Investment Q&A

Q: I presently hold Concordia, PHM, Walgreen and CVS. In an attempt to increase the health care portion of my portfolio to roughly ten percent I am contemplating purchasing UNH ( United Healthcare) Appreciating you don't really cover US Stocks would I be better off simply adding to my CVS. Is there an overlap here between CVS and UNH and possibly WBA?
Thanks

Q: This stock keeps going down. Is there any chance it has reached a bottom?

Q: On June 2, Clare asked about sector allocation percentages, and I noticed that you recommended 20% for technology and industrials. Previous recommedations earlier in the year for these two sectors were 10 - 15%, depending on the type of investor. Could you explain the increase, please?

Q: Hello Peter, My question is about rebalancing for optimizing future growth with possible interest rate hikes. I have listened to an advisor who suggests the U.S. is the place to be for a large portion of my portfolio - consumer discretionary, health care with bio, U.S. financials, and technology. I am considering selling my CAD banks, telecoms, REIT's etc. to go into these sectors. Citigroup, Wells, Starbucks, Disney, NXPI Semi-conductors are what I am looking at. I am already in Abbot Labs and a SPDR Healthcare ETF. Does this sound like a good plan to you? Thanks, I so appreciate your opinion.

Q: Hi,

My question is regarding Andrew Peller's recent results and would like your comments. It looks like a strong quarter with increase in sales, gross margins and a dividend increase.
With a stock having no analyst coverage how does one get a guage on future earnings growth to know when a stock has become "expensive"?
Thanks

Q: Good Morning Peter, How do you look at selections from the month before that have lagged ? Is it a good chance to pick them up or do you steer clear ?
Thank you.

Q: In a $100,000 portfolio, keeping to a full position @ 5% = $5000, does it make sense to buy only 10 shares of CSU and/or approx 20 shares of VRX. As I am typing this I realize it is not the number of shares but the return on the $5000. Does this make sense.

Thank you as always.
Craig

Q: David Burrows on BNN believes in going with what is working and getting out of what is not working. He's one of the handful of BNN guests who seem worth listening to (Hodson is not bad either). What is working for me in Canada is tech, pharma, and some non-bank financials (ESL,CSU,MSL,EFN). What is not working are the pipelines and utilities (ALA,AQN). Should I be buying more of what works and selling down what isn't? Thanks for your comments.

Q: Can you comment on AXL's recent earnings, their outlook and if you can see any reason for the recent drop? I am tempted to add to my position but would appreciate your insight before doing so. Thanks again.

Q: Peter and His Wonder Team
On April 30th in response to a question you choose CPX over TA and stated TA was expensive. Since then TA has fallen approximately 20%.What do you think has caused this? Is it company related, the sector or fear of the NDP...or all three? If the shares fell another 10% or 15% would you consider it a possible long term contrarian play? Thanks for your thoughts!
Dr. Ernest Rivait

Q: It seems every time I turn on BNN, I hear some pundit spouting baseball analogies: as consensus goes, we are apparently in the 9th inning of a bull market, maybe even the bottom of the 9th. A few managers have commented that we're batting into extra innings and that a correction is long overdue. What does all this mean, in real terms?

It seemed to me we had a correction in October -- my portfolio took a good 10% hit, and although I've recovered nicely, and have even outstripped what my "pre-correction" gains were, it seems I can't differentiate from a "correction" (with a small "c") as opposed to THE CORRECTION, (all caps). Pardon the cheekiness, but ... really ... !? they leave themselves open to such interpretation.

I would dearly love to hear from Peter what his take is on all this correcting that's going to be happening. Should I shore myself up now, before the flood hits?

In 2008-09, I was not fully invested, and so never took the hit that many of my colleagues and friends did, simply because I had a lot in cash, so I have no personal experience on what it feels like to be corrected.

Thanks, as always, for your advice.

Q: Peter, there is some current speculation regarding US health care stocks and this US Supreme Court Ruling which will apparently happen this month which could throw a monkey wrench into the health care momentum. IE. King Versus Burwell. Could you comment on the potential impact this decision might have on health care stocks generally and patient home monitoring specifically.

Q: As investment companies such as Sprott diversify their fund holdings away from resource stocks is it fair to say that this ought to help liquidity and coverage of non-resource small cap stocks in Canada?

Q: My granddaughter wants to invest an additional $6,000 in her TFSA. She has a small amount in energy already so we want to buy her something in a different sector.
Do you think she should buy CCL.B, Agrium, Intertain, or Cineplex. She is willing to take some risk and is wondering if she should put all $6K in one stock or split it up.
Thank you very much!

Q: I own molson trading in us. On friday after a lighly traded day at approx market close 446000 shares were sold dropping the price dramatically, a slight rebound followed. This follows a decent week for tap. What would cause such a huge drop, far as I know there is no detrimental news . The markets are strange and volatile places these days. I invest for dividends and conservative growth, I have held tap for a few years can be up and down but I have never been caught up in such a situation. Thanks for your insight, should I sell out, it is afair size position 5% and I like the beverage idea but dont like other parties messing with my investment.

Q: I’m definitely more of a buy and hold investor than a trader, but with David Burrows’ words ringing in my ears – “The money’s gone! The market doesn’t know what you paid” -- I’m reassessing my Cenevous holding of two years (down about 30%) and I’m wary of the fact it’s close to breaking support, according to my Investorline data, at $20.23. In the same account (LIRA; currently has no cash), I also hold a small amount of the ZUB ETF. It’s at the upper end of its trading range for the last year and a half; is trending above its 20 and 200 day moving averages; on the verge of breaking out into a three-year high; and technically has moved up closing a gap with the S & P 500 trendline. I know it’s comparing apples to oranges, but I’m asking for a second opinion on dumping CVE for ZUB. (I have a full position in CVE, as well as full positions in WCP; PPY; and and a one-third position in SKX; in fact I’m considering clearing out all but SKX since there are bearish technical warnings for WCP and PPY as well). Other options: dump Cenevous for cash and either wait for another opportunity or buy Cenevous back at a cheaper price later in the year; or taking the Cenevous proceeds and putting them in Don Vialloux’ HAC ETF, which seems to trend steadily upwards, albeit unspectacularly, with his seasonal investing philosophy. ZUB, Cash or HAC? Your insight is very much appreciated.

Q: You have not commented on Norbord for a few months. Lumber futures have jumped nearly 20% in the past month while osb is barely creeping up. Looking forward, Europe and Asia are now both prime targets for Norbord and single family housing is picking up in the U.S. Do you think it is time to buy NBD or would a lumber company such as WEF be a better bet?
Thanks.

Q: Do you have any opinions on Cyber Security stocks and this ETF in particular.Thank you.

Q: There are changes to your webpages recently which really detract from reading through the questions and answers. Each time you click on 'read answer' another web page loads, and then returning to questions, takes you back to the top of the page, versus where you were reading, perhaps half way down through 20 questions. I very much appreciated the previous format, read a question, click on the answer and you stayed right in the main body of questions. Why have you changed the format? Thanks, Linda

Q: I have some room in my TFSA and was hoping to add a couple of good quality growth stocks. I currently own small positions in Stella Jones and Brookfield Asset Management in my RRSP and was thinking of adding some more in my TFSA. Would these be good candidates? If not, are there any others that you would recommend?
Thanks.