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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: Charge as many credits as you see fit...at least 4...got lots. Annually, I follow the O'Shaughnessy system and go through the tedious process of ranking over 90 stocks into deciles. I am screening for stocks that are good value, less volatile and have a good + growing dividend. For value, I use P/E, P/B, P/CF, P/S. For volatility, I use Beta. For dividends, this year I have added 5 year growth % into the process. The resultant summary number is the cumulative of the 7 metrics, with roughly 60% value, 15% volatility and 25% dividend weighting. I then marry this up with a technical screening, using charts with a 200 mda, looking for a rising vs rangebound vs declining chart.

Question 1 = your thoughts on my screening system? I thought of adding in other metrics, but I wanted to keep it relatively simple. Factors such as payout % and ROE can always be a looked at in the next phase. Should I drop any of the metrics if they are redundant?

Most of the stocks screened as expected. However, 3 stocks didn't screen well at all and I am trying to figure out why. It may be that my population of stocks is skewed to value stocks, so if any of the other 3 stocks had growth or REIT characteristics, then they might be seen as outliers.

Question 2 = CSH's fundamentals screened horribly = 10th decile. Could it be that REITs may screen out differently, due to their very nature?

Question 3 =Both PBH and WSP screened poorly = 8th decile. Could it be their fundamental metrics exhibit more growth characteristics?

Question 4 = Reading past 5iR questions on these 3 stocks leads me to believe you are still strongly in favor of all 3. Please confirm.

Thanks...Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on December 12, 2018
Q: I think that 3 more increases in interest rates are expected by end of 2019. You commented recently that one of these banks stock dropped due to bad loans. Is the info on bad loans available in the QLY rpts or elsewhere? I understood that the banks generally do well in rising interest rates but will this be offset by fewer mortgages?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by TOM on November 23, 2018
Q: HI there: I am still in comfortable profit margin from investments in the three stocks above. I wonder what you think about taking profits (now 20 % lower for Apple) now and holding some money on the side, or is buying on this dip a good idea. Especially re Apple.
Read Answer Asked by Marjorie on November 21, 2018
Q: Following up on a recent question regarding allocating the appropriate amount of monies to each stock, the amount depending on the size, safety, etc of that security. Would you agree with the current split (full, partial, small):

Full = AD (should be partial), AQN, BCE, BNS, FTS, RY, TRP.
Partial = CGX (could be full?), CSH, NFI, PGH (could be full?), TCL, WSP (could be full?).
Small = WCP.

Thanks...Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on November 20, 2018
Q: What would your advice be relative to exceeding a theoretical 5% limit for blue chip Canadian companies which have been beaten down by simply market sentiment in a lot of cases? I'm thinking of increasing my holdings of some of those I have listed. I realize I can buy CDZ but have a slight preference for individual companies.

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Ronald on November 16, 2018
Q: I saw the question Murray asked on dividend increases of Canadian banks and it made me curious. Could you provide a historical annualized return combining dividends and capital gains for the same banks over the same 18 years { 2000-2018 } ?
Read Answer Asked by Garth on October 15, 2018
Q: Hi group...I own JPM + BOA in the US and BNS+ RBC +TD In Canada- Looking like US banks are under more pressure on the last few days (Turkey situation worsens +JPM + BOA down close to 5%) - why are US banks getting hit so hard / going fwd do you like US banks are would you stick to Canadian banks ? - Your comments re appreciated
Read Answer Asked by Terence on August 13, 2018
Q: I have the above securities as well as RBC Cdn Equity Inc-D shares, Sentry Cdn Income, Sentry Global REIT. I am a retired conservative dividend income investor with a company pension, CPP, annuities and Fisgard Capital for fixed income.

I currently own ECI and will sell and look for a Consumer stock to replace it (not interested in BIP...I have a full slate of Utilities). I filtered several candidates using fundamental metrics (P/E, beta, P/BV, P/CF, P/S) and technical metrics (200 dma, etc), as well as yield and price targets (for what they are worth).

I will keep my CGX and PBH. I'm looking for a long term hold (conservative, liquid stock with a good and growing dividend). My short list of candidates include CLIQ, CTC.a, PLC, TCL.A. I already flushed ADW.A, KBL, RSI and since I already have 1 food stock, I flushed L and NWC.

Please provide your insights into the appropriateness of these Consumer stocks (CLIQ, CTC.A, PLC, TCL.A) for my portfolio, given my circumstances and existing stock positions.

Are there other securities I should consider, even those that I have flushed?

Thanks for your help...Steve

Read Answer Asked by Stephen on August 02, 2018
Q: I have a friend, retired as I am, who's entire LIF is invested in one mutual fund with RBC. The fund code is RBF461with an MER of 1.84%. From the research that I have done, this fund is rated as low risk with below average returns. When I look at a chart history of this fund, it does not even achieve the category average over the last 5 years at least. I own MAW104 or105 in this category but these would be unavailable to my friend as RBC does not offer Mawer funds for sale. Could you suggest any alternative mutual funds, ETF's or any other low risk strategy you demm appropriate. Thank you for your service.
Read Answer Asked by Richard on July 19, 2018
Q: I have recently taken over my parent’s investment account management because of health reasons. I found that my parent’s financial advisor had their money tied up and mutual funds with heavy fees, as well as GICs that were locked in for a long period of time. The money is now available for investing. They are retired and in their 80s. I will be keeping most of the money in HISA, GIC, and some short term bonds if the yields ever go above GICs. I would like to include a couple of stocks that are quite secure and pay decent dividends. And suggestions? I was thinking of RY, CM, BNS, PWF, BCE, CU, TRP, and ENB. Do these sound good, and do you have other suggestions?
Read Answer Asked by Federico on July 04, 2018
Q: Hell 5i Team,
I am planning to cash out mutual fund and invest it in stocks in my wife's RRSP account (75K) which will be around 1/3 od my existing portfolio (150K). I have my TFSA and RRSP invested in stocks (mostly from Balanced Equity portfolio). I am considering these names, which I don't have in my existing portfolio. Do you see any concern with any name? Please suggest a couple of names for growth potential, but not too risky.
Thanks for the great service.
Kuldip
Read Answer Asked by Kuldip on June 29, 2018
Q: Trimming the herd to pay off the mortgage. Any compelling reason not to sell the above names. I have a few others on the maybe trim list if you make a compelling case to keep any of the above. Balanced growth follower.

I am heavy financial ( thus ditching rbc and mfc), wjx is one of my dogs ( offsets some of my gain on financials) and rus- tpk -wpm have gone sideways so no gain-loss on them. Gets me out pretty cap gain neutral and cleans out a bit of dead weight not in your balanced portfolio
Read Answer Asked by Tom on June 18, 2018
Q: Hi guys, love the service thanks!
Looking at a long term hold of 15-20 years , growth and dividend , but not really risky. I suspect all 3 are good, do you have a particular favourite? Or perhaps a better recomendation?
Thanks again!
Read Answer Asked by Lee on June 08, 2018