Investment Q&A

Q: Hi Guys ! I would like your comments on these stocks. Some of them I'm down a lot eg: ALAB, DASH, NOW. I would appreciate any comments on the individual stocks and also are they hold or sell ? Thanks.

Q: I have some US cash sitting on the sidelines and thinking of purchasing NOW. Looking at your database, it shows a PE ratio of 19.04 while TD Waterhouse shows 69.9. I know you have been asked many times to explain this discrepancy but would you do it one more time in regards to this particular stock.

Q: Hi Team,
Can I have your take on NOW earnings? Beat on all metrics it seems like, yet the stock nose dives. CNBC has a headline saying "bear market is in for software stocks". What is a person to do now when I am stuck with NOW, and all the CSU family? Can I expect CSU, LMN, TOI to sell off a bunch more on earnings when they report like NOW is doing today even though they beat? I am finding it hard to decide whether to just Hold, buy more, or Sell? Usually selling is not a good long term idea in a proven quality name, but maybe this is different this time? However selling a sector that is being oversold might be a bad idea if I am expecting to invest it in momentum names at their "highs" (such as MU) that might roll over at any time...that would be a bad scenerio. Today is an awful day. My portfolio has peaked last October and still has not came back since and continues to fall. Losing confidence in holdings I thought were all quality names..

Thanks for any input you may have,

Shane.

Q: You've discussed declines in the CSU family as a potential opportunity... Many software companies are in a similar position. NOW and INTU come to mind. What would be 1 or 2 each of your fav. Large and Smid companies suffering from a similar fate and why and do you think it's time to invest or not. We've been discussing this scenario for some time now with ADBE and waiting has proven the best course.

thx, M

Q: Could you please rank the following stocks from most to least desirable for a new position:

NBIS, NVDA, LMN, META, CSU, MSFT, APP, TOI, ASML, NOW, OUST, ORCL

Q: Do you have a blog entry or past question response related to US listed opportunities that could benefit from the end of tax loss selling? If not, can you provide 10 opportunities that would benefit specifically from this seasonal event? Can you also explain the extent to which tax related selling and potential rebounds occur in the US compared to the Canadian market? Is it just as likely or less likely based on the size of their market and different tax system? Lastly and on the same theme, if CSU is an excellent candidate for a recover from tax related selling, is NOW a US listed candidate for a rebound on a potentially larger scale given the larger following that it has?

Q: Hello gentlemen: I am looking for companies to top up such that their current PE is near or within its last 10 years average. Which of the above is your Most prefer to least. Feel free to add a few more that isn't mentioned above.
Can you name a few US ones , say 4-5 companies. Thank you

Q: Hello 5i,

We have listed a few Ugly Ducklings of the year below. Please rank the following stocks for purchase today with a longer-term view on growth.

CRM, MRVL, TRI, CSU, LMN, CROX, UNH, HD, GSY, FOUR, AVAV

Thank you for your sage advice.

D&J

Q: What are your thoughts on how overvalued AI stocks are and what factors we should be concerned about that could cause the bubble to burst?

What are some good ideas for relatively safe stocks and etfs to hedge against a AI and tech weighted portfolio?

Q: I think the CRM and NOW will benefit from AI agents.

However these stocks are not performing well lately.

I am currently 10% down on both. Is it a good time to start DCA into them?

Q: the impact of AI seems to be negatively affecting many SAAS companies - in particular CRM and NOW. Is this temporary in your opinion or could it be existential risk?
the market seems to be thinking the latter..

Q: Hi 5i Team - First a general question on the topic of AI. Is agentic AI the sequel to generative AI and from an investment point of view are companies that are developing or involved with agentic AI ones we should be looking at now. Specifically is UiPath one to invest in along this theme and do you have any suggestions for other ones that may be equal to or better than UiPath. Thanks.

