Investment Q&A

Q: I am trying to determine how/if to incorporate foreign exchange gains or losses when doing my portfolio weightings. Assume I started with $100k Cdn and I buy 9 Cdn stocks and 1 US equally. If none of the stocks changed in value, except the one US stock was now worth $14,000 due to foreign exchange gains, that one stock would now represent 12.3% of my portfolio when valued in Cdn dollars. If I wanted to keep my original 10% per share holding Would I then sell 2.3% to get back to my original 10% holding or do I ignore the conversion for now and say it is still just 10% of my portfolio.

Thanks for your help.

Paul F.

Q: Hi Peter and Team - Recent comments on BNN Market Call indicate that now is a good time to invest in small craft brewers due to increased shelf space in the beer stores as well as the decision to allow grocery stores to sell beer. Brick Brewing was mentioned as a good company in this space but it is expensive. Are there any other small craft breweries you would recommend and perhaps even one of the larger breweries. Thanks.

Q: Large cross of 320,100 shares by Acumen on Friday January 29 at $8.50 on Chi-X Canada exchange. Any significance, specially in light of strong insider buying/co.buy back lately ? Thanks

Q: Large move today. Any reasons you are aware of?

Q: PLease advise when SJ is reporting.Expected EPS of .45 & Rev.$362.05m--are these correct.Appreciate your usual great services & views.

Q: Looking at oil companies... How would you compare Whitecap and Raging River. Whitecap has a large dividend but has not done a particularly high bounce in this oil rally. RR has no dividend but has a good bounce. Since RRX has already gone up a lot and WCP has the dividend, would it be a better buy at this point?

Thanks

Q: Why not use HBU or HGU instead of AEM

Q: Hello Peter,
I am down about 30% with AutoCanada. The stock used to move higher when the price of oil ticked higher, but lately, it continues in a downward spiral. Is it better to sell it and move into another stock that has better potential or hold it for longer term. Alternatively, do you think it is better to sell half and move those monies into a stock with greater potential. Can you provide your comments on longer term aspect or on selling full or partial and which stock would be better replacement? Thanks, and I would appreciate it.

Q: Hello,

I started getting back into energy two weeks ago. I own WCP, CPG, SGY and XEG. Currently, combined they make up 2% of my portfolio. My plan is to continue nibbling away at them for the next few months as oil recovers. I would end up having an equal position in each which would total 6% of my portfolio. Does this plan make sense? Is 6% a good position or should I be aiming for a higher percentage? How high do you think would be reasonable? Could one go as high as 10%? Also, what other sectors will recover when energy does?

Q: Another question on CCL Industries. Appreciate your patience.

The Globe and Mail - Friday, January 29, 2016, 19:38:22

"CCL Industries Inc. is close to oversold levels in terms of RSI with a reading of 36.5, and the stock price remains well above its 200-day moving average. RSI has worked well in uncovering profitable buying opportunities in the stock, most notably when a buy signal in October of 2014 was followed by a 130-per-cent rally (not a typo) to Jan. 5 of this year. More recently, CCL industries stock fell close to oversold levels in August and October 2015 and quickly recovered.

Past performance, as always, is no guarantee of future returns. CCL benefited tremendously from the decline in the loonie – 83 per cent of its revenue is generated in the U.S. and Europe – and the Canadian currency has been showing more signs of stability lately. Investors must complete fundamental research before making any portfolio transactions."

Would appreciate your comments with respect to stock's technicals. Last tear in August and Oct/2015, I clearly remember, price rebound from oversold levels was spectacular. To me, current conditions appear to be very similar. Is the recent stability of CAD$ impacting investor sentiment, in your view or is it the valuation? To my knowledge, CCL has made several strategic acquisitions in past few months and it's growth prospects have only improved. Thanks

Q: Db posted a quarter lost of more than 6 billion Euro, it seems all of its core business are non-profitable. Some people are saying it is going under (scary!), and I found out DB has more than dozens of trillions "Exposure" in derivatives. My question are: what does that "Derivatives Exposure" mean and should I be a buy at current price (super low!)? I am young and i like to bet on big changes. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks. Tony

Q: The stock just got a positive mention in Barron's. Does the management of this REIT, namely David Hamamoto, have a less than stellar reputation? Any information on this stock would be appreciated.

Q: TD is being sued (class action) for $5.5 billion for wrong doing in the Stanford Bank ponzi scheme. A recent ruling has sent this to trial. What are your thoughts and what impact could this have? What typically happens in cases like this?

thank you

Q: "TD Bank embroiled in Ponzi fallout" - Globe headline. According to the paper the liquidator of the fraudulent ponzi bank thinks TD should cover the 5.5 billion investor losses plus any money TD made as a conduit for transferring money from the investors' to the fraudulent bank. TD seems to have been the intermediary. Should owners of TD stock be selling their positions or do nothing and wait for further developments?

Q: Good Morning Peter, Ryan, and Team,
If this question has already been answered then please ignore it. I just wanted to get your take on the proposed management buyout of AYA at $21 CDN. I would be surprised if a deal got done at this price but I would appreciate your sage opinion of this breaking development. Thank you, DL

Q: I wrote 5 I in May on this stock which I held for a long time
Pre 5 I it has since went up significantly in a tough market and i am at odds why you would not follow and recommend this stock to your subscribers .

Q: I would like your suggestions for replacing the three interest income positions and the preferred shares position with dividend like equity positions. Thanks.......Tom

Q: Good afternoon,

EQ Bank's high interest savings account has an interest rate of 3%. I didn't see anything on their website to indicate that this is an introductory rate. I am comparing this to ZFS, a short term federal government bond ETF. I wanted to get your thoughts on whether you think there are any potential risks to the savings account vs the ETF and if you think it is a good option if i am looking for a very safe bond like investment.

Q: I am reviewing your Macroeconomic Report Card. Thanks for that, I find it interesting.
Two questions:1) How are the TSX and S%P 500 average P/E ratios calculated? Are these a straight average of all stocks in the exchange or are the weighted in some way? 2) For the TSX and S&P yields, are all stocks included or just those with dividends or something else? and is it a straight average or weighted by capitalization or something else?
Thanks, you provide a great service.

Q: Is there a possibility that 5i would organize a day-long symposium somewhere in the GTA for members where a set of seminars would be offered that would be of interest to the group? The structure of the seminars could be similar to what was offered on the recent cruise excursion that 5i organized. It would be of interest to people like myself who would enjoy the seminars but could not manage to get away on a cruise for several days. Anyway, thanks so much for your wonderful service.