Investment Q&A

Q: Good morning,

Looking for any insights on the current weakness of Transalta fixed resets preferred shares?

Many thanks

Q: Hi Peter & 5i: When I asked (July 18) my last question about Just Energy’s (JE) run up from $6.15, I was not aware that Jim Pattison had just filed (July 10) an SEC disclosure that, between him and Jim Pattison Ltd, he had beneficial ownership of approximately 10.8% of the common shares in the company. I am wondering about the potential significance of this development. I imagine there would have been significant due diligence prior to the share acquisitions. Is JE something he could look at taking private? It is still trading with a yield over 11.5%. That is quite a lot of cash flow that could be directed toward paying down debt in a private ownership scenario. Also, for a fixed income holding, its 2018 5.75% convertible debentures (JE.DB.B) are available for not much more than 70 cents on the dollar. That’s a yield of around 8% while you wait for the 25-30% capital gain on redemption. If nothing else, wouldn't Pattison’s investment be a decent vote of confidence that the company isn’t going under anytime soon? What do you think?

Q: Information eventually for the community.
I spent a lot of time (trying to) getting info on reported earnings, disregarding completely the actual official reporting against estimates which are themselves constantly revised to match the `Beat estimate requisite during the quarterly `Urbi et Orbi financial results Mass`.
This morning I found wwww.factset.com that seems to do a good job reporting the real results. If you go to the site, you will see that 2Q earnings are dismal, born(should I say levitated) once again by financials that are reducing quarter after quarter their reserves to maintain earning growth.
Anyway, if you think it is worth, please publish.
CDJ

Q: Hi Peter: Any updates on DirectCash (DCI) ? Thanks !! Dave

Q: I need some marital advice. I currently own a full position in K-Bro Linen, and will be happy to hold it for the next few years. I have been pushing my (ultra conservative) wife to put some of her excess cash to work and add a full position of KBL to her relatively small portfolio for weeks now. Right when I had her convinced to go ahead, the company went on a sharp drop (down another 4% today) on seemingly no news…. Now I can’t get her to stop heckling me at the dinner table about “all the money she saved by not buying it”.

What’s my rebuttal?!!?!?

Generally speaking, what do you say to clients who get too caught up in short term market fluctuations and lose sight of the big picture? Finally, I still think this is a great purchase for her to make for a long term hold (deep down, she does too) … seeing how this thing continues to drop, again, on no news, would you advise someone to buy now, or wait until after earnings gets released seeing how this thing continues to drop?

Q: I hold stocks in my RRSP and non-registered, but recently opened a TFSA. I feel that managing stocks in 3 account is too complicated so would like to buy some ETFs that I can rebalance once per year in my TFSA. Do you have a suggestion for an ETF portfolio that includes a mix of large cap and small cap Canadian and U.S. ?

Thanks,
Carla

Q: Hi Peter and Team,

Any thoughts on Mongolia Growth Group, YAK.

Q: Hi Peter and team, thanks again for your great service! Do you have a recommendation for a health-related ETF? I've been looking at XLV, ZUH and VHT, leaning toward XLV, but am open to suggestions. Thanks!!

Q: Hi Peter,

Any thoughts on the news regarding BEK.B retaining PWC for the possible sale of the company? I know this has happened in the past with no success, do you think market conditions are better now for the sale?

Also, is there any additional news other than the press release that you may have access to that we don't?

Thanks

Alex

Q: Hi, I'm looking to consolidate some US holdings. In my RRSP I'm considering selling either Electronics For Imaging (EFII) or Qualcomm (QCOM) and buy more Celgene (CELG). In my LIRA I'm considering taking my losses on Mosaic (MOS) and buy more of either Apple (AAPL) or Cooper (COO). What do you think of these trades? Thanks again!

Q: Can you explain the lack of interest in TXF.A.
Their holdings are OK. Their largest FB recently came to life.
Yield 7.7%
Thanks
John

Q: Hi, Peter
I have a question on the VIX. I trade the Canadian VXX. I am surprised to see the significant difference between the VXX (Can) and the VXX (Us). the drop of the Can dollar does not explain the difference : VXX can -1.74% VXX us +1% and $CAN -.21%.
Any reason and also is The VXX a good way of playing a potential disruption in the markets?
Thanks in advance
CDJ

Q: Further to my earlier question about First National Financial (FN-T), I note that your previous analyses about FN said that the dividend payout ratio in the first quarter of 2013 was 132% up from 103% the previous year. The most recent RBC Capital Market foundation report on FN indicates that it was 68.6% in 2012 and estimates it to be 54.2% in 2013. Why such a discrepancy? As always, I look forward to your views.

Q: Hi Peter! Many thanks for your outstanding services. Question:
Is Canadian tire (CTC) flying under everybody's radar?

Q: I would appreciate your assessment of the impact of the proposed restriction in mortgage guarantees from CMHC on First National Financial (FN-T). Thank you.

Q: KBL is down 7.75% over the last 5 days. I haven't seen any news to cause the drop. Can you shed any light. I may want buy some.
Thanks
Dave

Q: Hi team

Thoughts on MFR.UN and ISL.UN as a long term investment.

Q: please give me your up to date opinion of glentel sym gln

Q: Hi Peter, What are your thoughts in GII.un? On a risk scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being off-the-scale risky, where would you place it. The dividend looks to good to be true. Thanks. Barry

Q: Hello Peter and the 5i Team,

For a $21,000 RRSP, would you recommend only ETF's, and if so, which ones that would reflect the kind of holdings in the Model Portfolio?

Or alternatively, if trading costs through a discount broker are $10 per stock, and I wanted to purchase at least 15 names from the model portfolio, which 5 of the 20 names could I neglect? My thinking is that while some ETF purchases could be commission-free through Scotia iTrade, the on-going MER's of the ETFs would cut into the returns. In this scenario, the $150 trading costs don't seem excessive over time.

As usual, thanks for your thoughtful answers. Your service is first-rate!