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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 own pretty much all the stocks in your model portfolio (other than GC, PKI, SJ, and SYZ) and about 1/2 of your growth portfolio. I also own a number of ETFs, including VXC, VCN, VAB, CDZ, SPY, XAW, and VXUS. I was doing a review of my portfolio and noticed that the ETFs above now make up 20% of my portfolio. A couple questions:
1) Are some of these ETFs redundant in my case?
2) What sector allocation would you suggest for 2018?
Read Answer Asked by Eric on December 04, 2017
Q: Many investors expect big tobacco to get into Marijuana stocks. Perhaps liability issues might deter them, but they will need to make up for lost sales and diversify.

I seek your opinion on whether it is worth buying one of the following :
British American Tobacco , Phillip Morris (PM.us), or Japan Tobacco.
I am looking for a company with minimal exposure to the US market. I wonder if PM now has significant adverse exposure to the domestic US market after its acquisition of Reynolds.
I’d be thankful for your insight on which ( ---IF ANY---) would be a good choice for dividend growth over 3 or more years.
If you believe none are worth it right now, I would appreciate your thumbs down , if applicable.
Read Answer Asked by Adam on December 04, 2017
Q: Per the G&M today, Absolute has "...withdrawn a resolution for its upcoming annual shareholder meeting...in order to secure the support of Institutional Shareholder Services to recommend that shareholders of the company vote 'for' all matters to be considered at the meeting." Do institutions hold a significant number Absolute's shares and does this note indicate the company is being "encouraged" to modify its stance in order to retain institutional support? I'm holding a small position at break-even and am wavering on continuing to do so. Your insight would be helpful.
Read Answer Asked by David on December 04, 2017
Q: Greetings 5i,

VRX seems to have rallied since it reported. Mgt looks to be doing a good job in reducing debt and providing transparency. They also offered notes I believe mid November reducing near term debt. I know you are cautious re: VRX however what additionally would be needed to endorse this company? It seems to be racing away as we sit and hope for more improvements.

Cheers!
Read Answer Asked by Duane on December 04, 2017
Q: Hi there,

I currently follow the BE Portfolio with a slight growth tilt. I have about 25 positions on, each starting with a 4% weighting. I have done very well few names such as SIS, SHOP, PBH, TOY etc. At what weighting would you recommend that I trim back positions?

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Michael on December 04, 2017
Q: Hi Peter and Team,
For this year's RRIF payment, I need to sell approximately 14K of stocks as I've been almost fully invested over the last year, in large measure due to 5i's superb recommendations. The stocks listed above are in sectors where I am overweight. I have several questions, so please deduct credits as you see fit:
(1) If I sold CGX outright, I'd obtain roughly 14K and would reduce my total number of holdings and lower my overweight consumer discretionary stocks. Even though CGX has fallen from its lofty heights, I'm still up, especially when factoring in the accumulated dividends. Also, there would be only one sell transaction. Are you OK with this plan?
(2) Are there any others in the list that could/should be an outright sell?
(3) Or, would a better plan be to reduce holdings in each stock by taking profits?
Of course, this would mean more sell transaction fees.

As always, I defer to your recommendations, and have been rewarded for doing so. Thanks in advance.









Read Answer Asked by Jerry on December 04, 2017
Q: I have used the Financial Post site for convertible debenture quotes for many years. It was an awesome site that providing me with all the info I needed for convertible debentures trading on the TSX. About 4 weeks ago it went away and I have been unable to find another site that was comparable to this one? Does anyone know another site that provides a summary of quotes for Canadian convertible debentures?
Read Answer Asked by Robert on December 04, 2017