Investment Q&A

Q: I am looking to add a renewable energy producer to my existing power producers (EMA and CPX). My main objective is income. What is your opinion of Transalta Renewables, RNW? Could you comment on their debt levels, dividend stability/payout and whether the association with Transalta is a positive or negative. They seem to have very long term existing PPAs. Do you think the extra dividend is worth holding RNW, or is Brookfield (BEP.UN) really a better choice?
Thanks

Q: cwb - could you give me your thoughts on Canadian Western Bank. It has been weak since it reported earnings which I thought were OK

Q: OTC insiders sold $69M US in past year according to INK/TD. CEO $8.5M; CFO $17M. Should I sell?

Q: Please provide your opinion on the US banking sector and specifically Citi Group. Many thanks. Best, Don

Q: Hello- regarding ETFs in general-
often Etf trade above their NAVs during the day, and sometimes for several days or longer. If the ETF issuing company is selling issuing and selling new shares above NAV, where does the extra money go?
Also, should the issuing companies not adjust the price to reflect NAV at least once/ day? I find it annoying to check the NAVS on the Horizon or ISHARES websites and find them different from the market price. Or am I offbase on this?
Thanks

Q: Hi Peter,
I am thinking of adding some real estate to my portfolio. Which of the following do you prefer: AP.un, BEI. un, FCR, KMP, MEQ. Is there any of this you dislike if so, why??
THANK YOU
John

Q: Hi Peter and Team. Great site. BTW I just renewed my subscription and gave a gift subscription to my Father for Christmas. My question is which out of the following energy infrastructure companies do you think is the best value and would recommend buying/adding to at this point in time. IPL, KEY, ALA, PPL or VSN. Also are there any things that make you concerned about any of these companies. Thanks Scott

Q: Hello Peter and Team,
I have held HNL for about 2 years. Every year it seems that they have a stumble of some kind (loss of major customer, leaking information), but the stock seems to recover. I have been thinking about switching to BDI instead and was wanting your opinion on such a move or should I just hold on to see if things settle down with this company. Thanks for your terrific service.

Q: Hi Peter and team,

Considering my fairly limited Knowledge on fixed income products, i have a real penchant to buy some convertible debentures for my RRSP or LIRA account. My question is would you be including a selection in your end of month Income portfolio?

Thanks

Q: Hi Peter,
About ANV, does it have more room to run here, or should I sell? THANKS!

Q: With the new medical marijuana rules coming out April 1st what is the best way to play this market?

Q: Good Morning,

In my ongoing learning process, I read your posts in education on this site which led me to this question which I am unable to find an answer to on my own.
Could you please list 5 or 6 small cap, debt free stocks in order of your preference to purchase at this time or in the near future?
Thank you.
Gail

Q: Scorpio Gold. SGN.

It's producing and it's profitable. There has been a massive run-up in year-to-date. Is this a good time to put some money into this stock?

Q: Good Morning: I would appreciate your thoughts on VOD now the dust has settled after the VOD/VZ deal. Buy, Sell or Hold. Thank you.

Q: symbol: PXT - Peter, what did you think of Parex's Q4 release? I thought the quarter was very good. It looks like they meet or exceeded street estimates and will have to raise their production guidance for 2014. They also have a few catalysts on the immediate horizon. Why did the shares pull back today and is there still upside in this name?

Q: I hold Aecon (ARE) and have been planning to keep it for at least a year. But the recent earnings report shows significant drop in profit and earnings per share for both the year and quarter; although the dividend did increase nicely. I would be most interested in your opinion on its future.

You provide a great service for the independent investor. Many thanks
Elliott

Q: RDX - What do you think of the company and its recent transition to a franchise business model? I am still a little sceptical of the balance sheet but the company appears to be turning things around. They forecasted 2014 EPS guidance of 8 -12 cents per share. Is this to good to be true? Thanks.

Q: My question is about Enbridge. After having your read your report, I quickly looked at its P/E value which was in the 80s. For such a large company, I figured it was a bit extreme and quickly concluded (possibly to quickly) that this was a bit of line. However, I put it on my watch list and slowly watched it creep up a few dollars.

Tonight I decided to give a further look and although the company has a huge moat, excellent revenue increases over the years, I also realized the following:

- Net income, free cash flow, EPS, ROE, ROA, Gross Margin have been consistently going down over the past 5 years (some of which had quite large decreases)
- Long term Debt, Shares outstanding have gone up over the past 5 years.

What is it that makes this company attractive? It appears to
be a well liked company, for today and for its medium and long term prospects. However, key financial metrics appear to give a different story. Naturally, there must be more than financial metrics that make a company worth investing in or accountants would all be rich. What is that I am missing?

Thank You.

Q: BEP.UN This is not urgent.

In your research report you mention the related party transactions as an advantage, but are they not also a risk?

Seems that there could be instances where interests between ordinary shareholders and the parent could be misaligned (buying less-than-necessary services from the parent for example - I work for a complicated multinational - this does happen). A quick Google search to try to find the ownership structure for Brookfield companies yielded this:

http://sirf-online.org/2013/03/11/paper-world-of-brookfield-asset-management/

I'm not saying the article has everything right but I'd be interested in your comments.

Basically I would never consider buying this if it wasn't for the 5i conflict free pledge because I can't figure out the structure of it all and with the related parties I wouldn't ever be sure I was getting unbiased advise. Given you're rating, however, that makes me think it might be a unique opportunity if you've done your homework... Hence I am very intrigued to know how you assess the stock in context of the bigger Brookfield picture.

As this is one of your assessed and top rated companies, hopefully you can provide a fairly thorough response as I suspect others might be interested too as an addendum to the report.

Thank you

Q: Hello,

I have a few stocks on my watchlist so I was observing them intraday, my platform provides news on the stocks you're watching. One message I kept seeing was "Option Volume Spike Up, Option Volume Spike down" How does option volume affect intraday price movements?

Thank you