Investment Q&A

Q: Tech has boosted my returns this year and now it is around 40% of my portfolio and that is after trimming half my SHOP and CSU and selling AYX, GIB.A and DSG. Trying to get down to 20% Can you please rank the above stocks to help me with my decision. And thanks for the great service.

Q: Can I get your thoughts on earnings from Avalara? What do you attribute the drop in overnight price to? Would this be a good point to be starting a position?
Thanks to 5i for all that you do!

Q: What is your top choice for playing the gold sector? This will be my only exposure to precious metals.

What are your top 10 growth names (Canada or US) for a new investment with a minimum 5 year hold? I'm not concerned about sector diversity or weighting because we're well diversified in other, larger parts of our portfolio.

Thanks.

Q: Hello Peter,
Any of the above mentioned stocks you would consider rotating out of/reduce in favour of buying some value such as GE, KHC or any other that you would suggest?

Q: How do valuations of AVLR look like in comparison to your other high-growth favorites (e.g., VEEV, DOCU, AYX, TEAM, CRWD, FSLY, TTD)? It is clear that AVLR is expensive, but I wanted to get a feel of where it stands w.r.t to peers. Would you a start a position for a minimum 5-year hold at current prices? Is there a much better company to invest in from the group I mentioned?

Q: Thx for all your terrific guidance. I am looking to add two more growth names. I am deciding between AVLR, XBC and ABBV. What would you rank them in order for strongest growth, and secondly what would you rank them from least risky to highest risk.

Thanks so much,
Brian

Q: Hi there,

Can you please provide your top 12 US growth stocks, assuming that sector diversification is not a concern?

Thanks!

Q: What would be your top 10 growth picks over the next 5-10 years in Health Care and Tech? Canada or US and any size is fine....

Q: Thx for your terrific service.

Could you please give a brief thesis on two of your growth favourites AVLR and VEEV? Could you please quickly discuss barriers, valuation, growth, risks.

TIA

Q: Thank you for your comments on RPD earnings report yesterday. In your response you said "We would not be overly concerned here, though it has slipped some spots on our list of growth companies". Can you let me know what growth companies you have higher up on your list. I am up 20% on RPD and am happy to sell it for something higher up on your list.

Thanks so much for your excellent service.

Q: I have a question about Avalara after reviewing its Annual Report on line on its website. . The audit notes a Material Weakness in Internal Controls over Financial Reporting on page 70 - 71 as follows - "The Company has a material weakness as it does not have adequate controls to effectively design, implement, and operate process-level and information technology controls to sufficiently mitigate risks of material misstatement associated with certain complex business processes and changes in those processes or applicable accounting standards."
On page 68 - 69 is another note by the auditors to the Board on what they call "A Critical Audit Matter" regarding the audit of company revenues as follows - "The processing and recording of revenue, including interfaces between systems and databases, is both manual and automated, and therefore the Company uses a complex set of procedures and systems to generate complete and accurate data to process and record its revenue transactions." As a result much time was spent on verification and they had to bring in professionals with expertise in data analytics to assist with the audit.
I know Avalara is a young company, but should such warnings give me reason to not invest at this time?

Q: Please comment if these companies are * BUYS* for a 3 years hold. Thanks a lot .

Q: What might be your top 5 picks in the SAAS area?

Q: What are your thoughts on Avalara? Is this a 5+ year hold? My investment thesis is over the long term online cross border shopping and digital currencies will require sophisticated taxation software. Governments will eventually require sale tax filings at point of sale which this software can accommodate. Thanks!