Investment Q&A

Q: Hello:
Is there a reason for Cipher's large price volatility over the last week? I get suspicious when this happens. Thank you
Jerry

Q: Not a question, but hopefully a helpful comment for the 5i community given the number of recent questions related to portfolio balancing:
Google Sheets is similar to Excel spreadsheets, but has an interesting function that can be used to track portfolio weightings easily. The function is called GOOGLEFINANCE, which can retrieve the latest price of a security online automatically.

The way to use this function for a typical stock on the TSX is:
=GOOGLEFINANCE("TSE:symbol")
(for stocks on the Venture, use CVE instead of TSE)

For instance, to find the price of Brookfield Renewable Energy, the function would be:
=GOOGLEFINANCE("TSE:BEP.UN")

If you have one column for the stock price and another for the number of shares, you can then multiply them together to calculate the total value. Categorize all your stocks by sector, and then have Google Sheets calculate portfolio weightings for each. Hopefully I described this clearly and that it is useful for others. I know this has saved me a significant amount of time!

Q: As of tonight, February 2, 2015, TD still has not paid its dividend which was promised to its shareholders for January 31st. I wonder if any TD Waterhouse members received their dividends on time? I wonder what TD would charge me if I was late paying them for a loan of $50.00 (roughly the cost of one share)? I wonder if my service provider will record the dividend as being received on Feb when the dividend finally arrives or will it back dated to Jan 31?

Q: Seem to be making progress any thoughts ?

Q: Is this a good entry point for Veresen? Tx

Q: Hello all. I am rebalancing on this fine wintery day! Yikes! It is a challenge. What sector would you add REITs too if not on their own and what %? Also Transport? Is Retail Consumer discretionary or staples? Is CCL to be added to Materials as in the TSX? Thank you and stay warm!

Q: Hello again. On Jan 16/15 your answered Ronald that AYA is in the Consumrer Discretionary Sector but the TSX (via TD bank) calls it - Info Tech (software)??!! and Enbridge ENB as energy as you stated! Which and what and where do I allot each for Balancing??? thanks again!

Q: I bought this stock for 11.00US back 2 yrs ago. It has been doing very well and with exchange I am up 4800.. There is a lot of activity and talk off still going higher> Should I hold for another 2 months. Do you think there is buy out possibility with big company that just poured money for one of there products.

Q: Hi 5i Team:

If you had to choose between AbbVie (ABBV) and Actavis (ACT) at current prices for an investment of 1 to 3 years, which one do you think represents the best opportunity as far as valuation is concerned and which one has the best protential for growth?

Many thanks!

Q: Good Morning, I am looking for a Tech stock that has both a dividend and potential for growth. I was looking at C-Com and at first glance it seems to meet my criteria. Could I have your opinion on this stock. If you have any other suggestions I would appreciate your recommendations. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Q: Good Morning to all on this snowy day!! I would like to allocate some money to my kids TFSA's. Which would be a better long term holding..MX (Methanex) or Alimentation Couche Tard. Cheers, Tamara

Q: Hello Peter and team, could you give me your best non-oil and gas picks for growth over the next 12-18 months.
Thank you Dave

Q: Hello team
What do you make of INO.UN with its exposure to the euro and the probability of QE in the Eurozone. Will they benefit? They have a nice dividend yield but I am honestly not experienced enough to interpret the other numbers. The REIT looks relatively new to the market. Could you give us a short review of Inovalis Real Estate Investment Trust.

Thank You for your help
Clarence

Q: It's February (almost anyways) so it is time for my annual question on Aquila. May I have your comments on the latest press release? They seem to be selling stock in order to raise money. I presume management owns a sizeable chunk of stock. I understand the risks - I only have a very small weighting but am considering buying a little more - it would still be a very small weighting. The press release appears positive to me assuming they close the deal. Should I buy now or wait for the deal to close? On the negative side I find it hard to believe they have a mine with Hudbay dropping them but maybe that is just the way it goes in the mining business.
Thank you

Q: Do you have any recent info on CBI in US.
Thanks Shirley

Q: Hi Peter, Do you think the persistent low oil prices will affect LNG price? LNG export to Asian countries is profitable as long as there is a significant amount of price differential of NG between the exporter and the importing countries. Cheniere Energy (LNG) will be exporting later this year from Sabine Pass. I have significant gain from LNG. While it has not pulled back to my trailing stop to trigger a sell, under this environment, do you think it is wise to reduce or sell this position and move on to other growth areas? Various analysts have diametrically different opinions on this from "great time to buy with this pull back" to "a scary overvalued stock to sell". My best regards.

Q: The last enquiry on this stcok was April. Would it be prudent to nibble away at it at this time and why? Thanks.
Lou

Q: I find AGT interesting and have done some basic research. I had looked at it a few years ago when they were starting out. In hindsight it would have been a very good investment. That said you can’t buy much Beer with hindsight.

Since I first looked at it the growth has been very impressive and they have diversified into “Value Added” products.

I understand that Agricultural Commodities have a lot of risk and the Food Product business is very competitive.

That said it appears that AGT has found a “niche” that they understand very well.

I noticed that at one point that “The Carme Trust” controlled by Murad Al-Katib owned 26% of the company. In January 2014 that was reduced to 16.7%. It’s considered a good thing if management has substantial “skin in the game” but too much control by the CEO can be a double edged sword.

I don’t know if the reduction in the family’s holdings and control should be considered negative, positive or irrelevant.

Over the last year or so the growth in the company and increase in the share price has been impressive.

Another thing that I noticed unless I missed something is that the over-allotment on the recent Bought Deal (Nov 2014) at $28 was not taken up. If that is a fact it could suggest that the market felt that $28 was a bit expensive.

I am considering starting a position in AGT with the view to build it over the next few months depending on how things go for a mid or better yet long term investment.

The only other exposure that I have to Agriculture / Food is Agrium (AGU) and Premium Brands (PBH)

Your thoughts?

Q: Is there anytime that Segregated Funds make sense?
Heather

Q: Would be interested in your quick thoughts / summary on this stock.