Investment Q&A

Q: I usually aim to invest 60% in Canada, 30% in the US and 10% outside North America. With US markets quite high again, is there more opportunity internationally and is a heavier weighting in that direction warranted?

Q: Hi folks, can get your opinion of the merger between Aphria & TIlray. Aphria paid a 23% premium to hook up with tilray, to become the largest POT company. Investment community & analysts don't seem to like the deal...but I think Irwin Simon is the right person to run the new company, and has the brains/experience to make the new company successful & profitable. Can I please get your thoughts on the merger, and the future of the "new" Tilray. Thanks & Joyeux Noel, jb, Piedmont QC

Q: I like companies that are based on a subscription model. With recurring revenues and growth "banking" on acquiring new customers, it would appear to be a path towards increased profitability and less risk. Aside from the obvious candidates, Netflix, Adobe, Crowdstrike, Microsoft and even Disney, can you identify a few companies in the US and in Canada that receive their revenue largely on subscriptions, that are not mega corporations already but exhibit strong growth.

Q: Hi,
What is your general opinion of investing in segregated funds? I understand that there are some great benefits for estate planning purposes as you get older, i.e. bypassing probate/estate fees, quick transfer of funds to beneficiaries, guaranteed death benefit, etc... but are the high MER fees (>2%) really worth it? I was helping my mom who is retired look into some of her investments in her TFSA and her advisor has her in invested in these two Manulife products, MPS4959 and MPS4980. Thoughts on these two funds? Do these two funds pay dividends or have a distribution yield? Could not find it.
Aside from the benefits I mentioned above where you only get with Seg funds, and looking at just the pure investment return/structure of the funds, could you suggest 4-5 other attractive ETF's that she could invest in that would outperform these over the next 10-20 years? I would like to switch her into some low cost ETF's or an all in one fund that are either comparable(balanced fund) or better than these two expensive products. She is close to 70, won't need to draw any of this money to live on (she has other sources of income) and looking for some steady and stable growth assuming life expectancy for another 15-25 years. Thanks!

Q: I have a margin account at TD. I receive 50% margin on CNQ, GSY AND SJ. On SIS, a much smaller company I receive 70% margin. This does not make sense. Could you explain how trading companies like TD determine margin?

Q: If a member asks a multi part question & then states the number of credits that you should take, does that have any bearing on the number of credits taken? Please take one credit!
Thanks

Q: REALLY ? This company has increased in value six fold this year to a market capitalization of over $ 600 billion , roughly the value of the next 7 largest car makers combined ! The stock has gone from $70.00 to $625.00 this year. Yes, Elon Musk is one smart visionary, but this sure looks like a bubble. What do you think of the company and would you buy the stock? Thanks Derek

Q: Goodmorning 5i,
Best of the season to you all. And I concur with previous writers who have lauded your advice. I have profited as a result of your expertise and generosity in sharing it, as well. My question has to do with options. I believe that you sell call options. In his book, "Money for Nothing", I believe Derek Foster said that he only sells puts, as he doesn't want to have the stocks he bought at low prices, because of put options, called away. I have been selling call options and note that they are not often called away. And sometimes when they are, I do a simple calculation to see whether I would be better to buy them back, if I think they are going to continue rising. I have worried from time to time, though, about being called away. Especially when there are high capital gains in a non registered account. I suspect you also have higher capital gains possible on many of the stocks you sell call options on, as well. I was wondering what your take is on this question.=?

Q: Please comment on that news:
Synopsys Unveils $250 Million Accelerated Stock Buyback Deal
09:34 AM EST, 12/16/2020 (MT Newswires) -- Synopsys (SNPS) said pre-market Wednesday that it has signed an accelerated share repurchase agreement with Mizuho Markets Americas to buy back $250 million of its shares.

Under the agreement, the software maker said it will get an initial share delivery of 824,000 shares, with the remainder, if any, to be settled by April 9.

How does that compare to other buy back program and how does it places this company among others in the same sector.

Thanks and good Holiday to all.

Stay safe

Q: Hi Peter and team,
Could please share your thoughts on the growth path in between SHOP/AMZN and TESLA, seems like you 've been having totally opposite views on theirs valuations, growth, a bit confused. is Tesla at stage of SHOP /AMZN 3 years ago?
Thanks

Q: Hi Peter,
I have taken a very small position in NGA.WS using my margin account. I agree the company/warrants are highly risky but I like the 2027 expiry date and that some large investors have put money in. Lion also seems to be making and selling a small number of EVs currently so there is some experience - but certainly it's going to be stretch to scale up. The warrants will either go to zero or pull off a "multi-bagger". I think the warrants should be placed inside my TFSA but I have no contribution room available until 2021. As the value of warrants exceed the $6,000 allowable deposit for 2021 I would need to transfer out 2 or 3 of my CSU shares before the end of the year and then transfer the all the warrants inside the TFSA in the new year as a contribution in kind. Do you think this is a good strategy? Possibly you feel the warrants should be kept inside the Margin account so I could claim the loss! Any thoughts you have would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jim

Q: Following up on the previous Q, would you recommend a speculative position based on comfort with mgmt for a high risk investor? Their tech look interesting but not sure how competitive the space is.

Q: Would you have any opinions on this company.

Thanks
Mike

Q: Hi 5i,
I need a tech stock to offset my income oriented portfolio. Which would you select, KXS or ENGH and why?
At what price would you enter the stock?
Thanks
John

Q: Could you rank the US Healthcare stocks + WELL in terms of management, balance sheet, and long-term growth prospective? Thanks.

Q: What would be your view on PKI today? Would you consider it a buy even if the world is moving towards EV? If your view is not favourable what would you be your energy pick to replace it.
Thank you

Q: Peter; ENGH is up nicely this am- hours before their earnings release. Just speculation on good results ? Rod

Q: Good Morning: In a non-registered account that holds US companies (or ADR's) that pay a dividend, is the tax that is withheld seen as a credit for income tax purposes?

Q: How can Leon's get $ from CEBA and increase their dividend, pay a special dividend and still buy back lots of shares on a regular basis.
This does not smell right for me. Do they have to pay back any of the CEBA handout? Bad move by somebody here.

Q: Opinion