Investment Q&A

Q: I had been waiting for Stantec's quarterly numbers to see if they had finally turned things around. It turns out they were released last week and given there was little fanfare and that the stock price did not pop, I assume the results were nothing special. Given the solid numbers WSP just announced, is it time to throw in the towel on STN and move over to WSP or do you see upward movement for STN?

Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.

Q: Hi Everyone at 5i! What are your thoughts on Stantec as a long term , conservative investment? Could you suggest another similar company with greater growth potential please ?Cheers, Tamara

Q: Hi team
I have a full position in the above as well as WSP

Stantec has a very slow growth as compared to the above

I have no position in ARE

is it prudent to sell half of the stantec holdings and put it equally in ARE and WSP ?
I already have nearly a full position in WSP which has done very well for me
thanks

Michael

Q: Long term TFSA. I am currently down 11%BNS;26%GUD;8%STN and 6%SLF. Have Plus 10% weightings in all 7 stocks.
Should I add to the (current) losers or add something new or add to my (current) winners.

Q: Can you please provide comments on todays Stantec results?

Q: I’m looking to add a 3 positions to this list. I was thinking about bns or slf. Can you give me some other suggestions from the balanced portfolio? This account is 20% of my total investments, and is for medium to long term savings. The rest is in well diversified funds. Thanks.

Q: In regard to Stantec's and the sale of their construction business do you think this sale should "fix" some of the drags on earnings the last few years? Overall how does this this position the company going forward? Do you think they need a infrastructure program to lift the stock price? And finally I they still quite tied to the oil and gas industries and is that weigh over the stock?

Thanks so much for your advice over the past three years - you have made me a much better investor.

Stuart

Q: What are your thoughts on WSP and STN earnings? I hold both 3% should I increase to 5% now.

Thanks for the great service.
Hector

Q: I have a position in Stantec, held it for many years and it is slightly underwater. I am considering selling it and moving on. My question is does the recent pop in the stock price mean there is likely to be positive momentum such that I should hold for a period of time, or just do a strategic thing, and sell it now?.......Tom

Q: 'Interesting' to see STN selling MWH. The market seems to like this news this morning.

The purchase of MWH in 2016 seemed hopeful, when in 2016 it was hoped to "boost Stantec’s annual revenues by nearly 60 per cent", but there never was a big impact.

I have about 3.5% of my portfolio in STN and held STN since 2004, but thinking it may be time to sell and add to my WSP position which is also 3.5% of my portfolio.

How do you think the sale of MWH will impact STN's prospects for the next 2 years? Is it possible to say at this point?

Thanks.

Q: Happy Thanksgiving to All! I am doing a little portfolio clean up. These are the names I am considering selling: Atco (ACO), Barrick (ABX), Census (CVE), Stantec (STN). Are any still worth holding? Why? Can you offer replacement ideas within the same sector? I am about a decade from retirement and prefer stocks with a (growing) dividend, and also have potential for price appreciation. I have a buy and hold investment style.

Q: I acknowledge that these two stocks operate in two different industries but which one has the best long term prospects for dividend growth?

PLC appears to be more expensive but the business they are in is stable. Good looking chart.

STN has been flat over the past 5 years and perhaps is building a base. Would you agree? Is their water business significant enough to have any impact on their future?

Thanks.

Q: In May and July, a couple of members wondered if it was time to move on from STN (and go to WSP) due to non-performance and you suggested it was. do you see anything in this earnings report to suggest a turnaround? I admit to a bit of emotion on this one as STN was once of the first stocks I ever bought. But continuing problems with "legacy" contracts has me questioning management. Time to give up the ghost on this one?

Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.

Q: Aecon winning contracts and with the takeover off the table and stock back to $16 is it a good buy now or do you still prefer WSP Stantec or snc. And which ones have the least amount of debt and would withstand a slowdown much better.

Q: Greetings 5i
If the Kitimat LNG project gets the green light. Can you give a breakdown of the companies that stand to gain from this enormous endeavour?
Thanks
Denis

Q: Stantec continues to show little growth as it has over the past five years. At 1.63% it also has a meager dividend. It compares poorly to WSP over five years. Is it that WSP has better management, better mix of business, better geographical locations or some other factors? Since WSP has dropped somewhat recently, would you recommend a switch from STN to WSP at this stage or stay the course with STN? Thank you.

Q: Good Morning Peter, Ryan, and Team,
One of my portfolios closely tracks the Balanced Equity Portfolio holdings. However I have substituted STN for WSP thinking that STN will get it going at some point. Also I have split the allocation to energy producers between WCP and PEY so that I have light oil as well as gas exposure. I would appreciate your expert opinion of these substitutions. Thank you very much. DL

Q: Is there a reason for the pop in this stock today? I recently sold it and replaced it with WSP. I had held STN for about 12 years. Murphy''s Law applies here I guess ! Thanks Joe

Q: hello Peter & Team

I have been a STN shareholder since April 2014 a few months prior to the STN stock split announced Oct same year. At the time, I took a 4% long term position based on the company rarely if ever missing on expectations and it having a history as one of the Dividend gems over a very long period of time - 50+ years if I recall.

I have been very patient and although consistent capital gains are unfair to expect from every investment, I have to admit especially when considering the pedigree and your resent report, the sideways motion of this stock price over the past 4 years has been less than flattering in my view. And now they have missed expectations 5 of the last 8 quarters.

My expectations over the past 4 years when I bought the stock? A nice dividend which I have realized, and a modest Capital gain (say 5 - 7%/yr) which I didn't think unreasonable. I bought my shares @ pre-split $67.54. Today the stock is trading at (pre-split) $65.24.

I recently read your Oct 2017 report which outlines an A- rating which would lend me to believe this is an excellent company to hold in my portfolio for solid dividend & capital gains growth expectation. But as I see it right now, there is nothing on the horizon which lends me to believe anything is going to change. Interestingly, if you google STN in the Globe & Mail, it comes back as "no news for the past 2 years." And that pretty much sums it up!

Comparatively speaking... if I had bought SJ at the same time I would have seen a 35% Capital Gain over the same period of time.

Questions... If you were me, would you be happy with this performance? Would you recommend continuing to hold STN and if so why? (A- rating) And is there any reason you see for the dramatic increase in trading volume over the past 3 days?

Apologies for sounding disillusioned.

Thanks for all you do

gm

Q: In my TFSA, I have 3 losers that I am wondering if I should hang onto - CLS, STN and TRI. Can you comment on the prospects for these 3?
Thanks.