Investment Q&A

Q: Temple Hotels announced on Dec 23 that Morguard had purchased another 7 million shares of Temple Hotels at an average cost of $1.07 thru a private share purchase agreement and this was completed with less than 5 vendors. Who would sell that quantity of stock at these prices?

Morguard now owns 39.45% after taking into account the convertible debentures.

They also announced they would be would be taking over the asset management of Templeton from Shelter Canadian Properties Limited.

It seems that Morguard is taking control of this company and was wondering if you could add provide comments on what is taking place at Temple Hotels.

Q: would appreciate an update on orvana...
and what is your short term (1-2 years) on gold??

Q: was going to purchase zeb but am concerned about fees!!
which two bank stocks do you prefer for the greatest long term
return?
several BNN analysts suggest waiting until the Feb/Mar. to invest in the banks... what are your thoughts??

Q: Hi Peter and Staff
A recent guest on BNN touted this stock saying it was priced so low that the stock price was covered with working capital, you are getting the mine for nothing and it has cash and no debt -All sounds good but Globeinvest says trailing P/E is 12.39 and forward P/E is 138.90.- how can this be ? Why would anyone recommend it if that forward P/E is correct? How do you view safety of dividend and how do you feel about initiating a small position. Thanks for all you do and Happy Nee Year

Q: We have a substantial investment in our RRIFs in SPY, IWO and XLK together with US banks.
We now want to purchase CDN ETFs with complementary US stocks for our TFSAs. Could you please recommend a few such ETFs that would fit.
Separately could you advise on how stock future prices affect the opening each morning.
Thanks for your great service.
Alex

Q: Inovalis seems to have decent fundatmentals but trades very lightly.Could you comment on this ?

Q: Ovivo might also fit into the Green Investmet category.

Q: I have held BAM and some of its spin offs going back to the Brascan days. I will likely hold BAM.A forever but recently waded back into BIP because the NAV of BAM.A was so heavily weighted to Commercial real estate. I am always hesitant to bet against the smart money though. The combined Brookfield holdings are a 10% position. Any thoughts on the use of both holdings? I know that sentiment with one will affect the other and am ok with the large total weighting. Thanks for the thoughtful service.

Q: Insider trading for SYZ shows an entry described as:
90 - Change in the nature of ownership
Can you explain what this means?

thank you

Q: Is it advantageous to convert shares to series 6 by the end of January. What happens to the dividend if I just hold the stock long term.

Q: If I have 30k to put in the balanced and 30k to put in the growth portfolios, what would be an appropriate number of stocks to hold in each for diversification?

I'm on a 15 yr timeline.
Thx much.

Q: The Big Dogs in my portfolio, each of which is down in the 20-70% range (are AVO,ACQ, KLS). Can you outline a compelling case for holding on to any of these DOGS?

Like many others, I was stung by the debacle around WIN - but in less than a month after selling .... the stock has increased about 40%. I would hate to see history repeated for me by selling these stocks and then sit on the sidelines and watch each of these DOGS become "Leaders of the Pack" shortly afterwards.

I know you do not have a crystal ball, but still would appreciate your take on these stocks.

Conversely what 3 stocks would you see as compelling opportunities going forward to replace them.

My portfolio is well balanced with a blend mostly of your Growth, Income and Model portfolios.

Thank you and best wishes for 2016.

Q: Hello Peter & Co,
I'd like to invest in the US through ETFs; assuming that the exchange rate is not likely to change significantly, which should I buy? hedged or not hedged?
Thanks,
Happy New Year
Antoine

Q: please address balance sheet,mgt issues.are they in a position to buy troubled companys should/when the price of oil continues to decline? tkx pat

Q: Hello,

I wrote in recently about whether I should move SIS and SYZ from our non - registered account to my TFSA and my husband's TFSA on Jan 4th when we get the new contribution room, or keep it in non-registered. You suggested I move them to our TFSAs, as they are growth companies.

Jan 4th is only a few days away. SIS is only 2% above where I bought so I'll definitely transfer that, but SYZ is now up 30% (It was up only 10% at the time of my original question.) If I move it into my TFSA I will have to pay tax on the 30% gain. Then if it drops back I will lose money in the TFSA, but won't be able to claim the loss. I currently have a lot of stocks in my TFSA that are in a loss position (PHM, CXI, MG etc).

Does this recent gain change your opinion about me moving it or do you think that over the next few years it might go up to 20 or 30 dollars which makes the move to the TFSA worthwhile?

Carla

Q: I'm sorting positions between growth, balanced and income portfolio segments. I'm inclined to put BAM.A in income because it manages trust positions like bep.un. What say you?....thanks also for the help with the small stuff.......tom

Q: Hi folks,what would be your picks for companies in solar industry,any good ones in Canada? as feel longer term,there could be great opportunities in this field,thanks as always

Q: I originally posted this in the markets forum but did not get any response. Perhaps it was inappropriate for that forum? Anyway I thought I would pose it as an official question.
I am trying to set up a little environmentally friendly “GREEN” investment portfolio. I would like to have ten Canadian (or traded on the Canadian markets) publicly traded stocks, I would like to avoid the power generators wind, solar and hydro and focus more on cleaning up the environment.
For example something like water purification or a bicycle manufacture would qualify.
I am having trouble identifying qualified companies. Either they are not available or my research methods are not effective.
So far I have identified the following four companies. And even then two are closely linked to oil production and are pretty shaky right now.
1. Questor (QST)
2. Newalta (NAL)
3. Lumenpulse(LMP)
4. Vitreous Glass (VCI)
I wonder if you can suggest additional companies or might have some tips to improve my research.

Q: According to Globe Investor the C$ hedged ZUB outperformed the unhedged ZBK over the last 5 days. Over 30 days and YTD ZBK has out performed by a wide margin. I was surprised after reading some analysts are predicting a 68 cent C$. For initiating a new position with new money today would you go with ZBK or ZUB. The last 30 days ZBK is up 2.44% while ZUB is down 1.23%. Thank you and I would like to wish you a Happy New Year.

Q: I know what something is worth is what someone is prepared to pay for it. However, Morguard seems to be a very good company, well run etc. Yet it trades well below asset value. I have seen previous answer but wonder what would be a catalyst to propel the share price higher. I am a long term holder but the stock has been in idle for quite some time. Thanks, Bill