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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: I have a portfolio of 25 individual stocks (diversified among most sectors) with no ETFs. Within this portfolio I own companies that trade in CAD and the US but have operations and/or varying degrees of revenue in other countries such as CLBT, AXON, TOI, VHI, UBER, BKNG, WSP, TRI, BN and some of the MAG 7 with their worldwide reach such as GOOG. I often wonder if this is adequate international exposure for a healthy portfolio or should I have a specific international ETF?
I have not been a fan of ETFs due to the often wide exposure that can include "the best along with less than the best" (and they are boring, :), haha). But for long term growth and healthy diversification I often consider opening a position in an international ETF such as VIU.
But then I face my conundrum. In the past 5 years the return on VIU has been 41.4% (Yahoo Finance). Perhaps my expectations are out of line, but I would not be happy (and I would be bored, :), ) with the same return from VIU in the next 5 years. Even a conservative Canadian bank with some international operations such as RY has done 90% in the past 5 years (Yahoo Finance). It seems to me that I must give up too much possible growth in order to achieve a healthy level of international diversification through the instrument of an international ETF.
Perhaps this is a conundrum that need not be solved, but do you have any thoughts that may lead to a wiser investment perspective or a needed tempering of my expectations?
As always, thank you for your excellent service.
Cal
Read Answer Asked by Calvin on July 17, 2025
Q: I'd like to either start a 4% position in TRI or bring the other 4 positions up closer to 5%. Also I could just start a smaller position in TRI and bring the others up a bit, distributing funds across the names. If you could rank order these names, it might help me decide. As is, now MSFT and AMZN are quite small positions. Would any be affected by Tariffs? Just not sure how bullish you are on TRI vs the others. Thank you very much for continued great investment analysis.
Read Answer Asked by Gordon on July 16, 2025
Q: Hi, I'm thinking of initiating a position in one of these. Thinking of three plus years and the highest growth. How would you rank these in order, and please give a good entry/price. Please note that I just submitted a question but forgot to include DOL and GIB.A. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by GeeMac on July 15, 2025
Q: Which industrials in Canada and US are worth buying at the moment?
Read Answer Asked by Peter on July 14, 2025
Q: 1) For these listed firms, which ones have the strongest link to the nuclear energy field?
2) I have a fair sized holding in WSP but am eager to branch out for diversification purposes to either STN or ATRL. I see from other questions, 5i's seems to favour STN as a compliment to WSP. How strong is STN in the nuclear field (their website suggests some capability)?
With thanks.
Read Answer Asked by David C. on July 10, 2025
Q: Good morning, These stocks have shown strong returns over the past 5 and 10 years. In your opinion, and looking ahead at the next 3-5+ years, which order might you choose to buy today? Please also indicate if any of these might still be a 'hold' for now.
Thank you for the service!
Read Answer Asked by GeeMac on July 02, 2025
Q: Good morning, I own a half share of WSP and sm thinking to either add another quarter share, or to initiate a quarter share in STN (new position). Given their overlap and current valuations, and looking ahead to five plus years, which one would you think makes the most sense in your opinion?
Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by GeeMac on July 02, 2025
Q: The Alberta Premier is talking about getting a private company(s)
to build a pipeline to link the resources of Alberta to BC Province
I have all the pipelines in my portfolio
in terms of construction, would WSP, Stn and any other companies benefit from
this Big Project? just like linking the West to the East pipeline which could happen
to benefit all Canadians
good luck to the projects
thanks
Michael
Read Answer Asked by Michael on June 30, 2025
Q: BN is sitting at 7.5%, AXON - BKNG are 5% and the rest are 3% positions totaling approx. 83% of my stock assets. I have some 1-2% positions in my cash account (GSY, ATZ, PRL, CLBT, HPS.a, BNS,SU, TMDX, TVK and CNQ. I'm heavy tech, financials and industrials going into H2 2025. Would you add to, remove or change anything is this was your account (assuming you're 52 and plan to retire in 8 years). Not looking for a person allocation but rather if it was you, what might you be looking to adjust, if anything. Note I have no utilities currently. Thanks and have a great weekend.
Read Answer Asked by Don on June 24, 2025
Q: For the listed stocks above, in what order you purchase them....the top being the first/? Also what would be a suggest purchase price?....Thanks for your insights....Tom
Read Answer Asked by Tom on June 23, 2025
Q: Sorry, still trying to figure out if Today's $10 drop presents an opportunity to add some shares.

In your view, today's sell off is not acquisition related. If so, why would stock be down a bunch, in an otherwise stable market, when its peers, which are also up YTD as well over 12 months, are trading as if business is usual. It looks weird !!

Would you have an idea, what is the cost of the Lexica deal and if there is a possibility that WSP may be considering a secondary offering to finance the deal ?

Thank You
Read Answer Asked by rajeev on June 03, 2025
Q: Which names in the Growth and Balanced portfolios respectively do feel best about currently for a 3-5 year hold? Any related sector comments?

With thanks.
Read Answer Asked by David C. on June 03, 2025
Q: Good morning.
I’m considering adding bip.un to my income portfolio.
Could I have your thoughts on it.
Would this be a ok entry price.
Please provide a couple other stocks you would also consider comparable
Thanks Steve.
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on May 27, 2025
Q: Hello 5i Team, I'm quite overweight CSU and was thinking about trimming some (or lots). I've held CSU since 2014 and think it might be time to reduce my exposure. If you were given a blank sheet and could pick 5 quality US and 5 quality Canadian names; which would they be?
Thank you Brent
Read Answer Asked by Brent on May 26, 2025
Q: What are the street estimates for PRL, WSP, IFC and SHOP ? Thank You
Read Answer Asked by rajeev on May 06, 2025