Investment Q&A

Q: Hi 5i,

Just following up on my question about hedge funds and hedge fund ETFs.

I have found a list of some hedge fund ETFs that have over $100M US in assets and >25K average daily trading volume (for liquidity reasons) and was wondering if any of them would be an acceptable alternative to directly investing in an actual hedge fund. Any thoughts you have would be appreciated, recognizing this is a bit off the main track of your advice.

Here they are:

QAI - IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETF
WDTI - Managed Futures Strategy Fund
RLY - SPDR Multi-Asset Real Return ETF
ALFA - AlphaClone Alternative Alpha ETF
MNA - IQ Merger Arbitrage ETF

Thank you very much.

Michael

Q: if people are really scurrying away from energy stocks because of the NDP win, I think it would be smart to buy them cheap and profit as we discover the sky hasn't fallen after all.

Q: What do you think about these cie. Thank you

Q: Would you please provide an updated opinion on this gravel mining company? Thanks!

Q: You have this stock in the income portfolio, do you still consider this stock as buy as I own some and down 11% and is a very small percentage in my RRSP account and wonder if I should average down.
Thanks
Dolores

Q: Hi 5i
Thx for your help and bang for my buck. There is no comparison to other investment advice I have encountered. My question is with regards to an investment site called american bulls ( japanese candlesticks ).They also have a Canadian version. It works well for trading stocks especially commodity stocks such as SGY and FM and TCK.B to name a few. I am mostly buy and hold but have traded in a TFSA and I find the signals to be fairly accurate especially when things happen quickly as in the oil and material sectors.

Q: Good morning 5I team,
Since REITs are included in the Financial Sector, I'm guessing there is no reason to have to hold any, as long as I have a good sector percentage. Is that correct? It seems that many people hold them primarily for income. Since I have about 8 years to retirement, and a decent pension at that time, I tend to focus on growth.
Thanks for everything!

Q: I would appreciate your comments on Chorus.

Q: Hi Peter, what is your long term outlook for ZGI ETF. should i make it part of my retirement portfolio?

Q: aRE THEY GOOD ETF AND RELATIVELY SECURE. hanks a lot.

Q: Hi 5i,
On May 06 you mentioned that BEP.UN is "ok but not great". The rating on the last report was maintained at "A" (highest ranking). Would the rating be lowered if you were to rank it as of right now? Do you think it is a good buy in opportunity from the recent decline?

Thanks,

Q: Hi Guys
When you look at the sheer number of people within a 5 hour flight from Macau compared to Vegas you would think this gambling stock Las Vegas Sands with a nice dividend has a bright future.
What concerns me is the low book value,compared to the price of the stock.Do they not have valuable real estate holdings.
Finally how would you explain a sell off like 2008, I believe it went from around $100 down to $3.00. Lastly would you buy this stock around this price.
Thanks!

Q: could you give me the paticulars on the Black Berry convertible debentures. Whats it's ticker how much and when is yield payed out, how many shares of stock will one be able to get from one convertible debenture, etc. Any information that would be useful. Also will there be dilution issues if Fairfax converts all there convertible debentures

Q: Can you please recommend a couple of good global dividend paying (no USD exposure) ETF's for an older person 5 years from retirement--we already have canadian and USD dividend ETF exposure and wish to balance equity exposure globally.

Thanks for your help.

Q: Hi,
HR.un and REI.un have been great over the years, however, several of my Reits did not make the Reits list(question May 9). I hold about 1,000 shares of AAR.un, AX.un, DIR.un, MR.un, MRG.un, NWH.un, SMU.un, and SOT.un. Are there any in my list that you would be concerned with for the long term? As a retired, income seeker my Reit holdings have always been high and currently represents 14% of my portfolio.

Q: Dear Agent. Is it worthwhile for me to keep holding GE in my portfolio. Eddie.

Q: Hi 5i: RBC Direct Investing provided a report on Avigilon that quoted an analyst to the effect that security cameras have now become commoditized. Cameras sold by Chinese firms such as Hikvision, Vivotek and Uniview now sell for 30% - 40% less than the cameras sold by Avigilon. It may be that these cameras lack the supporting software provided by AVO and that it is this support feature that gives AVO an edge and that makes up for the difference in price. Do you have any information on this aspect of the comparison. But if it comes down to a simple price war between hardware vendors then I don't fancy AVO's chances

Q: I am a 60 year old retired conservative investor with a reasonable pension plus CPP. We have a well balanced portfolio that is roughly 67% equities and 33% fixed income. The fixed income includes a 7.5% Insured Annuity (yielding 5.1% pre-tax GIC-equivalent), 12.5% Fisgard Capital (1st mortgages yielding 5%), 2.5% Fisgard (2nd mortgages yielding 7.5%), and 10% cash (yielding 1%).

I am strongly considering directing some of the cash towards doubling up the Insured Annuity (this one yielding a pre-tax GIC-equivalent 5.2%). However, this is a "forever" decision. The annuity is not indexed, but compares favorably with long term bond mutual funds over 15-20 years. This would max-out my annuity allocation at 15%. What are your thoughts on this strategy?

The 2nd option being considered is Capital Direct (1st and 2nd mortgages), yielding 7-8%. My concern here is that I also have a 5% weighting in Sentry REIT (yielding 8%). Would that be too much concentration in the "mortgage" sector (Fisgard-15%, Sentry-5%, plus potential Capital Direct 7%)?

Do you have any other options for me to consider in the fixed income sector?

Thanks for your help.
Steve

Q: Hello Peter et al.

What do you make of the recent run-up through April from a low of $0.50 to now $1.07 for Ithaca. The oil price recovered a bit in April to around $65.00 for Brent and Ithaca has its 2015 1stQ earning coming on May 14th. We should get an update on Stella's progress and the Ythan well. Since my last question they have sold their Norwegian assets and renegotiated their RBL. They expect to have at least $100M of borrowing room from peak debt from their RBL prior to Stella start-up. The largest uncertainties I see affecting this stock are:

1. The OPEC meeting in early June. If OPEC decides to keep production the same or increase it, it will have a negative effect on Ithaca as well as all oil stocks.

2. Any delay with Stella. Based on the past it is not improbable that there would not be another delay. A lot of oil projects have delays. For example here in NL the Hebron project has been delayed by at least an year to 18 months.

3. Markets this year appear to be showing the sell in May and go away and return in September trend. I have cash available and am looking to make strategic purchases through-out the summer.

I plan to hold this stock through to mid to late 2016 and have held it for a while now. I have made money on it in the past and have bought more on these pullbacks. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Brendan

Q: Hi Peter I attended the AGM this past week and must I was impressed with the results and forward plans .They appear to be a company that has legs and a excellent mgt group.I have been a holder for many years and served me well.
Regards Stan