Investment Q&A

Q: Hi Peter, Symbol NIF-UN.TO

I am interested in Noranda Income Fund, it pays out $.50 per year in distributions on a $5.00 cost for a 10% yield.

It currently earns much more than this in earnings and cashflow; but it seems to benefit from the concentrate purchase agreement and sales agreement with Xstrata which expires in 2017.

Do you think that even after the agreement expires with Xstrata that the company should continue to do well?(it appears from my limited research that the Xstrata deal is not far from market terms so hopefully the company continues to make the same earnings).

What do you think is fair value given the replacement cost of the smelter/earnings ability?

Appreciate your comments and thanks as always. Ken

Q: Hi, a couple of questions around underlying security of investments.

ETFs: If an ETF provider were to go insolvent, what would be the implications for investors, I assume the funds would be fully segregated, so would the ETF be wound up and investors receive their share of the NAV, or would the ETF likely be transferred to another provider to manage?

GICs: I recall reading that CDIC has reserves for only a small fraction of GIC deposits outstanding, so it is hugely underfunded in the (unlikely) event of large scale industry defaults. Typically I buy GICs from the highest rate providers which are typically smaller less established institutions. If CDIC is not the ultimate backstop as widely believed (do you agree with this?) then should I purchase GIC's primarily from only the most credit worthy institutions? Thank-you....

Q: We have positions in HSE and CVE and have looked at IMO, but the dividend is too low. What other integrated oil companies on the TSX pay decent dividends, if any?

Q: What do you see as future prospects for Western Copper?

Q: NXJ has recently been showing signs of life.Do you have an opinion on this company,please.

Thanks
Bob

Q: PME sentry select precious metals
As this stock has cratered from $9 to $3.50 this year, it still pays the same monthly dividend . The yield is currently ~ 33%. What will affect the dividend going forward? Would you expect a significant cut?
Buy, sell or hold?

Q: In your answer to the question from Denis regarding how many stocks are required to own a diversified income portfolio of $125K and what weighting you would give for each stock, your answer was 20-25 stocks with an equal weighting of 5% to 4%. I have three questions:

In general, is this number of stocks also the optimum for a portfolio of $300K assuming the weighting is similar?

At what value would a portfolio be considered too small to hold individual stocks and should hold ETFs instead?

Finally, how should one calculate the optimum weighting of ETFs if they are already in a portfolio that also holds individual stocks?

Thanks so much for your excellent service and I hope that you all had a great Canada Day weekend.

Q: On the website for Brookfield Property Partners (BPY.UN) the company Brookfield Properties (BPO) is listed as being part of their property portfolio. I am considering purchase of either BPY.UN or BPO, both of which provide global diversification. However, BPY.UN also provides property portfolio diversification as well (office, retail, commercial, and multi-family). BPY.UN has not been around long so it has a very short track recored. I would appreciate any information you could provide that would help in my decision. Thank you.

Q: What is your opinion about Intrepid Mines (IAU)

Thanks Thomas

Q: Hi Peter,

I am perplexed with the behavior of NKO. It gets very good news and then in the next few days it goes even lower than the last time. I currently have a large position in anticipation of the positive developments that are happening. What risks do you foresee in the future that need to be looked into. I know you are reulctant to rate it as a buy due to past price performance, but what do you suggest now, reduce my position or hold.

Q: Hello, I see that Nordex Explosives has hired Capital Ideas to raise their company profile. Does this mean they will be promoting the stock and thus can we expect the price to increase? Thanks Dave

Q: Hi Petr:

You recommended FSZ last week on BNN. I'm having trouble interpreting its P/E ratio of 165. I presume you are using something else instead of earnings as a comparator. Could you explain?

Q: JFT Strategies Fund is buying back up to 10% of shares. What is the signifigance/investment implications of this move? Thank you.
Henry Hughes

Q: Good morning! (assuming you don't see this until Monday AM). I am interested in participating in discussions about valuing stocks, perhaps something similar to the CMS Share Clubs but online. In my ideal world, these would have a focus on Canadian Equities. I would be curious if you know of anything like this online where there is an honest exchange of information (as opposed to the seemingly usual pump or dump posts on many forums). I would be more than willing to do some homework, and submit an analytic overview if others could do the same for other stocks, or for the same stock using alternative methods, or ... ?
By the way, I really appreciate your site!
Thanks!

Q: There is much concern expressed about reits and real estate. We hold the following as a proper % of our portfolio; cwt.un;cdr.un;cuf.un;di.un;dir.un;fc;gdc;hr.un;ino.un;iip.un;mst.un;mrg.un;par.un;aar.un;rmm.un;tph.db.c;ruf.u.Would you recommend selling any or part or all of these at this time, and if so, which? Many thanks for your invaluable advice to members. Hal

Q: Your thoughts on the etf cbq. Thanks

Q: What sort of earnings multiple do you think AutoCanada pays on its acquisitions? Is a large part of its story being able to buy private dealers at a low p-e and then getting a higher p-e in the public market? Thanks.

Q: I sent you a concern about my reit position early this week , listing my 17 positions and requesting your advice/opinion. i have not received a reply, and am wondering whether or not you received it,and if you did,whether or not I will receive a reply.
Hal

Q: Hi, could you comment on Aruba, ARUN? 15.26 thanks. Helen

Q: I have only MG and BIP.UN as the industrial stocks in my portfolio. Can you recommend any other industrials paying decent dividends. What do you think of FTT?