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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: Greetings
Many publicly traded companies grant stock options to their executives and officers under the guise of aligning the long term interests of management and shareholders. 10% of the issued and outstanding share capital to be made available under the plan appears to be the norm. From my perspective this is a 'heads I win, tails I don't lose' proposition for those involved and would much rather see outright share purchases by management. Has 5i considered doing a blog or similar regarding stock option plans and potential red flags to watch out for? As the board of directors are giving away our company when they do this some thoughts around what is reasonable from you would be appreciated.
Thank you so much
Tim
Read Answer Asked by Tim on March 03, 2015
Q: Question for my 30 year old son's portfolio. He is investing only in registered accounts (TFSAs, RRSPs and RESPs). Based on the below portfolio breakdown what are some additions you would recommend? He plans to put additional cash of another approx. 15% throughout the year.

Cash 14.4%
AYA 12.5%
BNS 8.4%
XDV 8.4%
ESL 6.2%
DHX 5.7%
BEP.UN 5.5%
SYZ 4.2%
CTY 4.0%
BDI 3.7%
LB 3.7%
EEM 3.6%
BIN 3.6%
HSE 3.6%
VIP.UN 3.4%
WAN 3.4%
BAD 2.5%
AVO 2.3%
SGY 0.9%
Read Answer Asked by Tracey on March 03, 2015
Q: Good Day! Recognizing US stocks are not your focus but you seem willing to give an opinion. How do you feel about a small investment in St Joe Co. I am in Florida escaping that Canadian winter and you would not believe the construction that is going on here on the St Joe developments. By far the most activity I have seen in the 5 years I have been coming to northern Florida.
Read Answer Asked by David on March 03, 2015
Q: Hi Peter and Team,

For a U.S. ETF in an otherwise balanced portfolio containing many of your Canadian picks, which of the above ETFs would you choose, and why? This investment could be for a RRIF and/or a margin account. (Both of these ETFs are offered commission-free at Scotia iTrade.) Thanks as always for your valuable advice.
Read Answer Asked by Jerry on March 03, 2015
Q: On the previous question regarding reset prefs, the 5 year BOC, from their website is 1.5% yet the reset used was .79%. I am confused. Is .79% the YTM? and should that be used to calculate the "new" yield till the next reset? Thank You
Read Answer Asked by Ronald on March 03, 2015
Q: We have a portfolio of 26 holdings in a BMO Invest account, all dividend stocks as we depend on the dividends for about 50% of our annual income. BMO regularly provides opinions on our investments as given by various analysts. One of these is Ford Research and I would like to have your opinion of this firm. Frankly they seem to advise 'Hold' on almost all of our stocks but, today, advised 'Sell' on BIP.UN, HSE, IPL, and VET. Since BIP.UN is up 50% since I bought it, and pays a good dividend, and the other sells have also done well for us, how much confidence should I place in Ford's opinions?
Read Answer Asked by Edward on March 03, 2015
Q: Hi Peter,
What happened to all the O/G questions ? :)
Of the 3 listed where would you add at this time ? TOU has held up well. Dividend for WCP certainly looks healthier than SGY. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on March 03, 2015
Q: Bankers come out with there quarterly report and there capex spending for 2015 would like take report and is it a hold Thanks Barry
Read Answer Asked by BARRY on March 03, 2015
Q: I see bnk just came out with reserve numbers etc. I have to admit a little above my head. I note from a Dec letter that you know mgm and think highly of them. Td also has a buy on them. I own about a 10% position in oil/gas. MEG, SGY & TOG. I figure with a 4% drop today that the mkt didn't like what they had to say..What do you think of bnk at this time, should I buy, or might you suggest something else. Thanks very much.
Read Answer Asked by Maureen on March 03, 2015
Q: Good day...thanks for the great service..my question is concerning my outside account... I am going to add some Canadian dividend stocks for dividend income that I require in 7 years...my thinking is to cover the 10 Canadian sectors with aem, aw.un, dh, csh.un, enb, wsp, bce, xre, wcp, and bns...could you please give me your thoughts on this and possible changes you would make...thank you
Read Answer Asked by gene on March 03, 2015
Q: I'm about to retire and I'm looking for:

1) A small-cap, U.S. based stock
2) Pays at least at 3% dividend

Any suggestions?
Read Answer Asked by Eugene on March 03, 2015
Q: several weeks ago there was report I think it was talked about on bnn that ranked Brokerage banks services. Would you know how I could get the link to the report.
Read Answer Asked by Mike on March 03, 2015
Q: I am thinking of building a small portfolio using only the (A) rated stocks from your monthly summary list. Wondering if that would provide enough diversification to get a decent return over the long term?
Read Answer Asked by Jacques on March 03, 2015
Q: i like the current technical on pembina, but would loike your comparison to ipl , enb, key, in terms of quality, risk, dividend sustainability and potentila for growth
Thanks ( appreciate your continouss quality advice!)
Read Answer Asked by lyle on March 03, 2015
Q: When you give a report on a company you give it a rating A, B- etc.

Do you have this rating available on all the other stocks that you have not profiled

Great service
Read Answer Asked by Ernest on March 03, 2015