Investment Q&A

Q: Anyone who put in a “STOP” was murdered today .
CSU traded as low as $454.00 today … shares were picked up by traders who had software that shows the stop orders on their screens…
By US standards CSU trades relatively thinly - buying the entire sell board of CSU is a no brainer for Goldman and others ... the retail investor is a victim who can't even protect his wealth.

There is NO price low enough to prevent deep pocketed vultures because Level 3 Quotes are available to the privileged few . This is unfair ... and I am angry. I guess this is why you aren't a fan of Stops.

Q: Banks took a big hit at the opening. CM yielding north of 5%. Looks like a bargain. Agree/disagree??

Q: Can you explain why some etfs like USMV were down significantly more than the market this morning? Do etfs get halted like stocks when they drop significantly. I bought a small amount at 29.6 this morning, but was too chicken to buy a lot because I couldn't understand what was happening.

Q: Any new thoughts on SWC? (It has been about 18 months since the last question).

Q: You DO look after your members, (the "red" is a caring and reassuring touch.) How does this compare to the financial crisis?

Q: 9:35 AM 8/23/2015
Hello Peter & Staff :

I have a large Prov of Ontario bond representing 3.5% of my portfolio, maturing soon with a 4.3% yield. The only altenative I have is to replace it with the safest most reliable dividend stock that I can find as I choose not to buy bonds, GICs, or preferreds because of the very low yields and the risk of capital loss on preferreds.

I searched today for any Provincial bond worth owning and I don't come up with much : The bond with the highest yield that I can find is an Alberta bond maturing 2029 that yields 2.49% to maturity, so any "safe" stock that can beat that return surely is better even if they cut the dividend by 50%

I am expecting a very protracted very rough time in the markets in the next years ahead. I would like a stock that I can hold indefinitely that has a rock-solid balance sheet, reasonably low debt, reliable growing dividends, and long-term stability.

It seems to me that the "safest" sectors with good yields are financials, telecoms, utilities, and the few consumer stocks with decent dividends, and I have been searching through all your answers and am considering CM, NA, GWO, BCE, FTS, EMA, CSW.A, and CSH.UN as possible candidates.

Could you comment on these companies please, indicating which you believe to be "safest" for long-term ongoing dividends, and explain your choices for me, and perhaps list them in order of preference.

Your answers are always most appreciated, Many thanks...... Paul K

Q: Hello Peter & team, You mentioned this today:

"One of our favourite moves in a bad market is to buy companies who have recently raised dividends yet whose stocks have weakened. In these cases, management has indicated all is well, yet markets have made the stocks cheaper for non-fundamental reasons." Which companies would you recommend based on the above?
Thank you!

Q: In this horrible environment, how would AYA and IT perform? Do you think it's an opportunity to buy/add at these prices?
Thank you!

Q: While unit prices in the REIT sector are declining with the market I am wondering if these businesses are/will be adversely affected fundamentally and if it might be a time to buy ETFs or individual companies in the sector? Non are owned now. Retirement income is the main interest. Your insights and opinion are so appreciated. Thank you.

Q: hello..Not selling anything but want to buy few...can you please advise 4-5 top buys. Thanks

Q: I am thinking about buying this company, but I want to see if I am missing something fundamental about them first. I see an ROE of 15%, year on year growth of 70%, a balance sheet not overloaded with debt, and the institution of a new roughly 6% dividend. Management claims they can double the lending book in the next three years. Is this not going to be an Alaris-like long term dividend grower off of a 6% base? Thanks

Q: Hi, to what extent are the shares of renewable energy companies such as RNW, CPX and INE suffering because low oil and gas prices are potentially seen as a replacement energy source, therefore eventually lowering demand for renewable energy?

Also, which utility companies do you feel offer good value and safety here (excluding pipelines).

Thanks.

Q: In this market,your advice is to keep calm,& the best course is to do nothing if portfolio is set up properly.Please advise if there are any stock in my below portfolio that I should NOT own. CGX,CQE,CRR.UN,DRT,ET,INN.UN,KEL,PHM,SJ,CEF.A,MNW,RX,SYZ,XSR,SU,PFE(US),HSBC(US),AMD(us) Thanks a lot for your usual great services & views.

Q: Some general guidance please. In this stock market correction some of the 5i stocks have held up quite well. Examples include CSU, ESL, DSG, SJ, SYZ, FSZ. Some other stocks have been creamed. For allocating new funds at this time, do you think the best risk adjusted returns will come from adding to these strong positions or adding to the stocks that have been creamed? Or is is entirely a company specific decision? Thanks.

Q: Good Morning. I have built up a considerable amount of US cash over the past few years. Does it make sense to buy dual listed stocks in US? Do you have any favorite US names in large cap companies as well that I should consider trying to pick up at lower prices in the next weeks? Some names I'm considering are MG, TD, DIS, GILD, HD. I would like companies exposed to the US market such as health care and the US consumer. Thanks so much for your help!

Q: We are thinking of taking a 3% weighting in either CCL.B or AGU. Our US dollar weighting is currently around 20% which may be too low. We have cash and I would probably sell some ALA in which we are slightly overweight (6%). I suppose our bank stocks (BNS & TD) are inter listed on the NYSE so the shares could simply be transferred to increase the US dollar weighting and purchase CCL.B. I am aware AGU offers a better dividend than CCL.B. We don't own any agriculture stocks but have a number of industrials - MDA, NFI, WSP, ALC & LGT.B. I like all those companies and don't want to sell any of them. In fact I intend to buy more MDA & LGT.B. (I assume CCL.B is sort of an industrial stock). Do you have any random thoughts one way or the other?

Q: Hi Peter,
I'm trying to learn from the rout this week. And so far all I've learned is what I don't know about corrections. I kept clear of bio stocks, because everyone said they were expensive. I got rid of all oil, gas and mining stocks. I tried to select quality low beta stocks. And still, I got hit worse than the indexes.
Among my stinkers: Kroger, Colliers, WSP Global, CCL Industries, Disney, Currency Exchange, Interpipe, and The Keg. Even DH and ATD got hammered. Meanwhile, other stocks I would have expected to get hurt like BCE, DHX or Knight, sailed through, and XBI was actually up today... In fact XBI has performed much better this week than most of the above! So what do you do to be as safe as you can in volatile times other than getting out of the market?

Q: Hi Peter and Team, looking for clarification regarding your ten picks for Greg in the current selloff, regarding Sunlife as a pick, wouldn't SLF which has a growing presence in Asia, with net income and operating net income in the region more than doubled, become an issue due to China currency affect?

They had a great quarter but how will SLF's international businesses be affected going forward, especially considering the Asian currency issues?

Thanks!

Q: Hello Team
I have been reading a few different newsletters now that are recommending to start accumulating in the gold sector and lightening up on equities and bonds. These are the same people that predicted oil would be at 40.00. Some of the reasons they are stating this has to do with that economic condition of Japan and europe. Lack of QE from the US. Downturn in commodities and now the China effect. What are you thoughts/opinions on gold sector and the accumulation of gold stocks/etf or bullion?

thanks

Q: LGT.B dropped a bit last week. I own it and want to buy some more. It is a great company but a pretty thin trader. If something ever went wrong I know I would take a bit of a "haircut". We own about 27 different companies & ETF's - most of them large caps. I think ALC, LGT.B and SYZ are the smallest caps we own. ALC acts like a large cap even though it isn't. I'm waiting patiently on SYZ.
Is a 4% weighting too high for LGT.B?