Investment Q&A

Q: I would like to establish a position in the cyber-security sector.

Do you think a basket (ETF) approach is better or a focus on individual companies?

If the latter, please recommend your top 3. Also, are there any small-to-mid cap options that you like here.

Thanks as always.

Q: What should I do with PLTR?

Thanks for your service!

Q: Questrade will now let me journal voucher stocks online for no charge until April 1. What would be the advantage to do this to my dual listed TSX and NYSE stocks? Would it just be making a bet that the US dollar will continue to gain on the Canadian dollar?

Q: Hello Peter and 5i Team! it is an RESP account.

A new granddaughter born this year has a tiny new RESP in her name. It started with 3 shared of IUSG, and then, realizing that commissions were a large percentage of such small purchases, we added 2 shares of ZUQ, which has no commission.

For future small contributions, I am looking at these 4 ETFs, based on 3-year average annual return. I am specifically wondering about MER vs Tax efficiency:

ZUQ: +13.44%/yr, MER=0.33%, yield=0.60%, holds US stocks directly
VFV: +13.36%/yr, MER=0.09%, yield=0.99%, holds US stocks indirectly through VOO
XUS: +13.36%/yr, MER=0.09%, yield=1.03%, holds US stocks indirectly through IVV
ZSP: +13.30%/yr, MER=0.09%, yield=0.94%, holds US stocks directly
(as far as I know, none of these are hedged)

Generally I gravitate to low MERs, so perhaps ZUQ is not the best choice.

I recall a comment on 5i that the indirect holding of US stocks means that the withholding tax is withheld when the underlying US ETF pays dividends to the Canadian holding ETF (e.g. VFV get the dividend from VOO, less 15%). So holding in a TFSA won't avoid it, whereas it would be avoided with, say, ZSP in a TFSA.

So, my question is: do the 3-yr performance numbers take all of this into account? I am guessing not... withholding tax efficiency depends on the holders nationality, sheltered status, etc.

Bottom line - which of these ETFs would you recommend for a grandchild with a time horizon of many decades, for optimal performance?

Thanks for your excellent insights and wisdom!

Q: Would this be a good international holding or is there better ones?

Thanks

Q: Hi,

As is my custom, I reviewed Q&A using symbol search and read your answers going back to Oct 2024. You have consistently given your "nod" to MU.

Of course it has been slipping even though it is not really in the same AI realm as NVDA. In one of the answers you even preferred MU to AMD! (That surprised me I must say).

Anyway, I initiated a position sometime ago. Didn't average down!

The questions are simple: Is this a good time to add slowly? Up to 2-3%. What about the law suits it is facing? Value stock or value trap?!
(With these companies that seems to the dilemma one is facing, especially trying to pick some good companies at a discount.)

Q: do you like this stock?

Q: Would you feel it is worthwhile hanging on to Rogers Communications stock? Assume you had a portfolio with a lot of different stock holdings and wouldn't mind reducing that number somewhat. It certainly is cheap at about 8 times earnings, and has a good dividend rate, but is there much of a potential for the stock price over the next 2 - 3 years? The latest earnings report was rather unimpressive and they are forecasting 0 - 3% EBITDA growth next year.

Q: What are your thoughts on market-linked GICs as opposed to traditional fixed rate GICs?

Thanks

Q: DELL How will they benefit from AI and Data Build Up ? Is it a buy or do you recommend something else in this space Thank You RAK

Q: There's lots of questions about the future of Nebius and it's datacentres but I couldn't find any that touched on their ownership of their robotaxi and deliverybot division, Avride. Given the valuations of PONY, AUR, MBLY etc, what percent of NBIS's market cap would you guesstimate is attributed to their self driving division?

Despite recent Deepseek developments, I feel like NBIS is undervalued relative to its' peers given their robotaxi launch later this year in Dallas and their existing deliverybot program. Am I being too opptimistic here?

Q: Hello, I have a few questions on tariffs.
With the anticipation of Tariffs, what sector would you recommend we are to stay invested in
Also. Do you think the Tariffs will last long .? If no, why? And lastly, do you think the market will drop by 5,10,20% given tariffs

Thanks

Q: I have money to invest and I own none of these stocks. Could you list them in order that you would buy them today.
Thanks for you help.
Dorothy

Q: Hello 5i team,
The stock price has fallen a bit below my entry price and I wanted to add to it. Would you still be comfortable adding at this level. The tariff craze is not spooking the markets as much as implied and was wondering how much product PBH sells to the US(or if they have operations there)?

I am holding for the long term (purchased in Dec 2022).

Thank You,
Andrew

Q: I have been moving some of my stocks to ZSP or VDY believing this is more conservative as I should be as an older senior. Am I right or have I just made this up?

Q: Good Morning
Can you please list the following sectors from the most vulnerable to the least affected by Trump's tariffs ? Please deduct as many credits as required. Thank you again for your insight.

Banks
Insurance Companies
REITS
Staples
Communication Services
Utilities
Pipelines
Discretionary
Technology
Energy
Materials
Industrials

Q: I'm curious to learn more about evaluating valuation metrics such as fwd P/E and P/S when analyzing a company and its expected growth rates. You often mention that a company is trading at X fwd PE which is cheap or that it is expensive. How do you know this and what exactly does this mean in the context of looking at its rev and earnings growth rates? You often say if the E or S is rising faster than the P, then yes, over time the valuation can come down quickly with the stock rising fast as well, just like how NVDA has done over the last few years. I've heard maintaining a +30-50% growth rate is very hard over a long period of time and not many companies do it and growth rates will slow down.


For example, lets quickly compare PLTR vs CRWD vs VRT over the next few years:

PLTR shows 173x PE and 54x PS.
Rev growth is 25% and 22% for 25/26
EPS growth is 26% and 21% for 25/26

CRWD shows 99x PE and 21x PS.
Rev growth is 28%,21%,21% for 25/26/27
EPS growth is 21%,26%,25% for 25/26/27

VRT shows 34x PE and 5x PS
Rev growth is 18% and 14% for 25/26
EPS growth is 32$ and 25% for 25/26

Looking at these numbers, PLTR is by far the most expensive valuation wise and WAY above any other software name in the universe. So at the current valuation of PLTR, what kind of rev and eps growth rate does it have to maintain in order to justify this valuation? What is the relationship between the fwd PE/PS vs the EPS/Rev growth rates and how do you analyze this? Any color you can add to this would be great, thank you!

Q: Hi group want to park some $ in high interest saving account I have 2 question's )

- How is the return calculated ( as an example PSA pays out dividend monthly monthly does that mean if i cash out in the middle of the month that i do not get a pro rated amount based on my balance. Could you explain how that works. is it a daily calculation payable at the end of the month or what.

- if i buy a US high interest account would that be a benefit for a higher return compared to buying a high interest Cad saving acct.

- could you provide some actual comparisons using real returns and currency numbers


thanks for your help with this.

Q: resp for grandkids just wondering buying the canadian cdrs of google [goog] will the canadian dollar hitting lows affect this stock at all or does not matter. thanks

Q: For the two situations below, if you were to buy only one of these two stocks at today’s prices, which would it be?

1. ATZ or DOO

2, BEP.UN or FTS

Thank you