Investment Q&A

Q: Gentlemen Good Morning
Your answer today about dividends in US$
"Holding US-dollar dividend companies inside a US account saves this fee, and we would prefer to see them held in a US dollar account"
Not always thru unfortunately.
At NBDB, if you have CSU, FNV, OTEX, NTR in US account the fees fx/x conversion are double, because NBDB said it receive dividends in Ca$ from their agent (or custodian). I will complain to the Ombudsman.
At Scotia-ITrade they said the dividends are in Canadian by default because its a Canadian corporation, but they deny that dividends are payed in US$. The agents don't understand (or not competent)
At BMO said they dividends as paid in US$ if the stock is in US account, I feel some uncertainty on this answer but maybe true
VB said "This will only happen for two reasons at Virtual Brokers. First, if you do not have an U.S. side open in your account. Second, if the company trades on Canadian exchanges and pays the dividends in U.S. dollars we convert it to Canadian". Its clear. The G&M gives to VB best discount broker.
Best Regards.

Q: I just read Phil Town's "Rule #1" where he argues, amongst other things that return on equity (aka book value), sales growth, EPS growth, Cash flow and ROIC are the strongest indicators for long term growth. He argues that, ideally we'd invest in companies that have at least 10% growth in each category for each of the past 10 years - a lofty goal to be sure.

Generally, how do you feel about the aforementioned metrics to assess the quality of an invesment. Would you keep them in the same order of priority and would you add any to the mix?

For the record, the only stock I can find that comes close to meeting the 10% increase per year threshold is CSU so maybe there's something to it!

Cam.

Q: I hold the following technology companies for a 31.66% weighting in my portfolio. I need to reduce this to a maximum weighting of 20%. Given the holdings are long term, and I wish a balance between stability and aggressive growth in this sector, which of the above companies would you cut down or eliminate to achieve this goal? Current individual weights are; CSU 4.88%, GOOGL 4.94%, AAPL 4.8%,GIB.A 3.2%, SHOP 2.57%, PHO 2.56%,MU 3.27%, NVDA 3.22%, KXS 2.21%.

Q: Could I suggest questioners avoid (or explain) unusual acronyms if possible? When I read the recent question about CSU I thought it odd that the chief operating officer would suffer from Anti Social Personality Disorder!!
Thanks for your very valuable advice.
Chris
PS It took me a while to discover that ASPD really stands for Automatic Share Purchase and Disposition agreement.

Q: Hi, Constellation's COO Mr Miller also announced an ASPD agreement for acuisition/disposal of his company shares but at a much larger scale of 10,000 shares a week for price range above $1,000 and below $800. It could be some sort of management plan approved for its top executives/large holders to generate personal liquidity. But, how do you view it from investors' perspective ? There could by as well more of these disclosures in the future. Would such initiatives not put a pressure/cap on stock price ? Thanks

Q: What are you top 5 ideas at current time, amongst all three of the portfolios ?
Thank you

Q: Hi 5i team,
Some time ago, I bought CSU shares (thanks to 5i) on the Canadian exchange. I transferred them not so long ago to my usd account in order to receive their usd dividend in usd. To my surprise, I still receive it in $cad. My understanding is that I am getting slammed twice by the bid-ask conversion exchange rate.
I contacted my broker who answered: that it was either a CSU ou compensation chamber’s decision to pay the dividend in $cad to CSU’s shareholders, and that they were converting the amount in usd because the shares were in my usd account. I then contacted CSU: who promptly responded (thank you) that they were paying their dividend in usd out of their usd, and also that they had nothing to do with the american listing (pink sheets)(Is that the problem?). I understand that there are many/several large TSX listed companies paying usd dividend (algonquin, brookfield among others). So my case or CSU’s case is probably not unique. My question is: what should I do in order to receive CSU’s dividend in usd? I would appreciate to get an answer specific to my situation, not a generic answer. I understand that getting to the bottom of this might take time/effort. There is no hurry, my timeline is: several days before the next dividend payment in April in order to have the shares in the right account for the next regular and special dividends.
Thank you for your collaboration,
Eric

Q: thanks for reply on STZ, instead of adding to STZ, at x18, already over 3% of total portfolio, would CSU at x40 , your glorious report, be better since I have little equity in Canadian firms, except TD and a helluva lot in CA energy. Somehow I doubt it ...but want to hear your view.
Art

Q: I was reading a question from Chris. Just wondering if CSU is in the AI market. Seems that I read something to that. But can't find the article to back me up.

