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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: Hi Peter,
Please deduct as many credits as you see fit. I have some losers (some big) as per below:

Margin account
CLIQ down 52%
PHO down 37%
MX down 20%
TFII down 23%
ECN down 13%
NFI down 11%

TFSA
GUD down 17%
CLS down 20%
DOL down 38%
TSGI down 47%

RRSP
DOO down 43%
COV down 26%

Here are my questions.
1- Should I claim the capital loss with CLIQ and PHO and repurchase in 30 days?
2- Are there any names there that I should just sell and move on to something else? What would be your top 3 replacements for the removed names in that case?
3- My initial thought was to inject new money in CLIQ, PHO, DOL, TSGI, DOO and COV to bring these names back to my initial weight. Would this be a good move in your opinion?
These names are part of a diversified portfolio and don’t need the funds for another 10 years minimum.
Much appreciate your service. Your responses to this market volatility have kept me from panicking as I did in 2008. I thank you for that.
Read Answer Asked by Marco on December 17, 2018
Q: Would you say this is an accurate way to characterize Knight Therapeutics?

The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition that the markets are on edge and trend followers are running for the exits. The Globe's Norman Rothery writes in the Inside the Market column that it is hard for companies to raise money while fear stalks the land. Mr. Rothery says they risk becoming zombie stocks that shamble around a bit before keeling over. He says even in good times, firms with negative earnings fare poorly and are, as a group, best avoided. For the current column, Mr. Rothery says he focused on stocks that are, potentially, in much more dire circumstances. To find them he looked at earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization or EBITDA. It is bad enough to fall into the red after paying normal and recurring business expenses such as interest and taxes and other expenses; it can be deadly having negative earnings even before these essentials are paid for. Companies with negative EBITDAs are in a particularly precarious position and may be zombies. Matters get worse when the markets tumble and it becomes next to impossible to borrow money or to sell stock. Mr. Rothery's potential zombie stocks are Hexo, Knight Therapeutics, Advanz Pharma, Katanga Mining and Paramount Resources.

Thanks as always,

Rob
Read Answer Asked by Robert on December 14, 2018
Q: My weightings in each of the listed companies is less than 2.5%. I wish to eliminate some and build up others to the 2.5% level. What are the strongest candidates to keep and what are the weakest candidates to get rid of. As always, I appreciate your responses. RAM
Read Answer Asked by Ray on December 12, 2018
Q: I see these companies are mentioned in today's Globe as being in precarious position! Due to negative EBITDA.
These are some of your favourite sticks, no? I own GUD, BB and FM. Hence my nervousness! Plus I respect Norman Rothery.
Read Answer Asked by Savalai on December 10, 2018
Q: I hold approx. 6000 shares of each of the following at hIgher prices.VET,SIS,PXT,COV and GUD.Which would you sell,add or hold.Your input is appreciated.
Thanks Richard
Read Answer Asked by Richard on December 07, 2018
Q: Hello Peter,
With the cannabis stocks trading 50% below the legalization date, I would have thought any big companies that wanted to take an equity position in cannabis companies like Canntrust , Aphria, etc would have done it by now. Any thoughts on this? Also, I am starting to wonder if Knight is worth letting go now. This looks like a 30 year timeframe stock the way it is going... Appreciate the comments
Read Answer Asked by umedali on December 03, 2018
Q: My biggest position is in Knight and my two biggest concerns are the possibility that Mr. Goodman's health is deteriorating following his accident which could affect his zeal for a large deal and, second, if his reputation as a bargain-hunter is precluding him from having access to good deals as sellers may only view him as a desperate last resort.
Finally, the trading in this stock seems consumed by day traders generating a flurry of orders following the limited buy/sell from real investors. Is someone propping this stock up to generate action while the shareholder base yawns through the daily action waiting with exasperation for the company to put their $800M to WORK!!
Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Steven on November 30, 2018
Q: Looking for suggestions for Recession Proof Stocks. Could I please have your suggestions. Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Barbara on November 21, 2018
Q: If you have lots of questions in the queue, this can wait, no rush.
You sometimes say GUD is dead money it has been and may still be I agree. However I have 300k of GUD and the last 6 weeks I probably saved 60k since most of my other stocks are down 20 to 25% and GUD has held up. Now suppose I take the dead money approach and invest my 300k in dividend paying stocks say 5%. That would give me 15k by Nov 2019 assuming those stocks keep their value no guarantee there. But if I keep my GUD it needs to go up .41 cents to $ 8.68 as I write this to cover the 15k. Question, what are the odds GUD will trade at 8.68 one year from now ? What are the odds it will trade down .41 cents ? As a fund manager you would respond one way, but would like your view as a personal investor.
And if they do make a large acquisition, I suspect the sp would jump 20% at the open, and this why I keep GUD my biggest position. Question do you agree ?
As you I am disappointed they have not made a large acquisition, I am questioning if they ever will based on their strategy since inception. After all Mr. Goodman did say this was for his grand kids. He has money, is in no rush obviously, perhaps prefers a stress free life at this point of his life. When did you speak with him last time or to management ? They would never reveal they were ignoring a large acquisition anyway. Question do you feel he has the drive for a large acquisition ?
Thanks, for your help.
Read Answer Asked by Luc on November 14, 2018
Q: Your top picks for companies with no debt?
Read Answer Asked by Thomas on October 26, 2018
Q: of all the companies listed, I currently have the same percentage of holding that is in the 5i portfolio. Which of these stocks would you be comfortable buying today and making it a 4-5 % holding as I have some cash and would like to average down. I am a young investor with a long horizon as these stocks are all in my RRSP.

Thanks
Read Answer Asked on October 09, 2018
Q: With the patent protection now extended for drugs for two years longer, do you have any suggestions as to co's in that space that might benefit?
Read Answer Asked by steve on October 05, 2018