever" decision. The annuity is not indexed, but compares favorably with long term bond mutual funds over 15-20 years. This would max-out my annuity allocation at 15%. What are your thoughts on this strategy?

The 2nd option being considered is Capital Direct (1st and 2nd mortgages), yielding 7-8%. My concern here is that I also have a 5% weighting in Sentry REIT (yielding 8%). Would that be too much concentration in the "mortgage" sector (Fisgard-15%, Sentry-5%, plus potential Capital Direct 7%)?

Do you have any other options for me to consider in the fixed income sector?

Thanks for your help.
Steve

Q: Hello Peter et al.

What do you make of the recent run-up through April from a low of $0.50 to now $1.07 for Ithaca. The oil price recovered a bit in April to around $65.00 for Brent and Ithaca has its 2015 1stQ earning coming on May 14th. We should get an update on Stella's progress and the Ythan well. Since my last question they have sold their Norwegian assets and renegotiated their RBL. They expect to have at least $100M of borrowing room from peak debt from their RBL prior to Stella start-up. The largest uncertainties I see affecting this stock are:

1. The OPEC meeting in early June. If OPEC decides to keep production the same or increase it, it will have a negative effect on Ithaca as well as all oil stocks.

2. Any delay with Stella. Based on the past it is not improbable that there would not be another delay. A lot of oil projects have delays. For example here in NL the Hebron project has been delayed by at least an year to 18 months.

3. Markets this year appear to be showing the sell in May and go away and return in September trend. I have cash available and am looking to make strategic purchases through-out the summer.

I plan to hold this stock through to mid to late 2016 and have held it for a while now. I have made money on it in the past and have bought more on these pullbacks. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Brendan

Q: Hi Peter I attended the AGM this past week and must I was impressed with the results and forward plans .They appear to be a company that has legs and a excellent mgt group.I have been a holder for many years and served me well.
Regards Stan

Q: Hi Peter,

Given what's going on with lawsuits and other pressures at GXI:

http://business.financialpost.com/news/fp-street/will-defamation-suit-proxy-battle

What's your take on all of this noise?

Q: reported a great quarter I think. performing well in a lackluster gold market.any insight would be greatly appreciated.I bought in at .25 and it was 1% of my portfolio but now is almost 3%

Thx

Q: Can I get your updated views on Lumenpulse? Previous comments seem to suggest you are warming up to it, but the stock hasn't done much in the past 6 months. What would be a catalyst to provide some positive stock momentum?

Thanks!

Q: Re David’s question on the RSI. It and many other options are available on TMX money charts as a bottom indicator. You can choose various settings and save settings so you don’t have to enter it each time you are checking a stock.
TD Waterhouse also has many excellent options on their web site. I get an amazing amount of info from their program. You do have to have an account there to get all the perks though. To get an idea of the info that is available check out the Webbroker Tour site. Click on the Direct Investing Tour. The Research section will give you an idea of the wealth of info available.
They also have many free investment seminars, anyone can attend. Check to see if there is one in your area.

Q: MTY foods is trading under pressure recently, especially it heads south when overall market is pretty strong today. Is there anything I should be worry about this company!Thanks!

Q: Peter, what your thoughts are on DexCom - DXCM-US -, more than double in a year and 6 times in 5? Thanks

Q: Altus grew gross revs but adjusted earning are lower by 18%. I think I am reading this as - costs are higher because they are investing for future growth. If that is infact what is happening it should bode well for future earnings and I want to increase my position here. Please comment if this is how you read the earnings.

Q: Given the current economic and political situation in Alberta, what are your views on D.UN? It appears it has approximately 27% of its assets in Calgary and Edmonton. Any alternatives you would recommend?

Q: Hi
Ihave a few shares in my US account both are spin off from L Liberty which I bought in2004 DTV has a nice Capital Gain and I would like to know if it is a good
idea to keep them or transfer both of them into my TSFA US Account.
thanks a lot
margit

Q: vsn surged on Friday. Is this possibly due to the rejection from the bc indian band rejection of building a lng terminal on the west coast. Your updated thoughts on the company

Q: I am sorry to hear that you've decided to exclude dividends as an item separate from returns. I think yield and returns are quite different. I'm in retirement and by nature have little confidence in future growth,surmised from historical information and predictions. Simplistically, my general prejudice is to filter out anything which doesn't distribute half its profits.