Investment Q&A

Q: I have a half position and am in the process of building a full position in Leon's....just read the article (thanks David) about the 300% tariff on furniture sourced from China and Vietnam. I have gone to Leon's website, trying to get a feel for the potential impact on Leon's and could not find the information I need....hoping your sources and search engines are better.

What percentage of LNF is based on furniture?
What % of furniture is impacted by these initial tariff rates (% sourced from China and Vietnam)?
What is the likelihood of the final tariffs being similar to these initial ones?
What is the overall impact on Leon's and their business model going forward (when you net it all down, does the tariff have a significant impact on their overall business)?

Thanks for you help...Steve

Q: Would like help choosing between TOI or DSG, which name would be added for growth for a 5+ year hold? From reading all the answers for TOI and DSG, your answers indicate TOI may have higher future growth? Thank you.

Q: I hold both Interpipeline and Pembina. If the PPL takeover of IPL goes through, I will have a bit more PPL than I am comfortable with, and would consider moving a portion to a company in a similar space. Assuming the deal happens, how would you rate the combined PPL/IPL compared to similar alternatives ENB, KEY, TRP. Could you give a rating for each of the 4 on a scale of 1 -10 for desirability as a long term hold in a balanced portfolio. Looking at total return over a 5 - 10 year period. Thanks.

Q: I am trying to like this company enough to buy in, but have a problem. They have not raised their dividend since they started. It would seem that they grow by aquisitions, funded by issuing stock, but are not able to get a good enough deal to net better than the 6.2 % they are paying now. That doesn't speak well for management. What is the point of growth if it does not get more return? Their payout ratio is apparently 94%.
I always think that for a company that does that, they would at least increase their 6.2% if they fired the management who are - to quote Shakespeare - up to "much ado about nothing". That salary that is spent NOT increasing my payment (at least enough to keep up with inflation!) could go to the bottom line!
In fact, if they are raising their rent by inflation then the net should go up by inflation. The fact it does not generally means they are not managing their costs well at all.
So, that being said, can you muster any argument that could convince me this is worth buying? Hopefully I am missing something!
Thanks!
Paul K.

Q: With inflation comes higher interest rates.this should not be favorable for gold as it pays nothing to hold it.
Why do you suggest gold would be a good idea to own during inflationary times?
Mmx has been a laggard while the gold price is increasing, you have an idea why?
What is Sprotts position in MMX?Are they buyers,sellers?any insider activity that you see lately?
Does Mmx still have a position in Krr?value?
Is Mmx still one of your top ideas ,or you have other better suggestions?

Q: What US stocks would you recommend to reduce volatility of a portfolio which is overweight on US growth stocks (mostly IT)? Looking for dividend payers, which are expected to grow at a moderate pace and are reasonable priced for that growth.

Q: The Finance section of the current issue of the Economist magazine has an interesting article on surging capex investment. I would appreciate your observations and suggestions on how to play the situation.

Q: Which 5 Canadian and U.S.A. growth stocks do you consider most undervalued today. Thanks.

Q: I am looking for some insight to help me understand how the market is currently pricing preferred shares. I had a position in CPD from 2015 to 2020 when I dumped it out of frustration. During that period it seemed that when interest rates were forecast to go up the preferreds would go down because investors would focus on the lower relative yields. If rates were forecast to drop the preferreds would still go down because then investors would focus on the reset aspect. It was an investment that provided the worst of both worlds!

I still hold a couple of preferreds including some fixed perpetuals such as POW.PR.D and RY.PR.P which despite everyone’s expectation of rising interest rates are both hitting new all-time highs now. It’s all just too perplexing for me. Any explanation?

Q: Good evening, would your team be able to recommend a growth oriented ETF for purchase in TFSA, either Canadian focused or internationally focused?

Cheers

Q: Hello 5i Team
Further to Cam’s question on June 01 regarding BPO.PR.C and related BPO.PR.N
Brookfield Office Properties announced (see Brookfield Property Partners website) at days end on June 01 the new reset dividend rate.
For the readers information, the reset rate is usually stipulated in the prospectus as being set at end of business day 30 days before the reset date. Some companies are very prompt in issuing news releases for preferred reset issues and some are not!
Why do you think Brookfield did not redeem the BPO.PR.C issue? At the new reset rate of 6.117 %, I would have thought BAM/BPY would have been able to raise debt at much lower rate, considering BAM raised debt at sub 3 % in April 2021. Or was this a case of in-opportune timing, with the preferred share issue being available for redemption prior to the closing of the BAM/BPY takeover?
Thanks

Q: Hi Peter, I've taken some comfort despite my loss on BDX shares because some commentators have pointed out that their products (joint replacements) will soon benefit from the pent-up demand due to Covid-caused delays in such surgeries. However, Stryker, which is in a similar business, has significantly outperformed BDX both before and after Covid. In other words, do you know why BDX is so underperforming SYK, and would you hang onto (or perhaps add to) BDX at this point? Thank you.

Q: a) Could you please clarify the advantage of owning bep.un vs bepc.
b) Would you recommend adding either to my current holding of aqn/npi/blx?
c) Please list in order of preference
d) Do you think all four would give greater diversity, or would you prefer owning only 2 or 3 of theses companies and if so which ones!
Ed in Montreal

Q: I have been holding IPL for approx 7 years. Needless to say I'm below water even with deal on the table. I was thinking of getting out of IPL and buying ENB.

Thoughts.
thx

Q: hello 5i:
we hold MRK in our portfolio, and have been notified of the allotment, as of 2 June, of shares of Organon. Can you discuss how you will see MRK shares being affected and whether or not you think the new Organon shares will have opportunities in the future that MRK did not have. Said another way, do you see this as beneficial to existing shareholder and does the new company hold some promise. CSU and TOI come to mind
thanks
Paul L

Q: Greetings,

I have 4% cash currently and would consider short term opportunities. With a new competing bid IPL is trading below the offer price. Do you see an opportunity here to purchase IPL and hold for the sale and possible counter offer? Or is the difference more related to the half cash half PPL stock offer which will be more volitile? Hence risk. I appreciate your insite.

Cheers!

Q: I realize it is early in the acquisition, but would you be able to highlight the move, and give us your thoughts on the new, and hopefully improved PPL with the addition of IPL and the amount of debt they are taking on. Thanks

Q: If you owned IPL today would you:
1. Sell the stock with today's news
2. Accept the PPL stock (if the deal goes through)
3. Wait and see if Brookfield offers more
Thanks!

Q: Market cap as questioned in my April 6 query - 3.06 Billion or some other number?
5i had contacted TOI in April to confirm this - has there been a response?

Q: Recent IPO from Swedish oat milk company that is expanding to North America. You can buy their product at Costco for example.
Appreciate your take on this company for 5 year investment.
Many thanks
Peter