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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: Can you please explain something to me? Why, at least based on what I read in the newspaper, when the economy shows signs of deteriorating putting off risk of an interest rate rise the market goes up. When things look better for the economy and there is talk of raising rates the market goes down. Wouldn’t most legitimate business do better in a better economy? So shouldn’t it really be the other way around? Why are stocks thought to do better in low interest rate environment? And is it true that they do?
Read Answer Asked by David on September 16, 2016
Q: ULTA update:

Since I 1st asked about ULTA I have been waiting for an entry point as it pullbacks a bit.

There was a big ULTA block print of 900,000 shares at $232.75 via Goldman Sach. That is $209,475,000.

Was Smart Money buying or selling is always what needs to be figured out.

It is sitting around that price today and bounced off the $230 support level.

Will be interesting the next few days I suspect.
Read Answer Asked by Stan (1) on September 16, 2016
Q: In my RRSP, 28% of my portfolio is in U.S. stocks. I am getting concerned about the US election, and what it might do to the markets, in the short term, as well as the overall U.S. economy in 2017/18. With the Cdn dollar being down around $.76, would it be advisable to take that down closer to 15%, instead of the 28%, for a while?
Also, I presently have 25% in cash, and want to put half of that into something low risk,but better return than cash, for up to 2 years. Would ETFs with a stable history, be a good place to put the cash,and if so, can you recommend a couple? Or another idea, instead of ETFs...
The remaining 47% of the portfolio is in the Cdn market, and some Emerging Market ETFs.
Thank you
Grant
Read Answer Asked by Grant on September 16, 2016
Q: I am looking for a term of reference from 5 I on how to decide when to finally get rid of a company, despite that it might be a good one, overall.

In the case of MDA, for instance, you finally threw in the towel because, essentially, it has been dead money for some time even though there's nothing much wrong with it.

Would it not be the same case, then for Airboss? I've come back to where I started, at mid-$15s ... and then watched it drop, almost daily until yesterday it whispered by on $13. Is it not time to throw in the towel on this one as well: to acknowledge that though it may be a good business, it's a lousy stock and opportunities are being wasted.

Would it not fall into the same category as Linamar, and Magna, for instance, who are now just treading water as well, due to a lull? Once again, great companies, but it doesn't seem to be the time to own them.

While I am a longer term investor, yes, and take the long view, I think perhaps treading water with Airboss is not a good thing right now.

Your thoughts, please. They are always much appreciated!
Read Answer Asked by Sylvia on September 16, 2016
Q: Hi Peter and team,
I own a reasonable amount of St. Jude medical which is being purchased by Abbott - approx. half cash and half stock.
My other large cap medical holdings includes.
Pfizer, Merck, Medtronic, J&J
I also own GUD & recently bought some Savaria, small portion of EXE
Each has approx. a 1-2% allocation.

Would appreciate your thoughts about when & / or how to get out of St. Judes and what to replace it with.
I don't want more mainly pharma so probably wouldn't add Merck or Pfizer.

I like stocks with a moat such as SJM, MDT, Stryker, Zimmer Biomet and Savaria.

I don't know enough about Abbott to decide if I should simply take the shares. If Abbott is going to be more of a device / equipment company and looks good here I would take the shares.

I am happy to hold these 5-10 years (probably longer) and am close enough to retirement - 3-5 yrs that income and lower risk become more important.

I would appreciate your input as to strategy here and what to do with the cash / shares.
Could you rank the above names taking these factors into account?

Thank you in advance for the great service and your input. ( Please subtract the number of questions you think is fair.)


Tulio

Read Answer Asked by Tulio on September 16, 2016
Q: I have held MRT.UN for about ten years. The reported book value is $25.56 while the stock trades for about $15.70, yielding 6.1%. Why is there such a large discrepancy between those two figures? Is this discrepancy a sign of poor management? What can management do to get those two figures closer together? Do you consider MRT.UN a Sell, Hold, or Buy? and why?
Read Answer Asked by George on September 16, 2016
Q: This is a response to the question posted by Donald on CBO. Be careful with CBO. My experience over the last 14 months has been that the monthly distribution has been completely offset by a reduction in unit price so my total return has been 0.2%. Far different than their posted yields and returns. The HY acct paying 1.5% might not look so bad now.....
Read Answer Asked by Richard on September 16, 2016
Q: Long term for increasing dividend which of the above would you hold? They pay a similar dividend and have performed similarly over the past 5 years. The taxes are less for ENF compared to BIP.UN when held in a nonregistered account however like I do. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Michael on September 16, 2016
Q: Question on CSH:Own small position 800 shares CSH at ACB of 6.87$. Thinking of switching to NWH.UN also selling loser TA to soak the capital gain and provide enough for 2% position or is adding to position of CSH better. Like the additional 4% monthly distribution.Also own SIA at 2% position. Is it worth the risk for the higher yield ? Wht is the best course of action in your view ? On portfolio review list but not before december I was told unless it improved ?
Read Answer Asked by Denis on September 15, 2016
Q: Good Morning: I would appreciate your advice in the following situation. I currently hold roughly 15% of my portfolio in a Hi-Yld savings acct. paying 1.5%. The benefit of course is total flexibility in case of a market correction where I see opportunities. The down side is the relatively low return on assets. I have been thinking about transferring some portion of those monies to CBO (or an equivalent if you know of a better option.) However, when I look at the fact sheet for CBO I see the following data: Weighted average yield to maturity is 1.72%; distribution yield is 2.84%, and the trailing 12 month yield is 3.23%. To my relatively novice eyes (esp. in regard to bonds and bond etfs) it doesn't seem that I would be getting that much of a premium, and I would be giving up some flexibility and there is always the risk of a continued decline in the share price (even though it is near its recent lows) thus erasing any gain in yield. There are a lot of issues here that I'm finding it hard to balance out and would appreciate any insight or suggestions you have to offer. Sorry for the length of the question. Don
Read Answer Asked by Donald on September 15, 2016
Q: Self driving cars appear to be in our future. Which companies are involved in developing the control systems for such vehicles? If we believe in the concept, are there stocks that you would recommend? I assume Magna (which you seem to like) will certainly be involved in general parts supply. Do you know if they are involved in the controls as well.

Thanks for all you do.
Read Answer Asked by Dave on September 15, 2016
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