Investment Q&A

Q: If memory serves me well, at one time you were recommending the FEZ ETF for European exposure. I bought some two years ago. More recently you have been recommending VE. What I like about FEZ in the current environment is that it has no direct exposure to the UK, a country that seems to have a cloudy economic future these days. VE, in contrast, has 29% of its assets in the UK. FEZ’s MER is a bit higher, but not by much, and its yield (before withholding tax) is also higher. FEZ has 50 holdings while VE has 1262. Are you leaning more toward VE these days because it can be bought directly in Canada while FEZ must be bought in the US market? Or is it the (modest) small cap exposure in VE that you like? Or the much greater number of holdings? Or something else?

Q: I would appreciate your opinion of TRILOGY INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS Inc( Symbol TRL).

Thanks!

Q: I hold the following ETF’s in a Non-Registered account. It is sort of a general purpose portfolio with a bit of emphasis on the health care sector (just because I think it is coming due). My question is with additional cash to add should I look for another ETF or add to the existing ones? I guess I am saying do I need more diversification or is there another particular sector I could emphasize?

Canada
iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index Fund

US
Vanguard US Total Mkt Ind ETF
AdvisorShares Focused Equity

Europe
Vangrd FTSE Dev Europe All Cap

Health Care
BMO EqWt US HthCare Hedged CAD
iShares Global Healthcare ETF

Emerging Markets
BMO India Equity Index ETF
Fairfax India Holdings
Fairfax Africa Holdings

Q: Can you offer any insight to Burford Capital. I believe it's traded on the LSE.

Q: Hi 5i team,
I currently have the above ETFs. I find that the dividend are a bit low (~2%). I was wondering if there are alternatives to the above in the 4-5% dividend range for income?

Andrew

Q: To add some diversity to my Canadian holdings, over the last 5 years I've held VUS, VFV and VEF. VEF is about 11% of the portfolio. The 2 US ETFs have outperformed VEF almost 2 to 1.
My question is do you think it's necessary to have EAFE exposure? I'm thinking of selling VEF to raise cash so I'm ready for the next dip in north American markets. Thanks for all of your great advice over the years. cheers

Q: I want to play the European financial sector in an ETF(s) that is(are) currency neutral. What would you suggest?
Thanks, Hugh

Q: I am interested in investing Europe ETF. Can you please advise which one is best to own in your view. Currently, I hold only Emerging VEE ETF at 3% holding. What would you suggest maximum allocation in Emerging and Europe ETF?

Q: I'm looking for international exposure with more weighting on consumer staples rather than financials, since we have a lot here in Canada already. The best I can find is "ZLI" from BMO. When I look at the holdings, I recognize very little, and am concerned about the quality of those companies. Sure, an ETF is transparent, but if I have no way to "measure" the quality of the holdings, is this transparency useful? Can you help me out with this? Thank you.

Q: Hello I need to add foreign markets to to my portfolio. I was looking for an Etf in either Canadian or US funds. I was looking for one to mainly target India. One or more that that has more exposure to Japan and Korea. As well as one that's overall balanced that I will put a larger weighting in. If you fell there's a better way about doing this please produced your thoughts.

Regards

Richard

Q: What do you think about a long position in HSBC Holding ABR? Since the bank pays pretty high dividend, would you consider it a good long term income position?

Thanks!

Irek

Q: I am looking at these two stocks. I like the high growth and industry tail winds. Your comments would be appreciated.

Q: I was interested in Bob's question about SSW, so tried to check it out on the internet. My TD Webroker site had no news and elsewhere, I found nothing that would explain the sudden collapse in stock prices - only a bunch of crappy sites that seem to have boilerplate discussions of movements in price, but zero analysis.

Any ideas as to what happened on this stock ? Where can I look to find answers ?

Q: Further to my last, is the stock price decline perhaps related to an anticipated decline in dividend ?? In April the dividend of 13 cents a quarter (down from .38 in January) gave a price of around 6.50, for a yield of 8%. At a price of 5.20, 8% would give a quarterly dividend of 10 cents or so. Would you agree that the market seems to be factoring in a decline in dividend for Q2 ?

Q: The Chart on this Company is down from $ 14.00 to $ 5.11 this year. They have 85 Container Ships on the high seas. Is this an indication of China Slowing, or Overcapacity of Container Ships or Reduced Fees. I know of your Concern about amount of Debt the Company has. What is your view on China's economy at present ? Bob

Q: Would you kindly rank the following bank ADRs: LYG, SAN, IBN, for a the next year or two, and your rationale. They are potential buys within a TFSA. I realize the currency conversion and dividend tax are major drawbacks. But the single digit prices of these ADRs and apparent change in sentiment for the financial sector in Europe, as well as the sentiment in emerging markets, as well as India in particular is currently compelling to me. What are your thoughts. I'm leery of etf's these days, for example XID. Too many piling into etf's may not end well in my opinion. Finally I'm also curious whether your opinion of Fairfax India has become more favourable at all since the last question on it was answered. To me Fairfax India avoids currency conversion and potentially benefits from watsas knowledge and resources. What are your thoughts

Q: Hello,

As a followup to my previous question. I was thinking of adding this to my international portion of my portfolio. My discount broker was giving me warnings about buying this to a registered account. This is sold at an OTC exchange? How come I am able to hold BABA but not this? Many thanks.

Q: Hello, can you please provide your input on NetEase current financial position and future growth opportunities. Thank you.

Glen

Q: Re: Garena (SEA) IPO - Hello, I know this is outside the scope. But just wanted your thoughts on this IPO..looks really interesting. Your thoughts on this is much appreciated. How can small Canadian investors get involved with this?should they?

Q: I typed these 3 companies into the companies addressed box and none showed up - they are from the US on deck watch list - Take Two (TTWO), SORL AUTOPARTS, GPRK GEO PARK. So I went about it this way to ask about them. Could you give me your opinion about them and is it too late to get into them now? Thanks, Dennis