Investment Q&A

Q: Since the announcement of accounting changes this year for insurance contracts, it seems to have accelerated the downward movement of this stock's price. I'm trying to understand if this is a short term impact, or ongoing.

Will there be a point where the (theoretical) positive impact of rising interest rates put the brakes on the decline?

In the past I've heard the narrative on insurance companies that they can simply keep raising their premiums when business is negatively impacted. Not sure if you agree with that. I am a long term holder and am trying to decide whether or not to bring my weighting of this company back to 5% after its recent decline.

Q: Dear 5i,
In regards to MDA. Approximately how much %revenue comes from government of Canada type contracts? What %revenue would you guessestimate this to be 5 years from now. Should one be concerned with companies that rely heavily on government contracts?

Q: Good morning,

All the emerging markets ETFs seem to be weighted roughly 50% to China and Taiwan. I would like to re-balance the EM weighting using Canadian-listed securities to one or two dynamic regions or countries (not sure, India or SE Asia maybe). Are there good ETFs for dynamic regions or countries that could balance things out a bit for a more globally weighted exposure? ZID caught my eye; 0.67% fee.

Would you do this or would you stick to the one-stop-shop EM ETFs like VEE/XSEM?

Canadian products only, please. I'm aware the US has greater selection. Many thanks for your help.

Q: 30 DAYS BUY BACK TAX RULE, DOES IT APPLY ONLY WHEN TAKING A TAX LOSS AND NOT A CAPITAL GAIN?
THE FIRST IN, FIRST OUT RULE, IN OTHER WORDS, YOU BROUGHT 100 SHARES IN 2021, BROUGHT ANOTHER 100 SHARES IN THE SAME STOCK RECENTLY, THEN TURN AROUND AND SOLD 100 SHARES FROM 2021, THUS, DOES THE 30 DAYS APPLY SINCE YOU BROUGHT THEM SIX MONTHS AGO?

Q: Can you tell me what happened to FLT today ? It disappeared from my portfolio and showed up in my activity column as an subtraction . I believe they paid me my purchase price which was much higher than the last price shown on the board .
Thank you .

Q: Is QST a decent Canadian proxy for XBC?

Q: Trading in Sierra Madre Gold and Silver (SM) has been halted for some time now. To the best of my knowledge it has not resumed and I'm just wondering if you could find out anything related to the trading halt and this company in general. Thanks.

Q: With the high volume oil sell off today it feels like a rotational market capitulation is nearing the last gulp. Or an overvalued market is continuing to adjust PE to normal. What do you think we have here?

Q: Good Morning 5i Team,

I hold TOI, CTS, ENGH in one account as my small cap technology allocation. Price action of course has been brutal since last fall. Would you continue to hold all three names or would you recommend getting rid of one or more ?? Would you add to any ?? Do you have any alternatives that may have better risk / reward in an eventual tech recovery ?? Thanks very much for your help. DL

Q: This looks super cheap. Can you provide the pro's and cons of taking a position in this company. What other 3 in this sector would you prefer with potential near term torque?

Q: Stagflation. How does one preserve capital?

Thanks!

Q: Your last report for SJ was in June 2021 and it received an A- rating. Do you still see this stock in the same category as SLF? I read in the GAM that SJ is getting into less profitable regular lumber and investors don't like it. Value metrics look good with F P/E 9.6, P/S 0.77, EV/EBITA 8.10, however, by comparison WFG appears to me to have a much better valuation: F P/E 3.7, P/S 0.83 and EV/EBITA 1.56. WFG seems the clear choice today. Would appreciate your comments for a long term investment in SJ and/or WFG. Thanks!!

Q: My question is about tax efficiencies on yields and distributions.
Has anyone created a table to demonstrate the tax implications for stocks? Can this be easily determined? Should REITs always be in TFSAs? What are the tax savings regular acct vs TFSA? How or what would the dividend tax calculation be for the stocks I mentioned?

Thanks for your support
Mark

Q: In a recent question you answered that a switch from engh to syz is a good move today. Can you expand on that recommendation a bit more as SYZ doesn't appear to be a clear winner over ENGH.
1. The div is bigger but how secure based on the SYZ high payout ratio.
2. ENGH is bigger and would likely be less risky and equally benefit from the eventual stock market recovery
3. ENGH has historically been a highly rated company by 5i ( still showing as a rarified earth A-)

Unfortunately I hold ENGH in a registered account so cant justify the switch to harvest a loss. But I am wondering if it is time to move on...5 yr hold, hybrid balanced/income portfolio follower who has been slowly shifting from balanced to income. I do like high yield Canadian small caps although I find I am migrating more towards larger more stable names as I near retirement.

Q: Tamarack is down 8% today. Any reason? Is it time to buy? As always, your insight is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Q: Is there a website where I could track 1. the yield above inflation for Canadian real return bonds. 2. the yield above Canada bonds for Canadian investment grade corporate bonds.

Q: Waiting for the other shoe to drop..." Your comments in the last update. Is there formal or informal talk that China maybe in "lockdown" for their own political reasons and to advance their cause in the world? What is your opinion on what is going on with China and Russia, could this be a co-ordinated effort to weaken the "free" world ? Thank you for any input you can provide on this topic.

Q: MO is down quite a bit today. How do you think the FDA ruling, banning JUUL e-cigarettes will impact the stock, and is there anything they can do? Some are suggesting they could appeal, or even end up suing. I'm holding it in my RRSP primarily for its steady dividend.

Q: BAM is an oversize percentage of our portfolio (everything else has dropped more). When they spin off 25% of their asset management business later this year, will their market cap. decrease similarly to Dell after the VMWare spin off?

Q: Looking ahead at copper plays as I believe the macro backdrop favors electrification in the auto/power train sector. What top 3 copper plays would you recommend for a 3-5 year hold?