Investment Q&A

Q: Essential appears to be being crushed more so than other service industry stock. Can you provide an update as to their metrics and advise as to whether you believe this is a company that will survive the current sector cycle. Also, if you could comment on the dividend safety, I would appreciate it!

DON

Q: What to do with FTN, still dropping?

Q: Hi 5i
What is your current opinion on this company - DR? (Last comments were in November 2014) Would you expect more growth and secure and growing dividend? I'm considering it for TFSA.
Thanks a lot for expertise. Keith

Q: Ipl seems to be lagging the other pipelines PPL,ENB,TRP,ALA on a bounce back-opinion?

Q: I have owned KEY, IPL & PPL for several years & enjoy a substantial capital gain in a cash Acct. They are currently down between 25-30%. QUESTION - sell, reduce or hold based on an oil recovery in 8 mos. to a year approximately. Thank you.

Q: Hi Peter and the 5i Team, What do you think of this ETF for the fixed-income portion of my RRIF? I realize that the yield is a bit on the low side, but so are the management fees at 0.12%. Its chart looks quite impressive. Or do you favour alternative bond ETF's? Thanks in advance.

Q: Hello Team, I am considering purchasing either bep.un or cpx. Can I get your reasoning for giving CPX a B rating, but gave BEP.un an A rating. The numbers would indicate cpx deserves a higher rating.BEP has the following numbers: Debt/equity:2.7, P/E:81, P/B:1.4,EPS:0.42, 3 yr EPS growth is neg and has a 4.5% div yield.
CPX has the following numbers: Debt/equity:0.6, P/E:32, P/B:1.1, EPS: .82, 5 yr eps growth is positive and has a 5% div yield. Granted CPX has less power generation and a little diversified geographically but it would seem very comparable. Can I get your thoughts on this and what else gives Bep.un the edge? If you were to purchase one over the other which would it be and why? Can you confirm that both payout in dividends and not return of capital. Thank you

Q: (Prevoiusly known as Davis & Henderson)
Re: All the comments about DH Corp initiating a DRIP. If you own shares thru a Broker (i.e TDDI) and you own a sufficient quantity of shares that your dividends allow the purchase of at least ONE SHARE then your Broker will purchase for you (called a Synthetic DRIP, with no commission)as many shares as possible (only whole shares, no fractions). This is why Mike has been recieving re-invasted dividends since March 2013 (as have I). One qualification is, at least with TDDI you need to have this feature turned on for the respective A/C. This cannot be done by the Client. You must contact your Broker to ascertain or request that the feature is enabled.
Company DRIP's are an economical way for small investors to start to build a position and also re-invest 100% of the dividends including fractional share purchases.
Hope this provides some clarification.

Q: is ESI still underacheving?

Q: Good morning: purchased Nal a few weeks ago and it has dropped about $4 per share recently. What is the reason and what do you see for the future. Thanks.

Q: GEI has been sliding hard along with the energy sector. But what is the real net impact of lower prices on its earnings? Isn't trucking of oil (due to full pipelines) a more recent development and wouldn't lower energy prices benefit GEI's input costs? Is GEI's sell-off overdone?

Q: Happy New Year Team!!
I am looking at putting together a new TFSA portfolio of ETFs with the following considerations:
-$36500 to invest.
-time horizon 10 years +.
-target 10% growth per year.
-goal of a diversified mix with exposure in and outside of Canada.

Question: Which ETF's in which categories would you recommend? (ie. Canadian, US, International, Sectors, Bonds, Dividends, etc.)
Thank you, I look forward to your reply.

Q: Good morning,
I have 16% of my portfolio in telecom's (Telus, AT&T & Verizon) and wanting to trim it back to 10%. Do you think I should shave some off each,or sell one of them and if so which one? Also,in your opinion what telecom out there is the best to hold? I am looking 5 year time frame, medium risk.
Thank-you
Deborah

Q: Please rank these companies as a medium to long term hold (two to five years) on security of capital, growth of capital, and security and potential growth of dividend. Thanks for your advice.

Duncan

Q: Hi Team

I am trying to decide about buying in the utility sector and am considering

PPL, ALTA, KEY, BEP,ENB, EMA AND VNR

please help me out with the following fundamentals metrics in this sector

I was looking at the P/E ratio (but is that the right metric ???)

what range is cheap, average and expensive for this sector

please rank them in order of "best buy" at this point based on value and safety moving forward > 5 yr hold.

if P/E is not the best metric please let me know what is (dividend payout ratio etc.)

also as a side note, would BEP or any of them pay out the dividend in US dollars / currency

thanks

Ernie

Q: I am in the process of rebalancing our portfolio and I want to sell about 1000 shares of ALA. As I will be at work when the market is open I am thinking of placing the order on the weekend. I assume the trade will happen when the market opens. Is it OK to do the order at market or should I sell at the bid price? Does it make sense to sell all 1000 shares at once or should I break it down into 2 lots of 500 shares each? You have cautioned in the past about "weird" trades at market opening.
Thanks

Q: Good morning Peter and the 5i Team,

Just a suggestion to Peter who recently asked a question about parking some cash for 6 months plus. He quoted an interest rate of 1.25% for "a high interest (LOL) investment account". Oaken Financial (a division of Home Capital (HCG) which is in 5i's Model Portfolio is offering 1.75% on their savings account. I have found dealing with Oaken to be very pleasant and they are certainly efficient.

Q: Thank you for today's updated report; and of course for drawing my attention to BEP in your original model portfolio.

I intend to add more BEP to my holdings now and would like to know if there is any benefit to buying the US version (BEP-N)? And if the dividend in the US would likely be return of capital, as you pointed out that it is here in Canada?

Thank you.

Q: For some cash to park for 6 months plus, would you stay with a high interest (LOL) investment account at 1.25% or would you have another suggestion for somewhere to park this cash?
Not necessarily low risk but better than 1.25%.

Q: As a clarification to my previous question concerning an investment in VSC would you please explain the difference between an indicated yield of 2.6% and the yield to maturity of 2% for this ETF. What actually ends up in my pocket?

Thanks Team