Investment Q&A

Q: Please help me clear my head, refocus and decide on a course of action after today's action.
Here are 2 headlines from the Globe and Mail, a mere 4 days apart and at polar opposites in terms of perspectives.

1. Headline on Globeinvestor Gold website today: "End of the supercycle looms as commodities, stocks sell off"

2. Four days ago, Rob Carrick outlined the case for :"Preparing for a Canadian comeback". (I have been and still do respect Rob's research, knowledge and opinions. So no put down intended here.)

Hopefully the shrill doom's day pronouncement about the end to the supercycle is an over -reactive, hysterical reaction to the last couple of days and not a forecast of worse things to come.

Your opinion would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Q: Hello, I was wondering if you could clarify something for me, the "Sell in May". I'm assuming this means, to sell stock in May and take your profits, that being said it would follow that prices would go down in May. When I look at historical data, for stocks I'm interested in it seems that the prices actually go down in April, but historical data is limited in scope. I'm looking to buy, across the sectors, I've never bought during this time period, my question is should I wait?

Q: BEP.UN - For Dave. I received my T5013 for this equity on April 2.

Q: At these prices I am extremely bullish on Wilan. It is very , very cheap at these prices.
Even though I am bullish on the SP going forward, i do not think the WILAN BOD or Executive management deserves to be rewarded with Options Plan as proposed this year.
I beleive, when they deliver & SP performs, they should be rewared then. What are your thoughts on how shareholders should vote on their proxy' this year?

Q: May I please have your comments on MND (Mandalay).

Q: What are your thoughts on Shawcor,(SCL.TO),these days with all the changes they have been through this last year?
Thanks

Q: Hello Peter:

What do you do on a market day like today? Just watch or buy stocks that are on 'Sale"? Are there any good buys today that you may want to nibble on?

Q: Hi Peter: In regards to the Prism Medical dividend. I own some shares, is the dividend paid when they decide they can afford it? If so it would be good for other members of the site to know this if they are buying the stock for income. PM on the Venture Exchange.
Thanks

Q: Hi Peter and team. Thanks for all your great advice. I would appreciate your opinion on Tourmaline oil(TOU), Baytex energy (BTE) and and Valero energy(VLO). I would like to add one or two of them to my portfolio in the near future. Which one would be your favourite pick. Thanks

Q: A tax question which might not be your expertise, but anyway here goes.
A Limited Partnership, such as BEP.UN, is this treated as a separate category for capital gains and losses from "normal" equities? Example: if I sold BEP.UN in the future for a loss, could I claim that loss against my other "normal" equities capital gains? Are there any other tax issues regarding holding units in a LP such as BEP.UN? I have yet to receive any tax slips for BEP.UN, T5013 or anything, from my broker. Is this very late receipt of slips for an LP usual? Thanks for your thoughts.

Q: Today PKI updated their guidance. Could you please give your assessment. Thankyou.

Q: Question on CGX. Cinimaplex) Canadian Box Office declined recently by 8.3%. TD notes a decline in value to a Target of $32.00 with a one year loss of 2.8% including dividend? Is this still a good stock to be in your model port?

Tx Lee

Q: Good Morning Peter and Team,
I have been looking at a small company in the energy sector, Pulse Seismic (PSD-TSX). The financials look good and it appears to be reasonably priced. ROE is near 30% and they use some of their free cash flow to pay a dividend, pay down debt, and repurchase shares. Year to year results can be lumpy but they also look to be in an interesting niche. I would appreciate your opinion of this company's business model along with any other wisdom that you could share. Thank you, DL

Q: When buying US stock, is it wise to buy in Can $ or would it be best to open a US account.

Q: This is a tax question that may be outside your comfort zone, but I do my own taxes and have a query. I know that if you sell a holding , with the objective of creating a tax loss, you cannot re-purchase that holding for 30 days. If you do, the first transaction is deemed not to have occurred for tax purposes. I wonder if the same is true for the reverse situation. I sold shares for a healthy profit (covered call assigned) and quickly re-purchased them after the price dropped below the strike price. Can I not report this as a capital gain, thereby delaying the tax on any eventual gain?

Thanks, Bob.

Q: One of the toughest lesson I have had to learn in investing is that a good company does not necessarily mean a good stock investment. You appear to grade the company and not the stock price. Would it be possible to grade the stock price as well as the company? The stock grade would change much more frequently than your company grade.

Your comments please.

Q: re Gold and Goldcorp in particular. Being an independent investor with limited fundamental analysis ailities, I have used technical analysis and stop losses to keep me out of trouble over the years. With your fundamental approach and model portfolio, are you content to hold positions in Goldcorp as gold markets sell off? At what stage would you take a loss on Goldcorp or do you assume it will come back and you are ok holding a losing position?

Q: As we aproach the time of the year when markets can be soft I have been looking at my holdings for companies that could be vulnerable in a weak market. Davis-Henderson has been trending sideways for some time and perhaps could fall into this category. On top of that there are rumors that the company could be at risk of losing a large contract.Have you heard anything along these lines and what is your current view on the company?

Q: Peter,

I have a few resource names including LYD, CS, NPK and MND. All of them are down roughly 10% or more. Would you recommend selling and getting out or holding on for eventual recovery and forget about intermediate capitulation.

Thanks

Q: I just read a report on surf-online.org entitled The Paper World of Brookfield Asset Management. This report paints the structure of BAM as being extremely complex and opaque. In my reading about investing one message that is clear is that one should not own a company that has the attributes that this article describes for BAM.A and BIP.UN. I am now facing a decision - should I sell my holdings in these two equities? I would greatly appreciate any insight you can provide me which will aid me in making this decision.