Investment Q&A

Q: With so many countries issuing bonds with negative yields, I find it hard to believe that anyone would invest in negative yield bonds unless they think that the world will sink into a deflationary spiral.
1. Can you explain how a deflationary spiral could occur?
2. How long could it last?
3. What would the impact be on the economy?
4. How would stocks likely be affected?
5. What would be the best investments in such a scenario?
5. What equities, if any, should be held?

Thanks, and congratulations on a great service.

Q: Good Afternoon Peter, Ryan, and Team,
After reading the research report on WSP Global with WSP given a "B" grade I would be curious as to what Stantec's grade would be if the company was reevaluated today. The last research report from 2014 gave STN an "A" grade. Thank you. DL

Q: Finally a nice 25 cent move today but do not see any news. Please advise if you have ideas. Thanks

Q: I have heard that Sobey's is having integration problems with its Safeway acquisition. We have observed a marked drop in customers in Safeway stores in our part of BC since the acquisition. With Crombie REIT as the landlord for this chain would you recommend selling Crombie and purchasing an alternative in the REIT space. I do like income with a bit of growth.
With appreciation!

Q: Now that liq has cut their dividend and dropped again is it possibly a buy sooon?Thanks Don

Q: Is the reaction to the news about the CEO retiring over-blown or is this a material change which may affect my decision to own.

Q: My daughter has started building her TFSA portfolio and does expect to need the money in the forceable future. At present she owns BNS, CCL.B, CSU, ESL, ENB, SJ and T. She can fund the purchase of another company as she continues to build her portfolio. I was thinking Magna might be a good choice but would like your advice on which company might be best at this time, including giving her balance. Thank you for your advice.

Q: Any comments on KW would be appreciated.

Q: Do you think IT still goes up? Is it a buy right now? Regulatory and debt risks understood.

Q: I am a retired dividend-income conservative investor, with a diversified portfolio consisting of mostly dividend producers (AD, AQN, ALA, BCE, BNS, CGX, CPG, PBH, RY, TRP, WCP, WEF, WSP, ZLB, XIT, Sentry Cdn Inc, Sentry REIT, RBC Cdn Equity Income, TD Health, Insured annuities, Fisgard Capital).

Now that CPG has virtually no dividend, I have a couple of options:

#1 = hold and wait for the eventual rebound in oil and the associated reinstatement of the dividend.

#2 = sell CPG, capture the significant capital loss and invest the proceeds into another energy name. Please provide 3 dividend names, like VET, who you believe the dividend "should" be safe (if there is such a thing as safe).

#3 = sell CPG and reinvest proceeds in non-energy. I currently have roughly 9% of my equity portfolio in energy.

What would you recommend...hold of sell?

Thanks,
Steve

Q: Recently the share price has been on a tear. Perhaps in overvalued territory and time to take profits?

Q: Why is the stockprice stagnating?what are the metrics here and are they losing their cash cushion?
When are their results due and what do you know about insider selling/buying.
Would you put this in a tsfa?or in non reg.

Q: Hi there - with the recent run up on the stock price, would you think it is okay to buy in here (closed at 52-week high of $26.88), or would you wait for a pull back? If so, what would be a good entry point. Thanks!

Q: I am thinking about purchasing MRU and from your answers to other's questions you seem to like it well enough. My concern is that I also own ATD.B & back in Oct/15 you stated that Metro owns some ATD shares (I think you said 22% of ATD). I would like to know what %age of the Metro price depends on ATD. If you are able to give me a number I would appreciate it, and would also be interested in where to find the information.

Q: Epic collapse by Performance sports. Under $4 with a strong rebound yesterday. My question is whether this company is an obvious rebound candidate - even if only as a target for a larger company to buy for something in the 8-10 range.

Is this a solid trade to capitalize on an over reaction in the market or am I better off playing roulette?

Thanks

Q: can I have your comments on pbh results.
Stan

Q: From some recent comments I suspect I have too high a percentage in oil and gas shares (15% directly in oil and gas companies and 8% in services, including pipelines, of which 5% is TransCanada (TRP)), I was contemplating making a shift to other sectors. I was thinking of purchasing some Enghouse (ESL) or CGI Group (GIB.A) for my TFSA account replacing some oil stock. I noticed that last summer you strongly preferred ESL over GIB.A due to better management and no debt despite some poorer metrics i.e. price to cash flow, PE ratio, etc. You have included this name in your model Balanced portfolio with an A- valuation thus is a very strong recommendation. Does your opinion still remain the same at present? Also, I have noted that recently there have been price reductions in some tech stocks, which you have partially explained by sector rotation. If this is an issue should I wait for drops to completely occur or purchase now. If now and your opinion is still very high on ESL, I will plan to purchase some Enghouse shares. CGI Group (GIB.A) shares constituting approximately 0.5% of my family’s stocks (9 different accounts) were purchased two years ago for my TFSA account. Would you also recommend selling my GIB.A and consolidating in ESL. Thank you very much.

Q: On Feb 26 Tamara submitted a concern about the doom and gloomers and her positive approach to investing in spite of their opinions. We too remain invested: 50% in farm land and 50% in stocks (of this 75% is in blue chip dividend stocks and 25% in higher risk stocks that we are transitioning out of and adding to the blue chip category as we near retirement age). Your guidance on sector allocation has been invaluable.
Of concern to me is this:
1. on a scale of 1-10 where do you rate the potential for a world wide currency collapse. I have read it is not if but when.
2. I cannot get my head around what this would look like. For the average person what would be the impact to daily living. It seems in Canada we remain fairly "sheltered " from physical harm.
3. I have read it is advisable to hold gold for safety in economic uncertainty. So gold stocks or the commodity - actual physical gold? How would one use it to buy what we need daily? That is another thing I can't get my head around. It just seems impractical. How does one buy gold?
4. Which is the better option in this uncertain economic climate: to be fully invested, to hold cash, to hold gold, to hold a combination of these and in what ratio.

We remain positive in the future and fully invested but are we on the right track? Is there something we and other readers should be doing to weather what the world economic factors may send our way. Your comments would be appreciated.
Lou

Q: Hello Peter,

Can you comment on ESL year end release

Thanks
Kevin

Q: What can you tell about it's recent acquisition? It looks like it is trying to expand it's geograhic footprint - Ontario - perhaps open some branches at some point? How are they paying for this acquisition? I already own all five Canadian banks in my RIF and Non-registered accounts, and have for many years - added to positions in early 2009; however, I was thinking of buying this bank for the upside when oil slowly makes it's way back up again & the AB economy picks up.
Comments please & thank you ... JP