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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: What stocks to sell short if Canadian housing bubble burst? I know the benefits and risks of shorting. As well as the fact that many believe that housing prices would ever go down. Obviously, I have a different opinion and would like to have your objective answer.
Read Answer Asked by Greg on November 17, 2016
Q: Good afternoon, Peter & Co.
Considering your recent comments and analysis would you recommend that I sell my SIA and buy EXE? Also, I have had a decent run with CNE and it may now be overvalued. I am slightly underweight in the energy sector. Would you recommend selling CNE and moving to different energy company? I own High Arctic and Brookfield Renewable as well as small positions in Tourmaline and Crius. Dividends are not very important to me. I am underweight in the energy sector.
With appreciation.
Ed
Read Answer Asked by Ed on November 17, 2016
Q: Plse deduct the number of questions that you feel is fair. We have been long suffering shareholders of the listed companys in our RRSPs which would you suggest to continue to hold and which ones would you suggest selling? Thks
Read Answer Asked by Marcel on November 17, 2016
Q: I took a flyer on both CGC & APH yesterday & immediately covered with stops on both to protect any downside. Today I was (on paper) up significantly on both, however the automatic market control system placed 3 separate Stop Trade Orders on CGC throughout the day & 2 separate stops on APH. Unfortunately, I lost on both. Perhaps it might be beneficial to advise members of the Catch 22 that can result.
Read Answer Asked by Robert on November 17, 2016
Q: I am a retired, conservative dividend-income buy-and-hold investor, with a pension, CPP, and annuities. I am looking to top up a half position in Fortis. Even though I am not a "market timer", I am looking at different options:

1. Just top up now
2. Wait for the Fed to raise USA interest rates in December. Theoretically, this would cause FTS to sell off, so I could buy it cheaper. However, roughly 45% of FTS is non-Canadian. So in this scenario, wouldn't the USA dollar increase relative to the CDN $, effectively making it more expensive to buy FTS (I am buying it on the TSX)?

What are the interest rate and exchange rate impacts and are they significant enough to cause me to avoid option #1, above?

The FTS metrics look really good right now (P/BV = 1.3, P/E = 16.2, P/S = 1.7, P/CF = 6.4). I'm tempted to ignore the interest and exchange rate issues and just top it up.

Your thoughts?

Thanks, Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on November 17, 2016
Q: In the June 22nd answer below you mentioned significant adjustments (to income?) based upon GRT's foreign currency debt. If CDN $ weakens against USD (as is currently the case) would this be positive or negative to income? Thanks.

It is often difficult to compare a single company with an ETF, of course, because of the lack of diversification. GRT is fairly cheap at 11X cash flow, and offers a good yield. It is buying back stock and it raised its distribution in February. Cash flow rose 6.6% in the 1Q and the payout ratio is 67%. The balance sheet is solid.
One issue impacting performance is currency. Almost all of the company's debt is in foreign currencies, so there can be significant adjustments when currencies move dramatically. This does create some uncertainty. The company was also looking at a privatization and decided not to sell; this also disappointed some investors.
We think it would be fine to own. We would also consider Pure AAR.UN and Dream DIR.UN within the industrial space. have a question about 1113
Read Answer Asked by Gary on November 17, 2016
Q: CCL is roughly flat over the last 12 months and down significantly in October even after reporting what I would consider decent earnings. I understand the sector rotation going on after the US election might have played a part in October's decline but are there other things going on that are of concern? Is the debt level a concern? The stock just keeps drifting lower. I have half a position and was wondering if now would be a good time to purchase the other half?
Read Answer Asked by Richard on November 16, 2016
Q: Being a retired accountant I can't help but feeling compelled to add my two cents on the question raised on goodwill.

Goodwill is simply the difference between the purchase price and the net book value of a company acquired. Say, if Co. A buys Co. B for $12 million and Co. B has a net book value ("NBV") of $10 million, then Co. A will report a goodwill of $2 million in its books. It's that simple.

You can call it an accounting plug if you like and that's not far from what it actually is. As to whether goodwill is good or bad, that really depends on each acquisition.

Using the same example, the $2 million goodwill is considered "good" if Co. B's actual assets are worth more than the $12 million paid for by Co. A. However, if the same assets of Co. B are actually worth less than the $10 million NBV, then that $2 million goodwill is really not an asset. That is the reason why so many acquirer companies have goodwill write-offs a few year after initial acquisition - when the true value of the company they acquired becomes crystalized. Hope that helps.
Read Answer Asked by Victor on November 16, 2016
Q: If we believe all we are hearing there could be a lot of government spending on Infrostructure both in Canada and the US. With this in mind how would you rate the above companies for growth in the next 2 - 3 yrs? Which would be benefitting most from US expenditure? Any others you would prefer?
(If this is more than one question - OK) I always appreciate your good advice. Thks.
Read Answer Asked by Arthur on November 16, 2016
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