Investment Q&A

Q: Why is tax-loss selling considered to be a December activity or at least an activity that most people practice then? If you are down on a stock and want to sell for tax purposes, why not do it now (or in March or July) and then reinvest when you see the opportunity? It seems to me that by waiting until mid-November or December it not only means that you will get even less for your stock (sure you get a bigger tax loss) but that you will be wanting to repurchase it when everyone else is too, thereby having to pay more for the stock.

Am I missing something here?

Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.

Q: Do you have any idea why MX charts so closely to many Oil and Gas stocks? I don't think they are in the same business but maybe they are after all. I thought part of the problem with Oil was excess supply (abundant shale oil for example). Is there just too much Methanol out there for the existing demand? Since Methanol is used as a substitute or an additive to gasoline and also used to create plastics do you think we are experiencing an emotional rejection of Methanol instead of a verifiable decline in use?
MX on their website illustrate the use of Methanol to power cargo ships. Is this a new growing use of the product?
Thanks,
Jim

Q: Hi: What is your opinion of EWU for a long-term hold? It pays a pretty good dividend, but I note that it has a fairly high concentration in banking and energy. I would use it to increase my international diversification. Also, is there a similar ETF that is Canadian dollar denominated? Thanks J

Q: Puzzled by the relationship between declining price for SIM and its apparent market successes. It is as though their product is not proving out??

Q: My ears perk up whenever you guys like a US growth stock, recent question about hypothetical growth portfolio included AYX, GH, ISRG, MMS, TER.

I am aware of your prior answers and why you like AYX, GH and ISRG and own 2 of the 3 for some nice gains.

So seeing MMS and TER I am wondering if you could give a quick reason as to why you chose those companies as I am not familiar and cannot see any prior questions on them. Thank you!

Q: I have all three in a taxable account, both FSZ and CIX down quite a bit while IGM which I held for a long time with considerable gain. None of them is considerable weighting in my portfolio and I am contemplating between selling all and buying either SLF or MFC or consolidating them to only one. Reading answers to questions it appears that your preference is FSZ. But you also like SLF. I am looking for growth more than dividends, Any suggestions? Thanks

Q: Although MIC is exhibiting good momentum, today's Globe is showing that short sale in MIC represents 22% of the float. Do you think this is a bearish signal or this will support the price due to expected short covering. Would you consider MIC, buy, hold sell? What rating would you give it? Thanks

Q: Hi Peter - Regarding the issuance of corporation shares by BIP.UN to existing units holders, will this be like a stock dividend or will it have the effect of a stock split? If it is like a stock split, my understanding is that the unit price of the original .un units will drop by 0.11% when the new corporation shares are issued and begin trading. Is this correct? Many thanks

Q: To the best of your knowledge, is there anything being proposed by either of the two major political parties that would negatively or positively affect HCG?

Q: BEP.UN is now 9% of my holdings ( went up to much). I really like it .
what would you recommenced.
1.sell to 6% ISH or ?????
2. replace the sell with some thing SIMILAR some suggestions. (safety and div.)
3. leave it ???????
4. go to cash and wait for opportunities

Q: Hello 5i,
Could I have your opinion on these two companies growth prospects and which you would choose and why?
Thank you
Dave

Q: I see Robert L. Snyder of Stream Energy in the USA has filed to purchase a material amount of shares (as of Sept. 23, he had purchased 8.3% of JE. Stock is up from it's low, but do you think there will be continued buying and demand on for the stock?

Q: Hello
What is the record date for getting BIPC shares from BIP.UN?
When does BIPC start trading?
Will the price of BIPC match and track the price of BIP.UN shares?
What happens to "leftover" cash insufficient to buy one whole more share or do we get fractional shares?
Thank you............ Paul K

Q: Hello Team.... If I buy the US listed shares of RY ( or any other inter-listed Canadian company ) in my RBC US dollar, non registered account, would the dividends be subject to US tax? thank you. gary

Q: I am tempted to buy this stock based on a Buy Recommendation from TD Securities and a price target of $3.50. Also note that there has been considerable insider buying of the stock recently. Would appreciate your comments. Bill

Q: ITC announced a $500,000 sale a couple of days ago and the stock has responded quite positively, more than I would have expected. Is the sale significant? Could you provide views on the situation and how ITC might perform going forward.

Q: Disregarding anything else, do u think investing in these three companies would be too concentrated or is there at least some diversication there, thanks?

Q: We have a few blue-chip, all well underwater, reset preferreds. I'm ok with that for these reasons. One is no need to sell for some time. Two is the dividends are much better than GIC income, which is my comparable for our preferreds. Three is my anticipation that these (more tax-efficient) dividends will still much better (than GIC interest) even if rates drop even further if they don't get recalled, ie because the dividend amounts over the next five years will all be a function of the original $25 share value. Q1: Is that anticipation correct? Q2: I'm still fuzzy on roughly how the market price will compare with what it is today (under a no-recall scenario) if the 5-year anniversary is tomorrow or, put another way, will our market price should we need to sell probably still be underwater until interest rates start back up? Thank you!

Q: Hi, Another question on SYZ trading on Thursday. Stock sold off in the morning and a large block of 291,000 shares changed hands at 11.44 AM at $10.75, causing the daily volume to spike. Would you know the brokers/buyer/seller institution, for this block and if this trade is relevant to compensation news and share price drop ? Thanks

Q: A recent answer has you preferring SQ over LSPD for a 3-5 year time frame.Does LSPD not have more growth prospects than SQ?