Investment Q&A

Q: I am looking to add a solid, long term real estate investment to my portfolio. I am trying to decide between RioCan and Brookfield Office. They both seem well managed, large and well-financed. The main differences I see between the two is that one (BOX) is the office space while the other is more retail oriented and secondly, BOX has international holdings (mainly US?) while REI is said to be exiting the US market.

What are your views on these two companies or is there another option I should be considering (I know yo like Chartwell)? I am more interested in total overall return, whether it be from dividends, growth or both.

Thanks for insight.

Paul F.

Q: Good day, I am not risk adverse and sometimes that can get me in trouble. This stock looks like it is overblown to the downside. I know you would never recommend it but if my Healthcare allocation is ~5%. Would now be a good time to load up, maybe beyond a full position in this stock, or is that too dangerous with it falling like it is? I am thinking just above 5% of my portfolio?

Q: Regarding Maida's post on CINVEN buying 7.2M shares today. Is that news accurate. I've been trying to find any news on internet (incl. their webpage) to no avail. Someone at stockhouse.com says news came from Reuters (couldn't find anything). Have you guys verified this? If so, maybe you can provide the link.
Thank you!

Q: I am a retiree with substantial cash set aside for things like a new car, appliances on their last legs, some renovations, and a trip. My questions is: do I include this cash as part of my portfolio when determining asset allocation %, both in equity vs fixed income and, more importantly, when calculating what % of my portfolio is in individual stocks and what % is in any given sector? Obviously, %s change dramatically if I only count the $ actually invested! Thanks again for your steady hand.

Q: With the broad-based sell-off of healthcare stocks, do you have any sense which other sectors may benefit to the extent that institutional sellers are re-investing their sale proceeds?

Q: I am not a holder of Valeant Pharma, but I do have a small position in Concordia. While one could argue that Valeant had appreciated quite spectacularly after its failed bid for Allergan and was perhaps due for a pullback that recent market behavior seems irrational! It seems that retail investors don't really have a chance in today's markets with HFT and powerful short sellers. Many retail investors will get scared out of these stocks and others when huge declines occur even if they bounce back in 3 weeks or 3 months as evidenced by what happened on that Monday in August. Is there something the market watchers can do to restore some semblance of fair play in the stocks markets?

Q: Hi,

Why is it that when these stocks drop, CXR, the one not being targeted by subpoena, seems to drop twice as much as VRX? For example, last Monday CXR dropped 20 % whereas VRX dropped ten?
Today, when news came out of allegations of VRX's, CXR dropped just as badly? From its peak, VRX, has dropped about 56%, whereas CXR has dropped 82%!! I can see why people are selling VRX but why is CXR being punished worse?

Q: Hi
At 11:59 today there was an announcement from cinven

Cinven announces acquisition of 7,233,338 common shares of Concordia Healthcare Corp.
21 Oct 2015 11:59 ET Please comment. Thankyou

Q: I see a number of very positive comments about TNC. Is this a name that could be added to your Growth Portfolio? If yes - what name, if any, would you drop to make room? Thanks

Q: Any news/reason for the 5% pullback in EFN today? I would like to add to my position and was wondering if this is a good opportunity? Thanks!

Q: Hi,
Celestica is taking a big hit today. Is there a serious reason
for this decline. thanks Jan

Q: A follow-up to the discussion on the ACB of stocks held in multiple accounts: the real complication, here, is if some of your funds are managed professionally. It's by no means unusual that, acting independently and at arm's-length, both you and the money manager have taken positions in the same security. However, your money manager's end-of-year documents will pretend that only they own shares. Conversely, for you to integrate their cost-of-shares into your own end-of-year documents has the potential to get obscenely complicated, and (since the money manager doesn't reciprocate) pointless, to boot. I've never heard of the CRA complaining about reporting ACB separately for separately-managed accounts. After all, it would only create make pointless (i.e., unremunerative) work for them, too.

Q: ...for Sylvia.
Bought Valeant yesterday. Sold today due to mention of fraud. Bought Concordia today (before noticing Citron Report)
Used Valeant funds to buy Novo Nordisk ADRs
Will sleep soundly tonight.

Q: Hi Peter,
Sorry for another question on the same companies. Jason Donville recently recommended Valeant and Concordia and Bill Ackman owns a fair amount of Valeant shares. These folks are very smart people. I understand that the shorts are effectively ruling the show right now as the same thing happened to Nobilius Health. The stocks are not reoovering. One would think that if the fundamentals are there, the stocks would have a bit of comeback. What is missing here please given your experience?

Q: My apologies for adding to the barrage of questions on Concordia -- I promise to sit on my hands on any further questions until the end of the year. Pinky swear : )

Now, what validity should be attached to the Citron Research report? Is it factual? Is it accurate? Is it truthful -- three very distinct entities, from a legal perspective.

More importantly, what's Citron's vested interest in all this?

From my understanding, the prime researcher on this is a renowned short-seller, so is this report as obvious a ploy as it looks?

Being naive? Or conspiratorial?

I'm just not sure what to believe anymore. I'm holding on to my shares for now, in this gale-force wind, because 5 I reiterates that there is value in the stock and that the fundamentals will speak for themselves, if we can hang on through all this noise.

Thanks for your advice, as always.

Q: On Oct.20 you told Henry to use the "text" search function in the Q&A section - where does one find that?

Q: Good morning,

There seems to be a lot of opinions about excess shorting by U.S hedge funds that is causing considerable disruption to stocks in the Canadian markets. I have never been an advocate of shorting as it is destructive by nature, but it is what it is.
My main concern is that there may be a return of excessive naked shorting and there is little defense against this activity.

What are your views on this? and how can we protect ourselves against this.

Is the uptick rule still in place or has that gone the way of the Dodo ?

Thanks Peter

Q: Hello, and sorry for the very general question. Are there any financial actions we could do before the change of governments?
We are retired but find the TFSA very useful. Should it be topped up before the change ? Any other things that could come from left field?

Q: Can we get a "Don't Panic!" please.

Q: I see a trade halt for VRX and CXR. Any idea what's going on?