Investment Q&A

Q: I am used to thinking of dividend stocks in terms of 1. yield relative to historical yield, 2. payout ratio, 3. years of consistent dividend payout without cut as the major deciding factors what would be equivalent factors be to consider in the tech sector stocks.
such as Google, apple, Microsoft, please provide an analysis in terms of what to consider that would influence buying / ranking one over the other.

thanks

Ernie

Q: Hi!

I'm looking to establish a U.S. portfolio and I've identified these 5 stocks as a good base. I have plenty of exposure to financials and energy in my CDN portfolio. Do you think these stocks are a good starting point? Would you replace any?

Thanks,
Jason

Q: Could you explain the difference between GOOG and GOOGL or is there much of a difference. I assume the 20 for 1 stock split applies to both. Thanks.

Q: I have held IBM in my RRIF for several years. With dividends, I am about break-even on my purchase price. After the KD spinoff, I thought that IBM would move higher on P/E expansion to reflect higher earnings growth. This seemed to happen after the last quarterly earnings report, but now seems to be stalled. IBM popped up as good value on a P/CF screen you did in response to another client's question, so I am reluctant to sell it. However, you have also suggested in your recent answers to questions that GOOGL is very good value right now, and that the 20% discount from the offer price also makes ATVI good value. So would you wait for a turnaround in IBM and, if so, how long would you wait? Or would you move on and, if so, would you switch into GOOGL for a long term hold or ATVI for a short term profit? If the acquisition of ATVI closes within a year, a 20% return in a year, tax free in a RRIF, seems pretty attractive. The other company I have been considering as an IBM substitute is ROP. But your comments about the attractiveness of GOOGL and ATVI at current prices got me thinking. As always, I would appreciate your insights into the relative merits of these alternatives.

Q: Re your response to John, January 17th, you answered "it's hard to beat a single great company that compounds year after year".
Could you please recommend 5 Canadian and 5 US companies that fit into said catagory that have declined recently due to the tech sell off, and represent a good buy/nibble point,
Please include a mix of larger e.g CSU and Google, along with more recent up and comers e.g. Shop and Roku, which seem to be among your most obvious favourites.
Thanks Peter.

Q: Is it good to buy the Google CDR as opposed to converting to US and buying the GOOG? Which is the better choice between the ADR, GOOG and GOOGL? Thank you.

Q: Hi Peter,

I have been a big fan of the FAANGM group and have been fortunate to invest in all of these companies.

What is your ranking over the next three to five years of the above group of stocks from a risk-return perspective?

Thanks,

George

Q: Hello,

I’ve always wondered why certain companies let their share price run into the thousands and rarely if ever split their shares. For a small retail investor like myself paying 2000- $3000 USD for an Amazon or Alphabet is simply not possible. I’ve always suspected it may be a philosophy of management and or founders who all still have significant influence in the mentioned companies.

Q: Hi group what you feeling on the big tech stocks at present are they a buying opportunity or a value trap? also is oil an attractive entry point right now or is it just a blip to the upside thanks for your insight. what your favorites in tech / energy or should i just stay away till everything settles down

Q: What is a good price point to buy UPST, GOOGL, NVDA, LSPD.TO, ATZ..TO and SHOP.TO and NVEI.TO for 2022?

Q: Hi Folks,
I have the above companies in my TFSA all at the same or so weight. I had BYD but sold it when it started to drop. I am still ahead in my sold price as compared to its current price. I am looking to add another or even BYD now that it has settled somewhat, can you give me your suggestion as to what you would add to this lineup - buy back BYD or can you provide some others that I can add. Thank you very much for your suggestions over the years.

Q: Hello 5i,

Could you please list your top 10 stocks (rank in order 1st to 10th) in Canada and the US to purchase now for a 3-5 year hold when considering current and future values?

Thank you
Cheers,

Q: Can you suggest companies right now to pick away at ,or would you wait a bit longer till tax loss season is over.
please 5 in the US and 5 in Canada.
If dividend is important which 3 stocks would you pick away at right now?

Q: What order would the following companies be looking 3-5 years out for growth. Thank you.

Q: What do these law suites filed against google mean for the company. Would you buy google now.

Q: Which google shares do people usually purchase, and what is the symbol. What is the difference between the two that are listed in the US.
Matthew

Q: Hello
Could you please rank your top 10 companies from the list above. Ones that you would be happy to own at a full position. Thank you!

Q: Good morning. Would like your thoughts on this company and if at all it would be a stock to add to a portfolio

Q: Good morning again, I just sent the beginning of a question and inadvertently sent it before I finished!
Here it is , hopefully in its entirety,
I am building a long term portfolio, 10 plus years, and would like to add 2 or 3 Large US Technology stocks. I am looking at AAPL , GOOG AMZN and MSFT , I already have NVDA and are not interested in FB. Any thoughts on the above, which order would you suggest buying them in, and are there any others I should consider? Also can you explain the difference between GOOG and GOOGL Thank you

Q: My 28yr old son is looking to build a diversified ETF portfolio with 100% equity exposure with a bent towards growth given his long investment horizon.  These will be spread across his TFSA, RRSP and Non-Registered accounts.  Since he will be contributing smaller amounts on a regular basis a zero commission platform such as Wealthsimple is appealing.  However, they charge 1.5% fee for all currency conversions making it only practical to hold Canadian traded ETF's.  As a result he is considering the following:

ZSP 40%
XIC 25%
TEC 20%
VIU 10%
VEE 5%

ZSP + XIC + VIU + VEE together create a mix of ETFs that are globally diversified and very similar to the structure of XEQT/VEQT.  Versus XEQT/VEQT This portfolio has a slightly lower weighted-average MER at 0.16% and also has 20% in TEC (in place of something like QQQ) which is more growth oriented. Here are how the sectors would be weighted with this portfolio:

Info 31%
Financial 15%
Cons Disc 11%
Industrial 9%
Healthcare 8%
Communica 7%
Cons Staples 5%
Energy 5%
Materials 4%
Utilities 2%
Real Estate 2%

These would be the top 10 holdings with this portfolio and these top 10 would account for 24% of holdings in this portfolio:

AAPL5.1% MSFT4.9% AMZN3.2% GOOGL1.8% FB1.7% GOOG1.7% TSLA1.5% SHOP1.4% RY1.2% NVDA1.2%

If this was you at 28, can you please comment on
- are the 5 ETFs he has chosen ones you would go with given his objectives, if not, what changes/substitutes would you make along with recommended % allocations?
- is his % allocation across the 5 appropriate or would you make changes? For example I thought there might be too much overlap between ZSP and TEC as they are both highly invested in AAPL, MSFT, AMZ and FB and he is looking at 60% going into these 2 ETF's. That may well be what you want at his age but  I wonder if he is better served by reducing ZSP to 25% -30% and TEC to 15% and add  the remaining 15-20% to CDZ or VGG (or something else?)
- given he will be making contributions to his TFSA, RRSP and Non-registered, which ETF would be best in which account and why? 

Thanks for all your help, 
Scott