Investment Q&A

Q: Greetings 5i,

I am making an effort to increase my exposure to US stocks, and am considering adding a US healthcare position to augment my Canadian healthcare holdings of CSH.UN and GUD.

JNJ was my first thought, given its strong history, massive valuation, and diversification. However, I am (like many, I assume) concerned about its legal troubles; particularly given the severity of the issues that surround them. Moreover, it appears that said troubles may be present for quite a long time.

I am thinking long term (I am 36), am a "buy and hold" investor, and will not need the capital I would be deploying for the foreseeable future.

Do you feel as if this is a good entry point for JNJ (perhaps a half position to start), or would you wait to see how the legal situations unfold before considering this purchase? If the latter, is there another American healthcare stock you might recommend in its place?

Thank you.

Q: Your comments please on these two Trimark mutual funds: Global Endeavour (aim 1593) and Trimark Fund (aim 1513) regarding recent poor performance, currency issues, and their prospects going forward. Could you recommend alternative funds or ETFs in their place. I've held them for a long time and their MERs are high.I prefer using Canadian dollars.

Q: Hi 5i - If something were to trigger a broad based repatriation of profits for US companies, do you see any names that would see a significant bump?

Q: Thinking of switching to VUN from VUS for long term hold at this time...With the CAD at pretty high levels.Your thoughts.

Q: Hi;

CQE continues to lanquish. It has an FFO of $0.03 per share and production is up 8%. My understanding is that it is performing well and has a high level of inside ownership. Who are the "insiders" on this and what is your opinion of them? I am down almost 70% and I am looking to either triple down with another $4,000 investment or take my loss. What is your opinion?

DON

Q: Just wondering if you think there are specific infrastructure or other companies that will benefit from rebuilding after Hurricane Harvey and possibly Irma.

Q: Good morning Peter, Ryan, and Team,

Could you give two or three Canadian stocks in each of the following sectors that look to be compelling buys today?

-Consumer Discretionary
-Financial
-Health Care
-Industrial
-Information Technology
-Utilities

I may already own some of your suggestions but would be comfortable adding to positions if my weighting is reasonable. (my call).

Thanks in advance for steering us through turbulent times!

Q: I would like to hear your thoughts about Softbank (SFTBY) and its suitability as a long term holding in a growth portfolio

Q: Hi 5i,

In this trend of BoC rate hikes which Canadian Banks are better positioned ? I would like to add 2 to my portfolio. Could you please comment on this ?

Thanks !

Q: Hi, This question is also triggered by the sharp rise in Canadian Dollar over past 2 months. Canadian companies which trade on both CDN and US exchanges have seen their share price lag on TSX. Shopify is an example, which has seen a spectacular move in US Dollar terms but not so much in CDN Dollar terms.

This disparity in dual listed stocks was so pronounced on Wednesday after CDN Dollar shot up to 0.82 Cents at 10 AM after BOC Rate hike was announced.

Which are the prominent dual listed stocks that come to your mind which have fair share of trading on US exchanges ? I guess, I am trying to position and manage my expectations for price movements of some of my holdings in this category.

Also I have some US Dollar cash balance. Does it make sense to buy/add these stocks in USD instead of CDN Dollar ?

Thanks

Q: Was considering Mainstream Health Investment. Am somewhat concerned that it operates in the States. From what I understand, extendicare pulled out of the US because they had to deal with legal issues. I realize that HPL is just the landlord for the facilities, however, if the companies leasing the facilities have issues it will reflect on Mainstream. Is it possible that extendicare is a lesser quality operator than the operators that rent mainstream's facilities. What risks are there since I plan holding this company long term given that it's a demographic play. What do you honk of the buisness model. Is it a good investment.

Q: The stock seems to have dipped for an extended period of time. Any idea why and should it be a hold, buy or sell?

Q: Morning guys,

Crh is dipping again and presently at the 2.80 level. I am getting punished resulting in a 60 percent loss. Are you guys now at the breaking point and removing this company from your growth portfolio. I am willing to wait it out , are you folks.?

Thanks.

Q: Hello Peter, I've been watching CLCT for a few months now, since it was mentioned in one of your responses. It has a dividend over 6% and is 9% cheaper today than yesterday after factoring in the currency move. While I'm tempted to buy, I'm not clear on what the 'China' component of its business entails - and also have some doubts as to how much an American company can count on being dealt with 'fairly', long-term, when doing business in China. Can you please explain the importance of China to CLCT's business, and whether you see the China political/trade risk as a meaningful concern for this particular company. Thank you!

Q: This may seem like an odd question to some but I would like to make sure I actually understand what is being said rather than assuming I do. On business shows guests say, in different ways, they have increased their cash positions or decreasing their equity exposures. Although such statements might seem rather straight forward, can they actually have different meanings depending on who is saying it? All kinds of guests appear from pure 100% equity fund managers to individuals actually managing diversified portfolios for clients.

Assume one is operating with a vision of a fully invested portfolio having 40% fixed assets which includes their cash portion and 60 % equities.

When guests generally talk of decreasing their equity exposure or increasing cash positions is there a standard meaning? Say someone cut their equity exposure by 10%. Would that typically mean their equity position has decreased to 50% (60%-10%) or does it mean they reduced it by 6% (60% X 10%) to 54%? Conversely, how might one interpret a 10% increase in cash?
Some managers talk of maintaining gold positions. If a balanced portfolio manager referred to a 5% weighting in gold would that generally mean 5% of the total portfolio or the equity portion (60% X 5%=3%)?

Needless to say, substitute a higher number and it would make for meaningful differences depending on how you calculate things? Listening to some business show guests, I get the impression it does not always mean the same thing but no elaborations are ever asked by interviewers.

Could you please clarify what is generally meant? Thank you.

Mike

Q: I just looked at the most recent 10 pages of questions. Out of about 150 or so questions I note that 6 were from females. Definitely food for thought. Any comments?

Paul

Q: Hi, CDN Dollar has gone up from $0.73 to 0.82 (+8%) within a span of less than 2 months. BOC did n't wait till October meeting and raised the Prime, indicating their bias towards more hikes in the future. In this environment, I am trying to figure out the currency impact on results of companies like CCL Industries, which have a fair share of earnings globally but report in Canadian dollar. CCL.b has already seen its share price tumble from $68 to present $57, within last 2 months.
(assumption being that CDN$ rise is the major reason)

Which are the other companies, in your coverage, deriving a decent share of their revenue in US Dollars and could see the impact of higher CDN $ ? Should this change in CDN/USD value raise a concern and revisit the holdings/weightings in your portfolios ?

Thanks

Q: Why has Metro fallen off of a cliff? Would you be inclined to invest in it now or sell it and go into better opportunities in the sector like AMZN? I have a 2.5% position in it at around $29.

Q: i assume all three companies are going down because of the cdn dollar, is this correct. dave

Q: Will SIS be hurt by a higher CAD?

Thanks,
Dave