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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: I have a position in both TCW and CFW, which both are Well services. They had been rising nicely until a few weeks ago, but are currently on a downward slope. Is it time to bail out, or do you think they will rebound soon?

Thanks for your prompt advice!

Ken Morin
Momentum investor
Read Answer Asked by Ken on July 28, 2016
Q: Did anything of substance come out of the conference call?

I was hoping the CC may calm some nerve but the selling persisted through out the day. Based on the volumes it sure looked like some of the major institutional holders may be bailing out on AD.

Anyway, should us small retails follow suit? I'm about 12% in the hole and it would take two years of "coupon clipping" just to get even, so to speak.

What's your take on all these?
Read Answer Asked by Victor on July 28, 2016
Q: I'm considering adding a 3% emerging markets component to a growth portfolio. The two ETFs I am looking at are ZEM (C$) and EEM (US$). They both track the same index, ZEMs MER is about half that of EEM and its dividend is slightly higher. It is however, much smaller with a 157M market cap vs. 27.8 for EEM. Is the size differential a concern?
Read Answer Asked by Ken on July 28, 2016
Q: Hello, Since eif and ad have both been ranked about even do you see eif facing the same demise as ad. I bought alaris the day before earnings release and took a serious haircut. As I write this am wondering if there is any relation to ex dividend and earnings release for Alaris. Thanks lots
Read Answer Asked by Alan on July 28, 2016
Q: I know you do not follow this company in depth but I was hoping you might do some digging. I have held this company for a while trading around it. Do you see any issues with growth or profit. Recent announcements seem to be positive going forward. I am looking to reload at current levels as winter months seem to be the time to lighten up.

Virtu Financial Inc.. symbol VIRT

Thank you again

Jason N
Read Answer Asked by JASON on July 28, 2016
Q: A recent negative article in Seeking Alpha by Timberwolf Equity Research raised a few points that I hope you can comment on. The company was not calling for a short on the stock so the article does not appear to be self serving, although that in itself is not much proof. So while the article appears to be based "on facts", it does not agree with your recent review of the company.

The article as best as I can understand it raises 4 points.

1. That Starbucks accounts for 35% of the company's sales (23% of revenue). They acknowledge the company does not state this but that they have figured it out.

2. Inside ownership. and therefore an alignment of management interests with that of other shareholders, is a mirage because the company has provided these particular shareholders with low interest loans that require the value of the stock as collateral and for the dividends to cover the principle repayment costs. Therefore, the company's management has an incentive to raise the dividend whether warranted or not.

3. Cash flow is miss-stated because the company excludes working capital changes as it only includes replacement capital expenditures and leaves out expansion capital expenditures (I won't pretend that I understand this). The upshot is that the company's cash flow is closer to $28 million rather than the $81 million stated by the company.

4. Share count is ever increasing because the company finances its takeovers with low interest convertible debentures which almost assuredly means that the debenture holders convert their holdings into stock. The authors estimate that this resulted in a 22% dilution in 2015.

Appreciate your insight into these matters.

Paul F.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on July 28, 2016
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