Investment Q&A

Q: When attempting to diversify the sectors in a portfolio does it make sense to hold individual stocks as well as ETF's in the same sector or is it one strategy or the other?

Thanks

Q: Retired, dividend income investor. I'm curious of your reaction to mega-investors such as Buffet and Lee-Chin, who have substantial hordes of cash (in the 50% range). They were in the news in the last couple of weeks, basically indicating that the time in now, to increase one's cash allocation. They are finding it difficult to find value in the market and certain sectors are in bubble territory (my understanding of their message).

I know that there are investors on both side of every trade. I also understand that if one removes the biggest names from the S&P, that there is reasonable valuation still there. My own personal belief is we still have room to go, due to low interest rates, increased vaccination rates, recovering economies, reflating the supply chains around the world...the list goes on.

I normally am fully invested, with virtually no cash. However I can't help but wonder whether I shouldn't increase my cash allocation...even though that puts me in the camp of "market timing". I suspect part of your answer will be to increase the cash to your level of "sleep at night" comfort.

Just curious of your thoughts on where we are in the market cycle. Thanks for your help....Steve

Q: Shawcor had a significant amount of equity writeoffs in 2020. Is it going to be helpful in 2021?

Q: I am wondering about the level of acquisitions by Topicus. $20 million (Canadian) seems like not enough for the last quarter for a $12 billion dollar company. Do you have any info on how much was spent on acquisitions in the last couple of years? How does this amount compare relative to Topicus’ size with respect to Constellation Software?

Q: A recruitment company, that came across my screens. Book value, price to sales look ok to me. What do you think of their recent earnings, management, balance sheet, industry, as the economy opens up and long term outlook. Could you also look into the insider trading, I see multiple recent buys by the CEO from January until now on a daily basis at 0 .4% his holding each time. Why this type of pattern? Is this significant in the long run. Thanks.

Q: Hi Peter,

Your current opinion on these two Companies please after the latest announcements.

Q: Dear 5i,
I originally bought this for around $49; then the company adjusted when the split for BEPC occurred. Some time later, I thought it ok to sell them at around $70. How do I figure out if a re-entry point for BEP.UN is good today at around $45, given that if I look at my brokerage graph the historical value of what I paid at $49 then, appears as around $25 now ie the graph has changed because of the split?
If it is tough to calculate/compare history, could you advise if today is a good price - thinking this time I should hold them a longer 7+ years.
Thank you for helping me,
Hilary

Q: Any idea what is happening with BEPC? The stock has gone down 15% in the last 3 weeks. Is this just a good buying opportunity?

Q: Does this company have a high dividend and how long has it paid it? Also is it sustainable?

Q: Do you know of a German Small Cap or Micro Cap ETF that is available for purchase.
My reasoning is Alot of Smaller German banks lend money for Business Development, Not just Asset purchases like Real Estate
Thanks Gord

Q: HFR's indicated dividend is .01 per unit but it says it offers a 2.25% yield, what am I missing?

Q: Hi group re TSFA i have $36,000 room - i was going to sell some losers Like KXS and DOC so i can claim the loss - does the fact that the cash will go into TSFA make any difference with the 30 day repurchase rule? - or does it still apply - thanks

Q: Is it safe to assume that it takes ~ a week to update the new information from the company? Latest earnring report from CNQ is not posted yet.

Q: As investors doing our do diligence we are looking at many
balance sheet ratios as of course you are as well
Common ones being P/E--P/B--P/S--P/CF--ROA-ROE-ROI
And then --asset turnover--PEG ratio--debt to capital etc. etc.
I am sure many others that you use.
All very helpful if you completely understand them.
There are also rules of thumb when looking at these ratios.
It would be very helpful if you gave us more insight into what
these rules/guidelines are.
I realize these rules of thumb vary by sector but I think many of a them are common to all sectors.

Thank you
Peter

Q: Any thoughts on the upcoming Dentalcorp IPO?

Thanks

Phil

Q: What's pushing up the price of Altagas in the last few days? Do you expect the trend to continue?

Q: thoughts on the quarter please?

Q: Can you comment on q1 results and the company in general please. They seem to be doing well. I’m thinking about adding. Thanks

Q: i cant seem to get much information on this stock i can only say there is strong momentum and they seem to be currently in the right type of business is there anything further that you could comment on thanks

Q: Hello. I am a new subscriber and this is my first question. I have been "practicing" self directed investing for the past year with about 20% of my registered assets. I think I have a pretty good grip on the basics and am now ready to move ahead and invest the balance of my assets into the market. I am going to use your portfolio construction recommendations as a guideline. According to the plan, I am already heavy in # of stocks and lack solid allocation and diversification. The stocks I listed are the ones that are dragging down the portfolio and for the most part do not belong in the mix. If I sell now all the losses seem to be quite significant representing approx. 3.5% of my current portfolio of stocks and about 1.3% of my total available assets. I have the option of holding on hoping for recovery and using other cash to strengthen my good positions and add to more diversified positions. Or should I simply sell and move on with a clean slate to re-build the portfolio?