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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: I’m looking to diversify the financial part of my portfolio by adding a US insurance company. Can I get your thoughts on Progressive (seems to just go up & to the right) or other insurance stocks.
Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Dan on February 13, 2023
Q: What do you think about L-T Buy and Holds on the above 6 stocks (ADSK, CSU, ATD, BRK.B, INMD, CNR)? Are there any that you would not buy at the present time? Purchases would be funded by new $ and selling DDOG and APPS? Would you be okay with parting with them as part of adding to the above?
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on January 30, 2023
Q: I recently heard a podcast which said that buybacks generally benefit insiders and were actually illegal prior to the Clinton administration. I do notice myself that the stock price does not seem to rise much on the announcement of big buybacks and that companies seem to do it when the price is higher rather than times like these when it would seem most worthwhile.

What is your take on this?
Read Answer Asked by Kevin on January 27, 2023
Q: In many cases buying the top 3-5 stocks of an index gives a better end result than the whole index since you don't have to drag the less performing.
1-Do see the same apply to the S&P500?
2-In a 3% (normal?) fed rate what is the normal multiple for the S&P500?
3-What is the current forward PE for the S&P500?
4-How does this apply when the top 5 holdings are technology with higher multiples than the banks and oil companies?
Many questions but one goal, trying to put the dry powder in an optimal manner.

Thank you

Yves
Read Answer Asked by Yves on January 20, 2023
Q: I thought that I had asked this question before, but I went through 6 web pages of "My Questions" and came up empty.

What would you say is the "most" CSU-like stock in the US? Thanks again!
Read Answer Asked by Dan on January 09, 2023
Q: Happy New Year to all at 5i.

It's time to once again figure out how to invest this year's TFSA contribution in my growth orientated portfolio. Like most Canadians, I probably have quite a home country bias so I thought for 2023 I would look at US companies available through CDRs to avoid currency conversion expenses. (I do already own GOOGL, CRWD & PINS). I wonder if you can suggest 3 or 4 USA growth companies that are available as CDRs.
Thanks
David
Read Answer Asked by David on January 09, 2023
Q: What does most companies do with the excessive cash they have on hand. I know dividends and share buybacks are common. I'm wondering if they are allowed to invest it in other stocks or assets. Right now, could be a huge opportunity just like after the 2008 financial crisis.
Read Answer Asked by Steve on January 03, 2023
Q: I recall once seeing a link to an explainer on all of the different Brookfield offerings. Can you please repost this. Is it up to date with the new BAM / BN thing?

Ideally hoping to see a tabulated summary including:
name of holding
nature of business
yield
ideal account type to hold in for optimal tax efficiency
closest competitor names

Which offering would you recommend for green energy income investment in an unregistered CDN$ account? Any comments on when is a good time to buy given recent structural changes and interest rate changes.

Thanks,

Jim
Read Answer Asked by Jim on December 21, 2022
Q: I have an overweight in these 3 insurers, and think it might be wise to fix an underweight in CAD banks, by selling one of these and then adding to my banking exposure. Which one would you sell here (and why) and which Bank(s) would you add? I hold RY, CM, and BNS and was thinking of simply adding to my positions, but can be talked into something else here. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by David on December 13, 2022
Q: I am managing RESPs for a two-year-old and a 4 -year -old grandchildren so there is a very long runway before they will need to start cashing in. The funds to invest available so far are fairly limited. I would like to add some US stocks but not sure it is worth the fees to convert to US $ and most of the good companies have high-priced shares. But I am familiar with Canadian Depositary Receipts (CDRs) and that there is a pretty wide selection of stocks available.
Can you suggest 4 of your favourite of these US CDRs that would be suitable for this type of investment?
Thank you.
David
Read Answer Asked by David on December 08, 2022
Q: hi,
I hold these in my USD account. I'm trimming PFE today as it was getting too large a holding. could you please rank all as a current buy, sell, hold. I am a long term investor. and , could you provide 2-3 other US names, with a reasonable balance of growth and downside protection in this market. cheers, chris
Read Answer Asked by chris on December 06, 2022
Q: For someone retiring in 10 years and looking to withdraw capital gains (already have high dividend payers)over the span of their retirement, what mid and large cap equities/ ETFs , including USA, would you suggest, in a non registered account . Thank-you
Read Answer Asked by Albert on November 08, 2022
Q: Re your answer to Cheryl today, and your recommendation for 8 stocks that have been stable and performed well over time. Can you recommend a handful of US stocks that fulfill the same goals. Not concerned over sectors.
Thanks, Peter
Read Answer Asked by Peter on November 01, 2022
Q: Hello, thinking of selling these stocks for tax loss reasons (10-15%). Although one would think a very possible recession with the related decrease in earnings is already baked in share prices, I am afraid it is not entirely so. I intent to buy these stocks back in a month, hopefully with a lower SP. Is the tradeoff between tax loss and the risk of share prices jumping much higher worth it? Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Martin on September 29, 2022
Q: I have a significant amount of cash to invest. I would like to allocate to some very high-quality stocks across various industries that can be bought and held for a long period of time so they can compound. If you could pick 10 companies that meet this criteria, what would they be? I was thinking about BAM, MSFT, V, COST, CP, UNH, HD, JNJ, GOOG, BRK.b but am open to suggestions or changes to this list. No banks or energy please.
Read Answer Asked by Stefan on September 22, 2022