Investment Q&A

Q: Hello:
I have just transferred a LIRA to a self-directed account. It is filled with Fidelity mutual funds and their huge MERs. I would like to convert these into a portfolio of stocks that fit with my other accounts and my future plans. The Fidelity funds have, of course, tanked with the rest of the market.

The question is about selling the funds. is there a reason to hold off for some recovery/rally? Are these funds more affected by market swings than individual dividend/blue chip stocks that would make selling now disadvantageous? Or, perhaps, the reverse is true?

My instinct is to sell ASAP and buy individual stocks while they are on sale with a great yield.

Can you provide any insight or guidance?

Q: I hold 4 of the big Canadian banks (BNS, TD, RY and CM), each with a half position, except BNS which has almost a full position due to its under performance. What is your outlook for this sector in 2016? Should I continue to add to my positions on weakness? I don't own any insurance companies and I own one U.S. bank (Wells Fargo). Is it hard to ignore the dividend yield of Canadian banks at these prices.

Thank you,
Jason

Q: I want to form an energy ETF of 10 stocks, including 4 Blue chips. Can you provide some ideas and/or stock selection? Thanks

Q: Hi
I'm looking for a low cost producer of oil with a good balance sheet and wonder if you had a couple of names I could look at. Something in the mid size.

Q: I have taken a good look at the financials and balance sheet. This seems to have a clean balance sheet with a great R.O.E with low costs. It has also indicated that much of the loan book has provisions for rate increases and decreases. So I look to you for a more in-depth look.
What are your thoughts of the balance sheet and income statement. Going forward what are your thoughts on this company continuing to take share from the larger banks and maintain the growth and free cash flow? Thank you for your perspective.

Q: Boardwalk is trading in the low $40's due to its exposure to Alberta and the collapse in the oil price. With a net asset value in the low $60's, crude oil close to a bottom (hopefully!) and very little exposure to Fort McMurray itself, would you recommend initiating a position for a long-term hold (more than 5 years)?

Thank you,
Jason

Q: All three oil companies have reduced dividend by 40% to 50%.
Are they going to have further cut if oil stays at 20's a barrel for a while, say, to the end of 2016?
Your thoughts please.
Thanks!
Jim

Q: Any specific reason for the sharp drop in this stock or is it just market weakness??

Q: Would appreciate your opinion esp please.

Q: Unfortunately, I have held this one for the past year and watched it come all the way down. Given the IEA suggests we are a wash in oil through the end of 2016 and prices are likely to languish for longer what are odds on a scale (1-10) Baytex has to to file for bankruptcy? At $2 it's still worth something as opposed to zero. Do the odds favour selling here? Would your recommend welling now and walking away as opposed to waiting it out risking zero?

Thank you

Q: Hi Peter and Team,

In light of Graeme's recent question and this article:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/oil-shock-seen-hitting-canadian-bank-profits-in-2016/article28242504/,

Which Canadian banks would you favour if the scenario in the article comes true, or are all Canadian banks in the "same boat"?

At this time, the only bank stock we have is BNS. We have some other "financial" stocks like HCG, EFN, and CXI spread around several accounts, but no other banks.

Thanks as always for the guidance you provide, especially during this crazy, volatile market.

Q: I am going to give you another chance to answer Keith's question from earlier today about what caused the big drop in some 5i "market darlings" yesterday. I cannot believe it is just coincidence that this happened to these stocks on a day when the TSX was the only North American exchange that was open. Somehow I have to believe that there was some, if not manipulation, at least coordination with the Canadian fund managers. My list of stocks that were impacted by about 5% down on the day were BYD, ATD.B, CSU, ESL, CCL.B and SJ. My capital gains on these stocks range between 55% (SJ) and 260% (CSU). My reaction was to buy some CSU yesterday to increase my ACB from 115 to 140 which will at least delay to some extent the day of reckoning when the tax man will get his hands on my capital gains when I want to sell something (which was definitely not yesterday). I thought that might be what Canadian fund managers were doing as well, (ie the funds which have low ACB's on these stocks were willing buyers from those funds who got into these stocks later in the game and were willing to sell for whatever reason. But your answer to Keith said that was not likely. So again, please wrack your brains and see if you can come up with some kind of answer to what happened yesterday. Thanks.

Q: Hi Guys
Did my question re Valero get through to you?
Thxs
Wayne

Q: In my financial sector, RY & TD are both up around 40%, AD is down 35%, I am considering taking some profit from RY and TD to reinvest in AD, purposes are to re-balance and bump yield up a bit.

Is AD a worthwhile one to re-balance into now and is this type of re-balancing a good strategy?

Thanks

Q: Any idea why it appears to not be trading today?

I cannot get any quote info or chart info on approx. 6 sites I have tried.

Q: What are your feelings about POT at this time in terms of any risk of a dividend cut or much worse surviving this storm. Thoughts when comparing with Agrium? Late November the CEO said they would not cut jobs but today POT announces 420 job cuts. Normally this could be interpreted 2 ways - 1 of them positive (fiscal prudence) but is there now a management credibility problem?

Q: Could I have your view on btb.un please . thnks

Q: Now that BIN is up approx 8% at this point. Would you:

1)Hold
2)Sell
3)Sell covered calls against the position?

Thanks

Sheldon

Q: Peter and Team,

Now that we have this offer for BIN, I am thinking about what to replace it with. I am mostly aligned with the model portfolio but don't yet own CCL.B, WSP, or MDA but have always been interested in them. My BIN position is close to 5% of the portfolio following the recent market declines and the offer for BIN. Should I buy any one of the three I named from the model portfolio or split the position and buy two of the names?

Thoughts?

Q: Is there any specific news or event impacting PKI and causing its weakness today? What current opinion do you have on PKI? Thank you.