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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: If you were to buy 8 energy stocks right now be they Canadian, U.S. or foreign, please place them in order of preference and why those companies ? Or would you not buy any right now ? Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Frank on October 23, 2023
Q: Good Afternoon Peter,

Sorry for the length, but I would appreciate a second opinion please.

A cautionary tale for any other members using BMO Investorline, the new website no longer displays journaled stocks correctly or coherently.

For example: Earlier this year I bought NVEI:US in US dollars, it’s dual listed so I called in and had it journaled to the “Canadian side”. With the old BMO Investorline website the stock’s symbol would update the next day to “NVEI:CA” and display in Canadian dollars. Clear and logical.

With the new website however, the stock’s symbol did not update and remained as NVEI:US.

Thus, I called in again to confirm that the journalling had actually worked. They confirmed that it had & the representative seemed surprised that the symbol was still displaying on my screen as NVEI:US in US dollars, instead of NVEI:CA and in Canadian dollars.

Fast forward a few months: I wanted to sell my NVEI as a tax loss. I clicked the link to sell it and the symbol that automatically showed up on the website’s trading page was NVEI:US and in US dollars.

To my understanding this was incorrect. While NVEI:US is an equivalent and exchangeable with NVEI:CA, they are in fact two entirely separate stocks, listed on two entirely separate markets, in different currencies. I can’t just go ahead and sell one as if it were the other. {Question 1: Do I have this right?}

So I manually changed my sell order to NVEI:CA in Canadian dollars and sent in the order.

When the order filled, everything got more visually confusing on my computer screen with this stock. So I called in again and found out that when I manually changed my sell order from NVEI:US in US dollars to NVEI:CA in Canadian dollars I had failed to notice that the website had automatically switched it to a buy order. (I can only assume the reason was because the website didn’t recognize that I owned NVEI:CA not NVEI:US...) So what happened was that I wound up buying more shares of NVEI:CA instead of selling what I already owned.

To relieve my stress, I then asked the representative on the phone to please sell all of the NVEI:CA I now owned and wipe my hands of it. {Question 2: I think this now voids my tax loss sale?}

My frustration only boiled when the explanation I was given regarding why the stock journalling went awry in the first place was non-sensical. I’m trying to remember the exact wording, but it was along the lines of: “the market you bought the stock on can’t be changed … the dual listed stock will display on the screen based on the primary market that the stock is listed on regardless of which version you own.” It made me wonder if the representative I was speaking to this time didn’t know what journalling a stock actually was, or if it was me.

If you can please confirm or correct my understanding of the two points I highlighted, that would be appreciated.

Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Sandra on October 22, 2023
Q: My 2 adult children have put in the $8000 in the first time home buyers account with the intention of adding the max in the next 3 years. This would be a 3-5 year potential hold until they can buy their first home. What 3-5 stocks would be a good fit for this plan?

Thanks
Doug
Read Answer Asked by Doug on October 22, 2023
Q: With the huge surge in the popularity of covered call etfs, the amount of calls written is also surging. Who is buying this huge increase in call options? Will this increased volume result in lower premiums and thus make the covered calls such as hhl, Zwu and others with a long history under perform their own history?
Read Answer Asked by Paul on October 22, 2023
Q: Hello 5i,

My wife's portfolio is in a 62% cash position(very conservative), with half of that cash amount dedicated to GIC's.
These one year GIC's mature on November 14/23. Any ideas what the re-investment philosophy could look like considering her ultra conservative approach. I am pushing for a 50 to 60% split back into GIC's(2yr. this time) with the remaining balance split evenly between some sort of Bond participation(Bond ETF or Corporate or Govt. Bonds -- no idea on duration though?) and Equities like BCE, ENB, TD and DIV(already owned).
I have decision making authority on her investment accounts and therefore I need to be mostly 'right'. She is 53 years of age and does own stocks like AAPL, GIB.a, CNQ, GRT.un, TCW, CNQ, NFI, etc.

Thank you,

Dean
Read Answer Asked by Dean on October 22, 2023
Q: If you were in possession of a crystal ball, what do you think it would tell you if asked: "When will growth stocks return to favour and revert to the highest performing market segment?"
Read Answer Asked by Andrew on October 22, 2023
Q: In a recent fixed income question, the option of a bar bell approach was suggested using XSB/XLB for short/long bond exposure. Is there an ETF option for this?
I see few questions recently on the covered call version for long bonds (HBND) is there a short bond version of this available as well?

Your comments on up to date pros/cons of this strategy also appreciated.
Read Answer Asked by Arthur on October 22, 2023
Q: Are they high yields associated with CDN banks indicative of a tremendous buying opportunity or a harbinger of doom ?
Read Answer Asked by john on October 22, 2023
Q: hi folks, thoughts on Tamarak sale of non-core assets for $123M, and update on record Sept production 70,000 boed, etc....I know a fav of 5i (thanks, full position)...while another analyst said Sell at $3.50 (said paid to much for Delta??)....anyway, that is why I am a long time, happy customer of 5i...not every pick/suggestion can be a winner...but portfolio has never been better since became a 5i customer...merci beaucoup, jb Piedmont QC
Read Answer Asked by John on October 22, 2023
Q: Dear 5i team.

Just finished reading the past few mths questions on APPS. Obviously, you've thrown in the towel on it.

Do you see a scenerio where they go bankrupt? IE: equity going to zero? You said it's debt/cash flow is 4Xs. Terminal, or does mgmt have a shot at redemption?

Appreciate your updated views on their fundimentals.
Read Answer Asked by Arthur on October 22, 2023
Q: We're well into tax loss season. What looks like the best Canadian investments today? I'm a balanced investor - 83 years old, not needing the money and wanting top gift the children.

John
Read Answer Asked by John on October 22, 2023
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