Investment Q&A

Q: My US exposure is underweight. I am looking at Barclays (BCS), Lloyds (LYB), National Bank of Greece (NBG) as 3-5 year holds with the wishful thinking that they may return to their previous and glorious highs of 2007. Am I dreaming?
Alternatively, can you suggest any US regional banks for a similar timeframe and which large cap US bank, if any, is your favourite?
Thanks.
Steven

Q: Hello Peter
Before I sign up for 5i Research my portfolio was made of 3 ETFs HSU.TO , SSO.N US and UPRO.N US.
My buying and selling was done based on Daily frame of S&P 500 and 3 EMAs. I my say that I was pretty successful with this technical approach and this method save me from loosing about 50% of my portfolio in January 2008 when EMA50 made "dead cross" with EMA 200.
My question is since from last September I follow your model portfolio (with small changes of stocks) will you be able to issue warning us if big correction like 2007/2008 will be coming on the horizon or should we go through correction like 2007/2008 without selling entire portfolio.
Id like to add that I still have separate portfolio of HSU ,SSO and UPRO based on three EMAs unfortunately this technical approach method does not work with individual stocks .
Thanks Andrew B.

Q: Would you please give me your opinion on Bird Construction?

Q: Do you see hzu as a good straight forward proxy for silver prices. And if so, how does the internals work to follow accurately those prices. Any lag? Any derivatives that could cause wild changes?.
And if I may, could you rank Silver Gold and Platinum in order of preference.
Thank you
CDJ

Q: Would you have any recommendations for the most cost effective method of protecting an all equity portfolio from 10%-15% downside market risk? Specifics would be appreciated.

My non-registered portfolio primarily consists of large cap US and Canadian companies.

Q: Dear Gentlemen,
I want to increase my Income PF.
Your opinion on Aston Hill VIP Income VIP.un
Any better suggestion for high income.
Thanks
Best Regards

Q: Hi Peter

Is it finally time to buy CGL and SVR or is there still more downside coming? Or,is it better to buy the larger US versions GLD and SLV because of the rising US dollar? Do you see the dollar hitting 85 cents or lower?

Q: Is this a good time for a purchase for a 1 year hold? thanks

Q: Hello 5i,
My strategy is to buy and hold dividend paying companies for the long term and I’m currently looking to pick up another financial company for my portfolio. I already own 12 companies in this sector, which of the companies listed below would you chose.
Mercury General Corp (MCY), Oritani Financial Corp (ORIT), HSBC Holdings (HSBC), Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior (BLX).
Thanks,

Q: Hi Peter & Team,
Re: Drone Manufacturers / UAV-UAS

I have found these big manufacturers of UAV-UAS:
1) AeroVironment, USA (“AVAV”- Nasdaq)
2) Aeron Labs, Waterloo, On.
3) Prioria Robotics, Florida
4) Aerosight, Oregon
5) Textron (NYSE - “TXT”)

Questions:
1) Do you see future growth in using drones (not just military use)?
2) Is it too early to get into this area?
3) Which company would you recommend? (I guess my list is partial)

Q: CCL Industries has been quite volatile, lately, unlike for its business characteristics (packaging).It did n't participate in Friday's bounce after previous sell off. INK has reported that insider selling has accelerated in this company. My average purchase price is just where it's currently trading. Should I hold on or move to names like Inter tape Polymers for higher dividend and growth? Thanks

Q: Hi Peter & Team,
Following your answer to Selwyn, Sep. 25th, please explain your comment"...and it is very cyclical"
Did you mean seasonal cycle (winter, summer etc.) or housing starts?
The chart shows a straight growth of 250% in 3 years.
Thanks,
Morris

Q: Hey Team

Your comments moving forward please.

Thanks for all you do

Gord

Q: Anything changed with Sylogist? It's been down the last month and dropped like a rock this morning on an up-market day.

Q: Hello Peter and team,

Tax loss selling season is two months away. What good companies do you think will be “popular” tax loss selling candidates in 2014? What criteria would you use to predict this? I know that portfolio managers like to clean up their portfolios before year end: how would they choose what to sell so their portfolio holdings don’t look so bad?

I think the list could include ACQ, AVO and BAD. They rose quite a lot in 2014, and have come down quite a lot as well (more than 30% from their peaks this year). I have waited months and months for an entry point in these stocks, and think now is a good time, but I can wait another two months as it may be the same or a better opportunity during tax loss selling season.

I don’t think a stock like IPL would be a popular tax loss selling stock, the trend has been mostly up in 2014 with some minor dips along the way.

I already nibbled on AVO in June on its way back up (so I thought), but I am now down 20% as of Friday.

I am sure that there will be some real losers or speculative stocks that investors will sell. However I am interested in “good companies” that investors overpaid for (e.g. $40+ for BAD, $80+ for ACQ) that investors would just sell to create a loss to offset gains elsewhere.

Your comments please.

Paul J.

Q: Hello, what would be your top 5 picks for medium to high risk at this time?
Thanks for your valued opinion
Dave

Q: can you suggest a good way to invest in US dollar strength for Canadians as in uup or a convienent alternative.Thank You.

Q: Gord recently asked about Sprylogics. The reason for the 40%+ mid-day jump on Sept 24 was related to Bruce Campbell's comments regarding the company on BNN. His firm owns 10% of Sprylogics.

Q: Hi Guys
What is your opinion of Loews corporation, and do you feel their subsidiaries ,CNA Financial, Diamond offshore, Boardwalk, Highmount exploration, and their Hotel chain were
good acquisitions and lastly do you find this an attractive entry point for a long term hold.

Q: Amaya went to 37$ recently, and seems rather volatile. In a TFSA, would you advise 'timing' the market ? Now it is at 32.70$, 11% less. It seems to make sense to do some market timing for 10% or over with no tax consequence. Same principle for a RRSP. Do you agree ? If not, exactly why ? It seems to work with volatile stocks (with no tax consequence).
One might argue that AYA being quite volatile, it might jump much higher in no time, and timing the market is always a risky game. Would you use this argument (and again I would stress that this seems useful only when there is no tax consequence) ?