Q: Hi, If my memory serves well, Mark Leonard transferred ownership of a company to his adult children, which owns 1,000,000 CSU shares, a few years ago. I believe that his current holding of 400,000 + shares is in addition to that family ownership? Thanks

Q: Just a comment for some additional perspective on the automatic share transaction plan of CSU's CEO: If today's share price action was a result of the announcement that the CEO may be selling up to 100 shares per week for a year (up to 5,200 shares), then the sellers who were bailing out are just being nutty. At the rate of 100 shares per week, it would take him approximately 84 years to divest himself of his current CSU shares position. Now there's an investment horizon for you!

Q: About your answer to this earlier. If the CEO of the company has given instructions to sell every week when the price is over $1000, and buy when it is under $800, doesn't that suggest he believes the company is now overvalued, given it's current price?

Q: Starting a new investment account. Given the recent market up tick what 5 stocks would u recommend. Medium risk minimum 3 year hold. Not a fan of energy stocks. The
Trudeaus have done me in twice.

Q: Hi, Any comments on this PR. Thanks
TORONTO, Feb. 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Constellation Software Inc. (“CSI”) (CSU.TO) announced today that Mark Leonard has notified the Company that he or entities controlled by him (“Leonard”) intend to enter into an automatic share purchase and disposition agreement (“ASPD”) with a registered broker in Canada.

Under the terms of the ASPD Leonard will sell 100 CSI common shares per week when the price exceeds $1,000 per share, and intends to purchase 100 common shares per week when the price is less than $800 per share. Leonard anticipates starting the ASPD shortly, and continuing it for one year.

Q: Hi, It was nice to watch Peter's BNN appearance on Wednesday. Very thorough and objective !! And, yes a US stock pick was interesting. Enjoyed the show.
It was also very reassuring to see Constellation Software as a Top Pick, even with the recent bounce. Clearly shows your conviction in this superb company, from the early days. Your comment about memebers' questions, which is the next comparable company with similar attributes - " The next Constellation Software is Constellation Software, itself" confirmed your confidence. We have a large position across all family accounts and have benefitted tremendously over time. Thank You.
My question is - How do we ascertain, if there has been institutional interest/buying of a stock, over certain time period ?
Yesterday, Canaccord Technical Analyst repeated Constellation as a Top Pick and mentioned that they have seen institutional buying and volume going up over past 6-8 weeks, which is healthy and a strong positive indicator.

Thanks again for your insight.

Q: I own all of the above in roughly equal weights in my TFSA. I am attempting to replicate your Balanced Equity Portfolio. I am also trying to get more defensive. I think I am overweight in the Info Tech sector. I am looking at a 5 year hold. I have cash to buy another position. What would your advice be - hold the cash or make a purchase. If purchase what would be your recommendation for defensive position?

Thanks for your help.

Q: Hi 5i, I own CSU,COV,KXS, PLC (-3%), and PHO (-12%), however overall I'm 30% up (thank you), I have an extra 11K to add to my TFSA, would you recommend 1 or 2 stocks to complement my tfsa holdings. I'm 3 years away from retirement, medium risk. Would you get rid of any of my holdings?
thank you

Q: this is one of many feathers in 5i's cap. do you see few other companies in the same light ( Canadian or US) regardless of sector, that can expect to perform the same way, I guess management is key here.

Q: Thankyou very much for recommendation of CSU. Your unwavering conviction in this stock enabled me to keep it and add to it on declines, which can be difficult to do for a conservative ETF investor. Do you have another favorite Canadian stock , or stocks, with nearly identical qualities, that you would suggest ? Sector is not a concern. If more than one, please list in order of preference. P.S. my wife says thankyou. I sold some shares to buy her a very special Valentine gift.

Q: A comment: CSU has now reached a critical resistance level at $1131, a price not seen since July 16th. The question is can it continue?