Investment Q&A

Q: Seems to have corrected recently on a (complex?) financing. Your current opinion, please. Thanks Jim

Q: I like PUR, but have one concern. Could you please estimate what % of PUR's revenues you believe are from government. Many services offered by Wachs Water Services and other PUR divisions are preventative in nature, targeted to detect a weakness in a pipeline before it becomes serious. My concern is that cash-strapped governments may want to, but decide they can't afford this service. I'd appreciate your comments on whether my concern is a "deal breaker" to not buy the stock. Thank you.

Q: per your latest addition to the balanced portfolio, I plan to add CAE to my portfolio. To do this, however, I need to sell one of my other tech stocks. which amongst KXS,CSU,GIB.a,DSG,ENGH,CLS,OTEX would you suggest to sell at this time. All have a 2% weighting.
thanks

Q: Would you please compare the newer ishares etf XFA to the older claymore CLU?
Thank you.

Q: what do you think of the recent short put on by marc cohodes. Is it time to leave this company.

Q: What's your opinion on 5% drop today and the following newswire? Is EIF still a good buy?

-- Exchange Income Corp Brief: BNN TV Cites Short Seller Cohodes As Saying Dividend is Unsustainable; Q1 Miss Was Due To Operational Woes, Not Weather; And Fleet is Old and Needs Overhaul

Q: The dividend is appealing, but it is on a huge slide. Would now be a good time to buy, since it is there where it was in 2008.

Q: Do you like any fintech stocks to invest over the long term?

Q: With the prospect of interest rates rising in the very near future, is it time to lighten up on Reits?
Do you feel that there is much more upside in NFI and PBH stocks from their current values?
As always,thanks for your advice.

Q: How useful have you found valuation methods like Earnings Power Value, Graham Number and Discounted Cash Flow analysis in stock selection?

Q: Hi, could you please rank these 6% plus income stocks purely in terms of relative security of the dividend. Any that you feel might little too risky for a conservative retired investor. Thanks.

Q: Another 52 week low for DR. It appears that thhe payout ratio is well over 100%, or is this dividend one to look at from cash flow? Do you still think it is worth holding as an income stock? Perhaps adding to?

Thank you, Stephen S

Q: I see a couple of concepts repeated in your answers: 1) if you have a short term need for cash (buying a house within 1-2 years eg) you should hold cash or cash-like investments (i.e., not equities), and (2) in general, some equity investments may be ok, but only for a 3-5 year hold.

Can you walk through the mechanics of how to deal with the situation of investing when you know you'll need cash after, say, 4 years? Do you buy good diversified equities (eg BE portfolio) and hold for 4 years, committing to yourself to sell only on the day before the 4-year period is up? Or do you buy such equities, but then slowly rotate into cash (when?)? Or commit to rotating into cash at the 2-year mark or some other arbitrary date? Or do you assess the situation at the 2-year mark (e.g.) and hang on, or not, depending on whether the portfolio is high or low?

Wondering what your thoughts are on buy/sell strategy in such a scenario. Thanks.

Q: Would you be worried when CFO leaves after one month.Does he want the summer off.

Q: Is SHOP still considered overpriced in spite of the pullback? What are the market expectations? What are your thoughts on their ability to perform?

Q: Hello. I currently hold zdi in my cash account and am thinking of increasing my exposure to this part of the world (now about 1.5% of that portfolio). I'm wondering about the pros and cons of doing this by adding zea. I realize it doubles my exposure to the UK, but it also adds more of Japan. Alternately, I could just buy more of zdi. Your recommendation, please.

Q: With interest rates likely increasing this month in Canada and also the USA, would you put any extra cash into bond funds (like CBO,XHY) or preferred shares right now; or wait to see if the prices decline with the new higher interest rates?

Thank you.

Q: Do you have an historic comparison of P/E and B/V ratios for NorthWestCompany at today's price? Or would you have better (preferred) comparison tool? I see a lot of analysts have a hold rating on this stock currently.

Thanks.

Q: Are there any reasons to buy bond ETF now ? They almost certainly will go down in the next few months. For the fixed income part of the portfolio is it not better, at this time, to simply stay with GIC ?

Q: Brookfield Renewable, and all the other utilities, have been dropping fast since the Bank of Canada decided it wanted to raise rates. Is this an area we should now be avoiding, or is the sector overreacting to what is likely a minor rate hike? What % of a somewhat conservative portfolio should be in utilities?