Investment Q&A

Q: Hi Guys,
Are you following the Bit-coin story? Anyway to play it?

Thanks,
Charlie

Q: Convertible bond question(asked by richard)on Dec 2/13

A 'layered' strategy implies receiving the redemption proceeds in cash. However, almost all cnvt. prospectus (see sedar.com) for the last 20 years contain clauses allowing the issuer to pay the redemption proceeds and interest in shares. Not all cnvt issues fare as well as the excellent list presented, particularly resource issues, eg: PDL.DB is .42/$, STP.DB is .50/$.

Publish at your discretion.

Q: Hi Peter How do I find your model portfolio on the site?
Stan

Q: About three years ago my wife saw John Ridley on BNN and told me to buy his stock. So for al of the right reasoned I bought her 1000 shares of CLR (Clearwater seafoods) at 90 cents and forgot about it. It is now near $7.00 and I wonder what lies ahead in your opinion. Should I buy more ?

Q: Hi Peter,

Your views on baylin tech will be appreciated.

Thanks
Paul

Q: Good Morning,
I am wondering if you could comment on LSI's Q1 #'s? While they seem not as strong as I would have liked to see, I am thinking this might be an opportunity to add - as I see their growth rate accelerating throughout each quarter this FY.
Am I missing anything more dire? Their US platform looks to be very compelling at this point - already at 25% of the top line and longer an earnings drain. Thanks for any comments you can provide.

Q: IWC and DFE

Hi Peter & Co:
This morning, Cam Hui sent out his blog entry, "Humble Student of the Markets", writing about two Micro-Cap ETFs, IWC for the U.S. and the other, DFE, for Europe. Although Cam was writing about a seasonal trade, my question is whether these ETFs can form a further diversification of a portfolio with say, a 5%, exposure to Small Caps, usually gained through IWO?
Kind regards, Gail

Q: Would it be possible to:

- Provide a 'maximum recommended buy price' for each stock covered, updated when reports are updated
- Include the 'maximum' on the summary spreadsheet
- Provide the summary as a web page (in addition to the spreadsheet), for easy browsing while logged into 5i.

Regards, Craig.

Q: Hi Peter, Would a ratio of 60% fixed income/40% equity applicable today for a retired person? With rates potentially rising, should the ratio be revised to 40% fixed/60% equity?
Also, would you recommend a high bond etf (like XHY) for a retired person, if so, what is the acceptable limit? Thanks

Q: TCN I am reading your report on them and under " Recent Financial Results " you state that they have a new share issue that dramatically increases the number of shares. In your Summary at the end of the report, you state that they are buying back their stock. Why would they have a new stock issue, and buy back their shares at the same time.

Just an aside, if you got rid of all that blue ( black if you are printing in black) on the side of the reports, it would save a lot of ink

Q: Hello Peter; Excellent decision regarding questions. Now we await your pick of multi baggers. I prospect them on free pages of StockCharts, under SCTR list for Toronto Stock Exchange. Other people may have other ideas. Suggestion: If these names are placed on the site for all to see, they could help unearthing crowd sourced leads. These are not questions and your answer is not being sought. However, you may choose from them to write a report or pick a winner if there is one.

Currently I have two names: Photo channel Network (PN) and Patient Home Monitoring (PHM)

Q: Good Morning from BC
I have just been taking another look at your Model Portfolio and whenever I look at tables like this, I always look to see what the dividend of a particular stock is. Would it be possible for you to add a column showing the % Yield?

Q: Hello 5I, Re: PKI, Parkland; Laura Lau just stated on BNN that a large contract with Suncor ends this year and will have a significant effect on revenues and cash flow for next year. Have you heard about this? Thank you

Q: Any chance , even as a premium service you guys could come up with a market outlook type report done on a quarterly or monthly basis .
Your view of the near term and effect upcoming events may have
The things we should be contemplating or considering

Thanks
David

Q: do u think buying cnr shares seeing they are 2 for 1 today a good investment.the macd is 75. high

Q: Hi Peter & 5i: Been meaning to ask you about this for a while. Can you please let me know if you disagree with me on this and, if so, exactly why? I don’t like bond ETFs and bond mutual funds. I have a strong preference for my own ladder of individual bonds. I recognize that the funds offer convenience for retail investment and the advantage of superior instant credit risk diversification. But at this stage they don’t offer particularly inspiring yields and they don’t offer any certainty (not any!) that I will get all of my principal back. The two things I want from my fixed income investments are visibility of investment return and the relative certainty that when a bond matures I get my principal back – all of it. In my view the main point of the fixed income side is to have a portion of one’s assets not be exposed to equity risk. While both bonds and funds’ unit prices may fluctuate with daily trading, the only way out of an ETF is to sell the units at a market price. You simply don’t have the option of waiting for instrument maturity to make you whole. Of course that doesn’t necessarily mean you will lose money relative to your ETF unit purchase price, but you might. A bond maturing inside an ETF puts the bond’s principal back into the fund for the manager to reinvest. But, subsequent to that reinvestment, if rates rise the fund’s unit value will almost certainly decline. Having recently come through a period of about 30 years of declining rates, it ought to occur to people that rates could rise slowly and steadily for a very long time. That scenario could mean that the very investments people most count on to be protected and reliable could end up significantly under water with no certain prospect of recovery. A bond ETF or mutual fund introduces an equity risk component into the fixed income side of one’s investments. I wonder about the extent to which retail investors really understand the implications of that risk. Despite the relatively limited diversification of credits in one’s own ladder of between say 10 to 20 bonds, I prefer managing that credit risk through instrument selection, versus a fund’s market risk, which is entirely out of my control and based on rate movements that are beyond my ability to predict. Thanks for any critique!

Q: TMC-T Has finished there conversion of shares and increased there dividend. Please provide an update of your thoughts on the company going forward. Thanks.

Q: In September you were worried that AM-Automodular would not have any business in 2014. Has your opinion of AM changed ?

Ken

Q: Hi Peter and team. 24 Q's? I'm way behind with an average of 4 or 5 a year. I don't see I need to add to it as I benefit from answers to other members' questions if they are not that specific to their portfolios. Wider coverage (more companies) would be helpful. Thanks as always. Henry

Q: Your model portfolio would suggest that less than board lots have been purchased to arrive at your percentages. I have usually tried to avoid this as it is inefficient and limits options such as stop-losses. Am I correct on this?