Investment Q&A

Q: Best wishes for 2014. And thank you, once again, for freeing us all from brokers.
Could you please compare and contrast Redknee RKN and Sphere 3-D ANY. I own RKN and am wondering if I should swap it for Sphere. But I can't assess how serious RKN's last earnings miss was. You have said that the story is not over, but you have also said RKN is now more risky. I don't know Sphere 3-D very well, but I have seen you suggest it to other members.

In your recent blog post "Five Small Cap Rules to Live By," your 5th recommendation is the following: Don't stick around too long if serious problems develop. Specifically, you add that a serious problem may be revealed in "declining sales trends or declining profit margins. A small, growing company, in our view, should never show declining sales." Does RKN fit into this category? Is Sphere a good switch with better risk-reward or should I wait one more quarter on RKN. Thank you again for fabulous service: I have made money--and more importantly learned a lot!

Q: As part of proper portfolio balance, my philosophy is to generally have income securities inside RRSP, blue chips in cash accounts, and the most speculative of the bunch in TFSA. In a recent question on TFSA where dividends were a criterion you suggested BDI where I might consider MCR instead.

Current TFSA is: CVL largest holding at 25%, equal weights: AYA, SYZ, WCP, WIN, WPK and at 5% MUX.

What 2 names could you suggest adding for the 2014 contribution, bearing in mind that dividends are less important than potential home run power, or should I beef up one of the existing weight stocks, and is my thinking fundamentally solid? Thanks, J.

Q: Best wishes for a most successful year, 2014, may it bring to all the team at Si continued good health, sound investment insights,and successful investments for all your subscribers. Would appreciate learning your thoughts on Cardinal Energy Ltd, CJ-T, which came to the market in mid December, as to whether or not is a potentially good O/G E/P investment for the next 2-3 years in my portfolio. Many thanks, Jim

Q: I have a portfolio of USD & CDN blue chip stocks and was thinking of buying 3 or 4 small to mid-cap names as a very tiny % of my overall portfolio: ENT, E, GPS & perhaps HNL or maybe LOY? Is there too much overlap between ENT & E ? Thoughts please.
Thank you James

Q: BNP Bonavista. I have held this for 3 years. Average of $17.00.
They kept saying no cut on the dividend then cut it and the CEO stepped down immediately. It seems the big investors are sore about the way the cut was announced. Should I exit this stock as momentum will be hard to recapture.

Q: Hi,
what's a good amount of $$$ to invest in a stock split like TD?

Do you have an opinion on
1) AXX
2) PPY

Q: I would like your opinion on Poet Technologies V.PTK or V.OPL. Thank you

Q: i would like your opinion of LAS VEGAS SANDS(LVS)

which appeals to me as it operates in south east asia

and the asians are BIG GAMBLERS

Q: Hi Peter and 5i: a couple questions about convertible debentures (“CDs”) and also could you please let me know if anything that I am saying suggests I may be misunderstanding these instruments. First off, it seems there are two typical situations that result in CDs trading above their face value. One is if the common share price appreciates to the point where the CD’s are primarily of interest for their potential conversion value. I’d like to leave this aspect aside, as right now I am more interested in their characteristics when they are behaving more like bonds. The second situation seems to occur mostly when they get relatively closer to their maturity dates. I would guess this is an effect of their relatively high original yields in combination with the fact that the perceived default risk can decline more steeply and from relatively higher levels for these corporate debt instruments than for “safer” fixed income alternatives. If they are issued with 6 or 8 years to maturity, that is a long time in the world of corporate business and who really knows how some of these companies will do over that kind of timeframe. On the other hand, in a CD’s last year before maturity, the visibility of the solvency and continued existence of the corporate issuer may be extremely good. With a short enough time to maturity, one might even think that the default risk is not materially worse than with government backed securities, that is, probably still somewhat worse but the overall risk is small enough that the difference is not that significant. So my first question is: Is it common for professional money managers to purchase CDs with short remaining maturities in order to boost short term yields in their fixed income funds? Would that be a significant component of what causes CDs to trade above par as their maturity dates get nearer?
Second question: Are there any standard “catches” or pitfalls in the construction of individual CDs that retail investors really need to be watchful for? I know it is important to go right to the filed prospectus document when evaluating a CD for potential purchase but it would be helpful if I had a better idea of what kinds of features to be on guard against when I am doing that research. (Feel free to refer me on to another info source on this one, if that would make the most sense.)
Thanks for any help, as always!

Q: Junior oils took a pretty good hit yesterday,WCP,SGY,CPG-any particular reasons ?

Q: I am a brand new member (Canada) and would like to open a self-directed TFSA account. Can I choose my own investment combination (eg. pick my own stocks)?
Many thanks.

Q: Hello,

I have the following portfolio in my TFSA account (about $13000 worth): Canadian Oil Sands (COS), Manulife Financial (MFC), Whitecap Petroleum (WCP), Intel Corp (INTC) and Templeton Global Income fund (GIM).
I also have the following stocks in an investment account (about $10000): Imperial Oil (IMO) and Sun Life (SLF)
In my RSP account so far I have only one ETF (CEW) about $5500 worth
Can you give me suggestions to improve my portfolio considering the long term, some good divident paying stocks/etfs which have long term growth prospects. Please also let me know which of the existing stocks I should sell.

Also is there any particular good time of the year to buy/sell stock. In my limited knowledge my general observation is I see are that stocks tend to dip in the month for March to May . I am not sure why. . So it seems that Jan Feb may be a good time to sell the ones which I should sell. Does this logic make sense? Thanks

Q: Regarding MCR: What's managements explanation of the growth in Trade Receivables and Deferred revenue since 2011? Looks like a great growth story, but some earnings have been invested in higher current asset balances. Is it due to changes in customer base /contract terms?

Q: Happy New Year! What are your thoughts on a weighting in gold stocks at this time - just the Goldcorp in the model portfolio?

Q: Given the fact that all Americans will be required to have health insurance coverage in 2014 are there particular Insurance companies that would benefit more than others and could prove to be very good investments?
Happy New Year and thank you so much for all your advice.

Q: I am holding 3 pipelines:
ENB - 7% of portfolio
IPL - 6.4% of portfolio
PPL - 5.7% of portfolio
Balance of portfolio is very diversified.

In your opinion (which I value greatly) am I OK with these 3 pipelines of is it over weight. If I were to trim 1 pipeline which one should go.

Thank You as always.

Q: You have mentioned that we should pay attention to companies that start paying a dividend. Where can we find that information for TSX or S&P companies? And secondly, I would like to thank 5i for setting a new era of investing advice in Canada!

Q: Congratulations to the 5i team. This morning's Financial Post lists the five best performers in 2013. Two of them - VRX and MGA - are in the portfolio.

I have been a member for only a short while and already I have a lot more confidence - I had a great December. Thank you for that, too

I very much like STN and intend to buy as soon as the distribution phase works itself out.

Q: Hi,

I'm interested in your opinion on Niko (NKO) in light of the new loan deal, and the conversion notices that seem to have had an effect on the market's perception of the viability of this company. My understanding is that their revenue should increase greatly in April under a new gas pricing agreement. I hold a small position in NKO that is down from a $10 entry point. would you recommend holding on or averaging down at this time? Thanks for your great service!
-Jeff

Q: Thank you for this opportunity to ask a question. I have held 3M (MMM) for over a year with good results. I sold it a month ago to lock in my gain. Is this it overvalued now and is it opportune to reinvest.