Q: How would you rate these for holding in the SMID Growth section of a portfolio (A couple may not be SMID, which means they just may not be forever keepers for me) - I hold all except SNPS and NOW, which I've been watching, and I’m thinking of consolidating into 6-8 positions, but could keep more. I'm considering 3-4 for shorter-term growth, 1-3 years, 3-4 for longer-term growth, 5-10 years. Please order from most conviction to least with a preference to Shorter (S) or longer(L) or either (E). Thanks!
SNPS, NOW, GLXY, KSI, FOUR, ROAD, CLBT, CRM, HPS.A, VHI, GENI, SRAD

Q: Hi,
In your answer to Neil yesterday, you said that there are numerous high growth software companies that remain down 20%.+ Could you name several you like, both US and Canadian? Thank you Mike.

Q: Good evening,

I am wondering if you have any possible suggestions regarding companies that focus predominately in the application layer or operate full-stack models of AI.

The reason why I am asking this is because of an article entitled: "AI's revolution is just beginning" in Sunday's Globe and Mail. Sadly, there are a few parts that I don't fully comprehend which unfortunately prevents me from investigating more fully. A starting point would be great!

Take a peek to the article as it draws parallels to the dot com/internet crash of the 2000s.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated so I may begin to investigate.

Conversely, state any points you think should be taken with a grain of salt!

Thanks!
Arturo

Q: Are there any US stocks that are getting hit right now that would be good buys for long term growth holds?

Q: As one of 5i’s early subscribers, I find it a useful thought experiment to give my answer to a question before clicking on the 5i answer. I have found over the years our answers converge and so I rarely send in questions and comments. However my sense is that DeepSeek is a significant change.

On one level it is a clear lesson in the reality that, as Keynes said many decades ago, it’s real resources that matter, not money.

The American approach to AI development was that if you don’t have a $1billion you're not in the game. The Chinese have shown that if you have the pool of talent, amazing things can be done with relatively little money. The prevailing narrative that the Chinese are just copy cats was also blown out of the water. DeepSeek not only upends every assumption underlying the American approach to AI, it shows that the Chinese can out Silicon Silicon Valley and that means that, unlike in the past, China’s most talented minds will want to work for Chinese companies not American ones.

How will the Americans respond? Having staked political capital on the $500 billion Stargate, Trump and his entourage of billionaires have no choice, they will double down. We are hearing the narrative already, they are now saying that $500 million invested in DeepSeek’s advancements will produce even more amazing advancements in AI.

At a moment in history, as America consumes itself, China has taken a leap forward. Not only have they bloodied Trump, they have shaken the world in ways Napoleon could never have foreseen.

There are actually lessons to be learned in how Canada might deal with Trump but the political bobble heads and corporate Canada have actually come to believe the myths of neo-liberalism they started purveying in the 80’s, and are now incapable of rising above their paralysing fear.

Every investor has to ask, what are the implications of DeepSeek for their investments? Doubling down by the Americans will keep the party going for a while but it seems reasonable to expect a reckoning. Where would 5i look for alternatives to AI investments? Please suggest 5 US and 5 Cdn stocks that have strong balance sheets and reasonable growth prospects (without stretched valuations) that would benefit from using much less expensive AI? Also, please suggest a couple of ETF’s for Europe and China that would benefit should those markets surprise to the upside?
Mike

Q: Do you prefer CRM or NOW. It seems CRM is down in sympathy with NOW results. Were they really that bad? CRM trailing PE is almost 30 but NOW is much higher I believe. I have sold half my NVDA with the idea to move it into the next phase of AI adoption, software. Am thinking one of these and perhaps PLTR. You have much posted on it, any information you could add regarding buying it, would be helpful. Any other software companies you would consider? Thank you so much.

Q: While picking up the pieces from the Deep Think carnage on my tech stocks, it occurs to ask which stocks will benefit from the possible reduction in the cost of AI......can you provide a short list 5 - 10 of potential beneficiaries of that? Many thanks for your excellent service.

Q: I own small (2-3%) positions in Snowflake, MongoDB, and Datadog. Would you currently hold these stocks or sell them? If sold, what are some possible replacements in the tech sector?

If I were only to sell one, which holding would you let go of first and why?

Thanks.