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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: What are your comments on MCR reported last night. The numbers seemed a little light but it is now trading at about 3X earnings.
Even though it is small, why wouldn't someone buy this highly profitable company?
Because of its size and present environment, are there any plans on removing it
from your Growth portfolio? Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Herm on March 25, 2020
Q: I currently own positions in ADW.A , SIS and HR.UN in my TFSA.
I am thinking about adding to these positions.
What would be your order of preference with the fact that you do not plan on selling any of these in the next 5 years
Read Answer Asked by James on March 25, 2020
Q: I have few questions regarding preferred shares. Many solid companies ''before covid19'' have preferred shares over 8% div. If that rate is OK for me for long term even without price appreciation, how safe will you quote them in general? What is the risk associated with that investment? Will you favor ''retractable'', ''rate-reset'', ''perpetual'', ''fixed-floating'' or ''floating rate''? How to find the term of a specific share?
Thanks a lot
Read Answer Asked by Daniel on March 25, 2020
Q: Re: Article appearing today. I have never agreed with David Rosenberg. This time I think he might be right. What would you place the odds of his view of the market proving correct?
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on March 25, 2020
Q: What is your opinion of BAM's pivot to a focus on listed stocks and distressed debt as compared to alternative investments?
Thanks
Bob Rose
Read Answer Asked by Robert on March 25, 2020
Q: I know currency's are very difficult to forecast. However, I will ask this question anyway.
With the CDN $ hovering around $.068 do you recommend taking hedges off or leaving them on ?
Read Answer Asked by BOYD on March 25, 2020
Q: What are your thoughts on EIT? It seems, at the moment, to be trading well below NAV. When I read the list of top 25 holdings, it mostly looks reasonable to me. But I'm not sure I understand their press release:
"[EIT] announces today that it has determined to suspend the Premium Distribution(TM) component and Distribution Reinvestment component of its Premium Distribution(TM), Distribution Reinvestment and Optional Cash Purchase Plan (the "DRIP") ".
I get that they've cancelled the DRIP but what is the Premium Distribution? What is the forward dividend at this time?
Read Answer Asked by Peter on March 25, 2020
Q: Hi 5i,
Just a comment. Print if you like it. Regarding Tom's question (March 24) about ways to "lock in" an FX gain realized through holding US stocks in a US dollar account, but wanting to continue holding US stocks. Another way to do it might be to switch the cash to CAD (ideally through a Norbert's Gambit to avoid paying exchange fees) and then to use the Canadian cash to purchase a hedged S&P 500 index ETF like VSP or XSP. The FX gain would be harvested in moving to Canadian cash while the CAD is relatively low. The currency-hedged ETF would provide the percentage return of the underlying index while protecting against the longer term likelihood of the CAD swinging back to higher levels. Owning e.g. VSP would preserve investment exposure to US stocks. They would not be exactly the same stocks as were owned in the first place, so the shift from specific stock holdings to an index product would be one aspect to consider. Another would be the tax aspect, if the investments are in a taxable account. If, in his circumstances, exchange fees were unavoidable and there were a significant tax hit in the mix, that might count heavily against this approach. On the other hand, if the FX gain is in an RRSP and the account format and brokerage policies will allow Norbert's Gambit, it might be a decent way to go.
Cheers!
Read Answer Asked by Lance on March 25, 2020
Q: A subscriber named Peter asked for your opinion on GMP.PR.B preferred stock on March 17, but you didn't really answer his question. Instead, you commented on the common stock. Please don't do this again as I am NOT interested in the common stock. I am interested in the preferred stock, which is now down $3 from when Peter asked his question. I know this is a lower-rated pref, but surely the current discount is overdone?

Clearly, in the current virus-riddled economic environment, GMP will have to cut the dividend on its common stock. However, they cut the common dividend to zero a few years ago, but kept paying the preferred dividend. What is your opinion on the coverage for the preferred dividend? Would you recommend that preferred stockholders sit tight, buy more, or sell?

The rate resets on March 31, 2021 at 2.89% above 5 year Canada bonds. Even if the yield on 5 year government bonds goes to zero they'll pay a 2.89% x $25 face value = $0.7225 annual dividend. This seems attractive to me, or am I not properly understanding the yield calculation?
Read Answer Asked by David on March 25, 2020
Q: On March 16, in response to a question from Pierre, you said you were not interested in Boardwalk at $27 and recommended some of the higher valued residential REITs. BEI.UN is now down below $20 and has been below $16. At $20 it is trading at a third of book value and 40% of net asset value. It is a well run company and quite under-leveraged. Below what price does it become a screaming buy for a patient buy and hold investor?
Read Answer Asked by David on March 25, 2020
Q: These preferred shares pay a dividend equal to $25 face value x prime rate. The issuers, BCE and BAM, are both blue-chip companies, so the dividends are presumable well-covered. However, the prices of these preferred shares have been hammered, falling in lock-step with interest rates. To me, the sell-off seems to be overdone, perhaps because they are so thinly traded. What is your view on these variable rate preferred shares as a buy and hold investment for a retiree living on investment income? What do you think prime rate will settle out at once the pandemic panic is over, say a year from now?
Read Answer Asked by David on March 25, 2020
Q: I have 2 non-reg accts (Accts X and Y). I have held ENB in Acct X for some time, and it is now in red. I bought more ENB last week in Acct Y. If I sell ENB in Acct X now to use the loss (ie, after purchase in Acct Y), can I assume that I can use the loss because I bought the "new" ENB before selling the old ENB. FWIW, I put the new ENB in diff acct just to keep the 2 separate.
Read Answer Asked by Bob on March 25, 2020
Q: Hi- do you have a few names that are high risk oil companies. I look at someone like athabasca, and it needs 60 dollar oil, but has 275m in cash as of dec 2019. Any companies that are cash rich and can be sat on for a year or two while things play out. Athabasca specifcally has been here before... WCP also looks compelling with hedges and cash flow.
Read Answer Asked by Jordan on March 25, 2020
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