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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: The future of Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) remains unclear to me even after I worked my way through financials, analysts’ comments, analytics and commentaries in the more serious financial journals. CVS and ESRX appear to have been hit hard this year by the mere possibility being whispered ---- that Amazon might enter the pharmacy markets. Amazon might well do that just as they might start their own delivery service to compete with FedEx and UPS.

But surely even mighty Amazon cannot drink ALL the water in ALL the oceans.... or can they? The latter might well be confirmation bias in my reptilian brain.

I had largish positions in CVS and in ESRX. Whereas I had previously decided to ride things out, I have now trimmed at largish losses. I have reviewed past questions here on both CVS and ESRX, including my own past questions.
1. Do you care to update your answers in view of the seemingly unstoppable powerhouse that is Amazon?
2. What would you suggest a risk-tolerant (but not completely imprudent) investor do on each of CVS and ESRX?
3. Sell all and hide under the bed? Buy AMZN with the proceeds? Just PRAY?
4. I spent many hours ploughing through detailed reports on each of CVS and ESRX. Yet I am just as undecided after these reviews as I was before. Almost all analyses that I read say that both CVS and ESRX are under valued; that each is either a buy or a strong buy. I grant that the latter could have been confirmation bias in my reptilian brain.
5. What are YOUR insightful thoughts on the PBM business model in view of (a) possible Amazon threat (with reasons if you would please)
6. Since US Gov policy changes would make significant impact on all PBMs, although you might prefer not to incorporate the current instability in US politics into your own equations, I think in this case, please if you can make an exception and incorporate the political landscape into your comments, that would be very helpful.
7. I would be thankful for your substantive response on each of CVS and ESRX separately as their businesses have significant differences.


Read Answer Asked by Adam on October 23, 2017
Q: Hi
Industrial usage of graphite seems to be gathering momentum. more products are released with graphite (anecdotally, I just bought a hammer at canadian tire with a graphite handle.
Furthermore, ''exotic'' metals (high tech) are gathering also momentum with investors, the likes of Cobalt, Kaolin, rhodium, REE, and many others as pure plays or transformed for new applications titanium with Pyrogenesis for example.
Graphene seems also to be of interest.
Mason graphite has made some headline lately,-Lac gueret has been recognised-I think in part because of the expertise of his CEO.
I was very early some years ago and started to come back.
Your opinion will be appreciated on
NGC
ZEN
LLG
GPH
CSP
CCB
FMS
GLK
NEXT
SGH
Thanks
CDJ
Read Answer Asked by claude on October 23, 2017
Q: I am for the most part a conservative investor. The captioned equities form part of my high risk and in this case, high loss casino money portion of my portfolio.

Individually, none are material holdings and being in my TFSA provides no tax selling benefits. I periodically check similar high risk positions I sold and in some cases, more patience would have yielded high returns! Benj Gallander is a rather unique investor; his patience is what catches my attention and his results are not shabby!

Assuming I am willing to be very patient with no time horizon, is there any reason to believe any of these stocks are worth keeping for high returns? It is not a question of getting my capital back, rather should I hold them or move on to other high spec ideas? If time to move on, any bottom fishing ideas especially as we move into tax loss trolling in this segment of the market?

I appreciate the insight you provide to the more macro aspects that often are the prime focus of my questions. Your responses to all questions are very educational and informative. They make us all far better investors.

Thank you

Mike
Read Answer Asked by Michael on October 23, 2017
Q: Hi 5i Team.
Apple has grown to be twenty percent of my portfolio.
What percentage would you suggest to hold, and which fast growing US stocks to add for diversity.
I currently own half positions in:
NFLX, AMZN, GOOG, STMP, NVDA, BRK.B, CGNX.
Full positions in:
FB, DIS, MCD, WMT, V.

Thanks for the service I am always learning something new.
Read Answer Asked by David on October 23, 2017
Q: I have a 40% US weighting in all my portfolios combined, with the above four holdings comprising 75% of the 40%.
VGT 4.6%, VUN 7.7%, CIB590 10.1%, CIB595 7.1%- equalling 30% of total equity portfolio.

Could I have your comments wrt the overlap in these four holdings. Is there enough diversity to continue to hold all four or would you collapse and combine?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by JEFF on October 23, 2017
Q: Looking down the road, I am uneasy about oil and gas, including pipelines, and I am wondering whether I should plan on easing out most of my investment in this sector over the next 5 years.

Am I being unduly pessimistic?

Can you recommend a good resource to help me become more knowledgeable on this sector?
Read Answer Asked by Carl on October 23, 2017
Q: Hi, Our investment portfolios across family are made up of a combination most companies from Balanced Portfolio, some from Income portfolio and a few others like CM(10%- reasons of affiliation), TD (3.5%), CWB(1.5%), JWEL(1.5%), RPI.un(2.5%). Objective is Mostly growth and income.
I am grateful to 5i research team for recommending companies like CSU,PBH,TOY,SIS, KWH.un and CCL.b and providing timely and consistent updates, resulting in substantial gains. Many of these successful companies would have escaped my attention, if not for your valuable advice.

My question is about a few stocks, listed in subject line, which, during my YTD review, continue to show decline in value (although we have in built gains in all of these). Except SYZ and ENB others are inside RRSP's. Does it make sense to liquidate a part of these holdings and deploy capital elsewhere ? Total value of above is about 15% of my portfolio with SYZ being the largest, 6% and GUD being the smallest,1%.

Thanks again for the excellent service !!
Read Answer Asked by rajeev on October 23, 2017
Q: Thoughts on Equitable Grp? The company has double digit revenue and ebitda growth over the last 5 and 10 years, yet trades at a relatively low PE and ebitda multiple. I know it has been painted negatively with the debacle at Home Capital but the macro outlook for alternative mortgages in Canada seems very positive to me? With the big banks forced to clamp down on mortgages with new rules coming into effect Jan 1 and Canada continuing to be a great place for immigration, particularly with what is going on in the US, won't demand for housing continue to biased to the upside? Consider this for a medium term view - say 3 years. Sometimes I get caught up in my own biases for a particular outlook so I would be interested in your views. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Richard on October 23, 2017
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