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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: Good Morning 5i,

So on this fine Friday long weekend morning, I'd like to pick the brains of people who've "been there and done that" much longer and more successfully than I, and have seen some things in the financial world first hand that I have not.

I want your opinion on oil and gas. Are we not watching one of these classic "blood in the streets" scenarios you always read about as investors and wish you'd had the fortitude to plug your nose and dive in? The shares of almost every publicly traded company in the space are being thrown away for nothing. The good ones, the bad ones, the ones making money, the ones losing money, good balance sheets, bad balance sheets - it's almost irrelevant. If they're in the space they're being slaughtered.

So if the thesis is:

a) it will take a lot longer to power the world with worm casings, pixie dust, and unicorn farts than some would have us believe (i.e. hydrocarbons are not going anywhere in the foreseeable future)

b) a surprising number of these companies have solid balance sheets

c) a surprising number of these companies are earning profits hand over fist, doom and gloom aside

If a, b, and c are indeed true, you'd have to believe a lot of these companies trading at historic lows will eventually make investors a lot of money. Like buying Florida real estate in 2009.

What am I missing? What holes can be shot in this thesis, looking at it objectively?

I take the point that there is no catalyst to change things or excite investors in this space (although I do get surprised from time to time that the fact that a company can throw off ridiculous amounts of profit and return it to shareholders via dividends and buybacks doesn't itself become a catalyst, but I digress...)

I also take the point that these scenarios can persist for a lot longer than people think they can before things change.

Single-company risk is always there, I understand that, but I reject the idea that all of these companies are headed for bankruptcy.

Aside from patience and the stomach to watch your investment get hammered in the short term - where exactly are the risks?? This seems like such a great buying opportunity that I feel I have to be missing something.

Thank you for whatever insight you can share, and happy long weekend to you and your families!

Ryan






Read Answer Asked by Ryan on September 02, 2019
Q: Which stocks will benefit the most from legalization of edibles in Canada? Do you think that this is already priced into stock prices?
Read Answer Asked by Kathy on September 02, 2019
Q: LGO, at 1.37 is close to its 52 low. The chart/ trend is ugly.... definitely not my friend :( BUT according to RBC it is cheap at 6xe .... and has a Morningstar "Undervalued" rating with a FMV of $2.05 (~50% upside). All of this has me thinking that this is a good time to add to a losing current position.
Could I have your current thoughts on LGO given its continuing presence in the 5i Growth Portfolio.

Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Donald on September 02, 2019
Q: RBC shows fair market value of $41.37...would you concur with this valuation with a pe of 59.6 and pb 1.4x and roe of 2.28 and total debt of 11.38%...but a profit of 5.28% .. eps growth of 92.7% sales growth of 45.16% and income growth of 60.18%...these numbers seem all over the map ...also would you still remain positive on growth at todays price of $25.31...thanks for great service...gene
Read Answer Asked by gene on September 02, 2019
Q: The direction of Corporate profits is relevant to investment strategy. I am finding an annoying number of contradictory statements on this matter in the financial press. Case in point: in Saturday's G&M Report on Business, the Chief Investment Strategist for BMO Nesbitt Burns says "However, earnings have been continually beating upwardly revised expectations and are now up more than 8 per cent year-over-year in the second quarter." In the same article, the Managing Director of Guardian Capital says "....there are clear signs of the global economy slowing and corporate earnings growth trends continue to decline markedly." Seems to me this is a matter of fact not opinion. Can you tell me if corporate profits are going up or down? Thanks..
Read Answer Asked by Ken on September 02, 2019
Q: Please list these as best for the potential of capital appreciation over the next 4 years.Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Maurice on September 02, 2019
Q: In possible answer to Bruce's question about why Shopify and Lightspeed are down heavily today, there was an article on the Motley Fool today which said that anyone buying these stocks was gambling, not investing, as they were both ridiculously overpriced and subject to huge risk.
Read Answer Asked by John on September 02, 2019
Q: I am reformatting my spreadsheets to line up with the 5i format and have a couple of questions using the Balanced Portfolio for July as a reference:
1. Where it says "1 Year -6.6%" does that mean total calendar year for 2018?
2. Under the "Calendar " column where it says " 2018 -13.2%" - does that mean trailing 12 month period (i.e. July 1, 2017 - July 30, 2018)?

Thanks for your help here.
Read Answer Asked by Donald on September 02, 2019
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