Investment Q&A

Q: You rate AFN & XTC as B and WSP as B-. Do you prefer one company over the others at the present time? Which company has the bigger capitalization and share float?
WSP has been acquiring smaller engineering companies and I heard on the grapevine that some of the "Principal" level engineers in one of the acquired companies are thinking of leaving. I am in the engineering & construction business myself. Turn-over in this line of work is not unknown however generally "principals" don't leave. (Just small fries like me tend to hit the road).
Thanks

Q: Hi Peter, TBE seem to have been doing the wright things, under the circumstances, yet it has been decimated. I am down a lot and thinking to add to average down, never done it before. Appreciate your suggestion.
regard, Joe.P

Q: In regards to William's question on July 10 regarding a portfolio tracker,

An Android smartphone App like Peak Stocks (there are many apps available) (free or a one time fee of ~$2.50 for the paid no advertising version) can provide a handy easy to use tracker. Apple has many also. I have used it for over a year now and have no affiliation with anything mentioned. It also provides live widgets to put on your phone's home screen(s) to really follow a stock(s).

It allows for creating many portfolios which can be named as you like. Each port can be in the currency you select. Stocks can be added/deleted as one likes for monitoring. Stocks can be added/deleted as buy/sells so that it monitors the $ value of each stock and the complete portfolio, 0 - 15 minutes delayed. No log in is required.

It provides charting from 1 day to 10 years+, and seems to provide the most recent and historical news for every stock in any of the ports. I often read of news on a stock before I read about it here at 5i considering that 5i is not a news outlet and does a great job of providing info and answering questions.

Within the app this is accomplished by simply clicking on the stock in a port which instantly opens a chart with price, volume...then swipe the screen left and the news page is open.

Some suggestions of port types that can be created are: (different)Sectors, Real port stock tracking, Cash Port, RSP port, TFSA, Watch List CDN., Watch List U.S., 5i's Rec's 2015, 5i's Income Rec's, All of My Holdings......

I find an app like this is very handy without the need of being at a computer, as it allows stock and bond tracking from anywhere as most people now-a-days have a smartphone with a data provision. It uses minimal data.

An app like this allows for instant tracking without having to log into a person's brokerage account.


Globe and Mail Investors, Globe Investor, MY WATCHLIST also allows for many ports to be created and provides a reasonable amount of information. It requires setting up a free account and must be logged in to access it from a computer, tablet, smartphone....

Hope this is of some value to someone.

Stan

Q: Good Morning.
On July 6, you indicated to Peter that BOS is Materials or Industrials.
TSX says it is Consumer Cyclicals.
Your final decision? Thank you. sarah

Q: Dear Peter and team: Please update your opinion re Baytex. I have been holding
quite a lot for quite a while. Thanks. I look forward to your BNN appearance
on August 4.

Q: Hi Team,
I hold CPD, XPF & ZPR as part of my taxable fixed income portfolio. All of the pref share ETFs have been dropping of late. Is this a case of market sentiment and being oversold due to the anticipated interest rate hike or is there an fundamental problem with these securities? Thanks for your help.

Q: I've owned this for a few months now and I'm down about 45%. I'm fearful of falling into the trap of buying high and selling low. What are your thoughts on this company overall for an 18-24 month hold ?

Q: I previously owned the Vanguard etf's and I have switched to Blackrock because of the huge price difference. I know that some of the Vanguard etf's have a lower MER, but they cost so much more money. My question is because of dividend payouts are the Blackrock etf's in fact cheaper?

Q: Considering the move to higher margin business model and their recent desire to create demand through higher margin alloy products to auto and aerospace, would you give your reasoning to either buy or avoid this business at these levels. Many thanks for all your help...it is greatly appreciated.

Q: I bought Starwood Property trust due to its low PEG ratio high yield and low PE. So far its given me nothing but grief. Would you sell or hang on?

Q: Peter; I'll be the first to ask-does CPG , after the shelf issue $2.5billion , US included,finally make this a sell and watch? Thanks.Rod

Q: I currently have 20% of my RSP portfolio in US stock. I would like to increase it to 50%. My question is - at the currency levels today does this make sense? I thinking is - I don't see the CDN $ getting stronger anytime soon & I do see the US $ getting stronger over time. My other reason for wanting US is the companies I can't get here.

Your thoughts are appreciated.

Thank You
Craig

Q: In fairness to the principals of PHM, each sold 1.2M shares @ $1.46 for proceeds of $1,752,000. Both men cashed in 3.9M options for a cost of $1,920,000, so it appears they sold just enough shares to almost finance the purchase of their options, leaving both with 2.7M shares with ZERO cost.
These guys are so smart but they are not dumping shares other than to recoup their cost as they obviously see a long term benefit in holding the millions of shares they still own including the free ones detailed here. Oh, to be in their shoes - I own a chunk of this stock and will never sell it before it gets taken out at north of five dollars.
Any opinion on the stream of negativity on future oil prices due to oversupply, low demand, China, OPEC, etc., etc., would be appreciated. Do you see any strengthening in the price over the next two years?
Thank you.

Q: I keep hearing so many positive reports about the management team at TOU. I've held it for a while and I'm down 15%. It's about 10% of my holdings (I know ...too high !!!). I have a 10 year horizon so time is on my side. Gas prices don't seem to want to move and listening to guests on BNN you always get 2 or 3 different stories. What's the real deal on TOU ? Sell or Hold ?

Q: Hello Peter & Co,
Would AFN fit as a single stock holding (combination of yield and growth) for exposure to the Agricultural segment? If not, which?
Thanks,
Antoine

Q: What's going on with this one? Every day seems to find a new 52 week low. Sector is week but this stock seems much weaker. Do you still consider it in the top quartile of names in the sector?

Q: Hi guys. Was there anything in the previous Saputo's earning report that may lead one to suspect future earnings contraction?

I have 22% in what I consider the "consumer" portion of my portfolio made up of names like atd.b, gil, emp.a, l, hlf, dol and the only stinker of the group, SAP, with 2.3% position. Going forward, do you think SAP is the type of company you can slowly allocate a 5% position at current valuations?

Thanks, again.

John

Q: Hello Peter and Ryan,
NWH.un March $10.00 July 10 $7.63
At 6:10 PM a news report indicated Paul Dalla Lana acquired more trust units. He now owns 34.15% of the REIT. Plus he has an automatic plan to buy up to 5% more. Please comment on whether it's a hold or a loss sell? Also, in general when one person acquires such a large part of a company, does the interests of small shareholders suffer? Thank you, it's always interesting!
Bruce

Q: Peter, while I have several energy companies in my well-diversified portfolio, as well as some utilities, the only pipeline company I own is Enbridge (1% of total portfolio). With some cash to put to work, do you think that adding a second pipeline company makes sense - or perhaps just add to Enbridge. If so, which company would you suggest (for a 'forever' hold period)? Thanks, James

Q: I use TMX powerstream by the TMX group. Not cheap but very good for tracking more complex portfolios of stocks. Provides me with quick analytical tools. Cannot work without it now.