Investment Q&A

Q: This weekend's Barrons magazine mentnioned Fairfax as a successful company that emulate's Berkshire's strategy and secret to success—and investor returns—combining investments and aquiring insurance businesses.
“It’s a three-engine strategy,” says TD Cowen analyst Andrew Kligerman, commenting on what Berkshire has done right. He ticks off insurance, investments, and wholly owned businesses. “You need to fire on each cylinder to make it work.”

Q: I have above stocks in my RRSP I like to drop FFH and trim CSU LMN (i'm up 150% on both), like to add AD.UN DIR.UN or T, trying to increase my income as I'm retired, the idea is to preserve capital, is it a good time to add this new stocks ? thanks

Q: Could you shed a light on why this stock jumped so much today? If I own it, what is your suggestion to do next?

Q: Berkshire Hathaway has been very successful at buying wonderful businesses at good prices. Is there a Canadian company with an identical mantra?

Q: Hi,
What is you insight on TSU-T? Is it a good and better risk and reward pick after it fall from the highs of C$40 in Insurance business? Is there major problem with its business? Will it recover or its better to go with Intact IFC:T or Fairfax FFH-T?
Thanks
Piyush

Q: Hello Team,
Which of these two would you prefer for total return going forward and why?
Thank You,
Barry

Q: Hi group i own the above stocks and have some cash to deploy. pick out 10 core holdings c/w with order to buy and entry price. I am in no rush but want the buy list ready for any opportunity that pops up. Thanks for your help

Q: Hi group the above stocks i sold 1/2 of my folio about 3 months ago/ yes at a tidy profit. My question is I am 75 years old and have $100,000 to reinvest (20% of my total portfolio)...(dry power) i do not need any cash to supplement my income for at least 5 years unless the market falls of a cliff because of Trump/Tariffs. I would say I am a sleep at night investor So the question is what to do now wait or start nibbling now. These stocks make up about 70% of the total portfolio

Q: I have a starting position in IFC and I was planning to add. However, I notice that FFH has recovered nicely from 2020 and has significantly outperformed IFC since then. So I am wondering if FFH is the better investment. I would appreciate your comparison and recommendation. Thank you.

Q: Hi group short on financials /gold /silver / oil.... so in what order and what entry price would you add Presently own GSY (4 % position.) also GDXJ (2% weighting ) ARX (5% position ) FFH 5% position...any other suggestions in these sectors are welcome. thanks for your help with this

Q: Can you please rate the above 5 companies on a 1-10 scale; 10 being the highest rating. I am want to hold long-term, mostly for income and some growth. Is the debt level of any of these companies a concern?
Thanks!

Q: I have decided to orientate my portfolio more towards the US, while keeping approximately 30% Canadian. I am also looking at India for my first international investment. Most of these stocks are asset light and large cap.
In the US the sectors are non bank financials, tech, and industrials. In Canada I have chosen large caps with significant non Canada revenue.
My dividend income would decrease but I can handle that. This would be an equal weight portfolio.

What do you think of this approach and of the individual stocks?
Should I just buy an SPY 500 etf for the US ?
Is FFH appropriate for India or is there an ETF you would recommend ?
Thanks .Derek

Q: Hi group can you please comment on Capitol direct trust - last quarter they paid out 9% + over last 3 yrs they have averaged 7+ %. What is your assessment of the risk rewards in this sector i suspect that restrictions on liquidly and management fees are concerns but the attractive quarterly payout are very attractive in this unstable market overall your thoughts please. I am 74 and retired so steady income is a driver. Also please rate the above stocks (1-10 . 10 being best) Thanks for your help

Q: Hi,

After A&W’s recent conversion into a Corporation do you feel they could be a candidate for a takeover? Is it possible that this conversion to a corporation, which would simplify the structure, was done make them more desirable to an acquiring company? Two obvious Canadian suitors may be QSR and Fairfax which owns many casual dining restaurants under its Recipe Unlimited division. Looking forward to your comments. Thanks.

Q: Could you please comment on Fairfax Financial Quarterly/FY earnings released today.

We own Intact Financial, but are looking to add another P&C Insurance Co. ( which also is in asset management business - we already have Brookfield Corp. }

Fairfax seems to be executing very well and stock performance supports this thesis.
Company is also buying back its stock, aggressively.

How do you assess and rate this Co. , on valuation, debt, risk and consistency of Growth over long period of time ?

Would you be comfortable to start a new position or add at current levels ?

Thank You

Q: Hi Peter and Team,

Across all accounts, our holdings in the Financial Sector include BN, FFH, GSY, MFC, SLF, and the CEW ETF. I feel that this is a fairly good representation but realize that the Canadian banking sector is quite low, and the US banking sector is non-existent in our portfolio. Portfolio Analytics indicates that we need more exposure in this sector.

Several questions; please deduct question credits accordingly.

1. TipRanks shows that BN has a P/E ratio of 125.13. Can this be true?

2. A recent question from a 5i member asked about Sagicor SFC, which prompted me to investigate it further. I realize that it’s a small-cap stock, but noticed that for the 3 month, 6 month, and year-to-date periods, it has excellent momentum (which I know you like) and has a really low P/E ratio of 1.51, which I assume to be correct.

3. Because I feel that Trump tariffs are more of a possibility than not, I’m in the process of adjusting some sectors but not all, in case the tariffs don’t happen.

4. Would you endorse a small holding in SFC, (say a half-position) using proceeds from the sale of more tariff-vulnerable stocks?

5. Finally, could you suggest some Canadian-domiciled ETFs that would give us needed exposure to both the Canadian and US banking sector?

As always, thanks for your assistance that helps us to make informed decisions.

Q: Can you rank the following stocks best to worst please? Thanks

Q: Would you please rank the 3 stocks in order of total return going forward. IFC has the best 10year return, but not so more recently. I currently own IFC and I am concerned about the effects of global warming on future performance. I am leaning toward MFC because of its recovered mojo. I sense that MFC is the most conservative play in the group. Thank you

Q: Would you invest in Markel as a long term hold?
How does it compare to Fairfax?

Q: Would you put new money into either? Looking for 3-5 year capital gains.