Investment Q&A

Q: Good Morning...
Could you please give me your top 5 stocks in the Consumer Staples sector and your top 5 stocks in the Consumer Discretionary sector. Thanks for your answer in advance.

Q: Hi, Would you please give me 1 or 2 names of your favorite blue chip stocks with little to no debt in each sector. Thank you.

Q: The above 5 etfs are core holdings with VXC and XHY at 15% each and the others at 10% each. The balance of my portfolio is made up of a diversified set of individual stocks (Canadian companies). I am considering exchanging XIN with ZWE to still have European exposure but with a better yield or should I keep XIN and just add ZWE to my core holdings? As always, thanks for the advice.

Q: With less air travel for resource extraction, Discovery Air's share price has plummeted. However, Clairvest owns over 81% of common shares; they must see something there. But how is one to assess a publicly-traded company in which one party owns so much equity as to be able to make any change they want?

Q: Could you comment on the latest results from Lumenpulse?

Q: Hi Team, In the recent quarter, ESL has fared better on many Key performance indicators(KPIs) and growth but the market has very negatively reacted. Is it because of the un-reasonable expectations of the analysts who mislead the public and market sentiments? And you have not answered to another readers specific question on this forum on ESL- to hold or sell?

Q: was something in the cc that caused a 6 % drop?

Q: can you tell me about this investment just bought 400 shares recently? thanks in advance Cliff

Q: On 12.July 2016 I sold from my US margin acc. CBM (US) with $2,190 profit (capital gain).
Later on 5th. of August I bought CBM again an sold it on 22.Aug. with $929 loss.
My question is:can I claim in my 2016 tax return this loss of $929 against profit of $2,190 from previously sold on 12.July CBM.

Thanks Andrew

Q: Could you please provide 4 or 5 volatile names names that one might trade for profit/ Thanx Robbie

Q: Your current opinion on these 2 companies in the US for a buy and hold investor? They have a good track record on dividends, the payout ratio's are not out of control and obviously a proven long term track record. On the more aggressive side, what is your opinion of HCP ?

Q: These three make up my tech sector which always seems to take the biggest hit when the market tanks like Fri. I am thinking of cutting one out. Which one would you consider to be the one prone to drop the most when the overall market behaves like this? I thought OTC would be the safest but it took the biggest hit Fri.

Q: I'm thinking of a position in one of these 2. Which is better and why. Is today a good entry point for either?

Q: Hi 5i
Of these two Brookfield companies which would you be more inclined purchase today for yield, safety and growth?

Q: HCG is now down over 50% in my TFSA. I keep telling myself, "don't think about what it WAS worth, think about what it is," but my emotions keep getting in the way of my thinking. Given HCG's current prospects, is this a reasonable place for a senior to leave a now much smaller portion of her portfolio, or should I just take my losses and look for a less volatile stock? ( It seems volatile to me, but perhaps that's those emotions again) Many thanks

Q: Hi 5i Research team, I have a long term horizon, and more of a growth oriented investor profile. I prefer to well understand the companies I invest in. The technology sector represents a challenge for me in terms of software products, competition, rapidly changing conditions, obsolescence, variety of software portfolio, etc. So I would like to built a sector exposure based on a few companies instead of using an ETF. Based on reading 5i Research, I am thinking a combination of CSU, KXS, GIB.A, OTC, ESL, DSG, TCS, SYZ,SH. Do you agree with this strategy? Would you include some other companies in this list or replace some? In what order would you rank them in terms of total return potential over long term and overall quality? How many of them would be enough? Would you suggest another weighting than equal weight (2% each)? I also need criteria to manage this group since my understanding won't be up to par. How will I know when to sell, or when to over or underweight in some companies? I would not want to react too strongly to short term events (quarterly results). How would you suggest I implement this strategy (buying strategy)? Thank you, Eric

Q: I'm looking for a Canadian ETF similar to TLT in the US, in hopes of shorting it. Anything available to your knowledge?

Q: Hi 5i Research team, what do you think of the idea of not strictly using the official sector classification when calculating sector allocation? Would you agree that I split the sector allocation of some companies when appropriate (an option not available for the official classificator)? For example, would you agree with: SIS (healthcare 75% + industrial 25%), ZCL (industrial 25% + energy 75%), TNC (financial 50% + technology 50%), AF (industrials 25% + consumer discretionary 75%)? Thank you, Eric

Q: I am putting together a portfolio called "Big Dogs"
I broke out the 10 largest stocks by market cap in each of the 10 sectors
I will invest in 3 of those stocks in each sector for a total of 30 stocks.Determining which 3 has been a challenge,looking at the usual--
dividends--eps--p/e-- market cap etc.Also have a bias toward your favourites.
Since I am only looking at the top 10 do you think I will be overlooking some better opportunities?I think perhaps, but I would go
crazy trying to look at the whole sector or even the top 20.I feel my odds of success are better sticking with the "Big Dogs"
Over all I will put 10k in each stock but not until I see a market
pull back which I feel is imminent.Perhaps I could have your thoughts on that as well.
This is not something new---What do you think of my idea and approach?

Q: Hi 5i Research team , I am preparing for my next round of investments when the market decline broadly. I would like to capture the illiquidity premium: What percentage of a stock portfolio would you recommend for an average investor (1) and a lower risk aversion investor(2) to put in illiquid stocks (market cap between 1000 and 100 million $ and average daily trading value < 200 000$) such as VLN, TCS, TC, SCB, RX, RPI-u, PSD, PEO, MRD, MDF, LNF, LGT.B, LAS.A, ISV, HNZ, GDL, EFH, GBT, CXI, BCI, AF?
What would be your top five selections among these from total return/quality perspective over the long term? Would you have other such companies to suggest? Several of these companies do not have coverage from analysts neither conference call after quarterly results. Besides reading documents on sedar (press releases), how do you suggest following/analyzing those companies? Thank you, Eric