Investment Q&A

Q: For a beginner:
As do many Q reports, AVO mentions 3 EPS figures
1. Basic Earnings per share
2. Diluted Earnings per share
3. Fully Diluted Adjusted Earnings per share.
I would appreciate information as to which of these are the earnings I should pay attention to. When 5i says the "expected" EPS is .18, which of the above type of earnings are being referred to?

Also, a learned gentleman, a business college professor, said on BNN the other day that ebitda is CRAP, and when pressed he said it was always, in all cases, pure CRAP, and has little if any meaning. What do you guys and gals think?
Thanks.

Q: Hi,

In one of your previous responses about CXI, you mentioned that "the banking license still provides some significant upside potential". Can you please elaborate on why and what business opportunities you see from the banking license? Being a bank draws significant regulatory supervision and requires substantial amount of capital. The Canadian banking market is dominated by the big 5 or 6 so I am wondering what areas of banking CXI intends to expand into, and the expected margins on such businesses. Thank you,

Q: The results today look very good for Avigilon. Is this a good time to buy?

Q: your opion on 3rd quarter please thanks donald

Q: I hold CSU and have gained nicely to date. Last earnings report beat almost all analysts estimates, yet the stock continues to edge lower. The growth by acquisition model appears to be a negative influence in the market currently. What will be required for a fine enterprises such as CSU to distinguish itself going forward and not be painted with the same brush as VRX or CXR etc... Do you see further downdraft in the stock in the near term as a result of recent events and out of favor growth by acquisition companies. Where should one expect this stock to be 6 to 12 months from now.

Q: Big, moves in the stock today, are you picking up any news etc.
Thanks

Q: Q3 results - comment please.

Q: When you look at the quality of a company, how important is looking at Return on Average Equity?

And can you please tell us what the ROE for CSU is in the latest quarter they announced?

Q: The price has fallen to the $5 range and to about .5 of book value. Appears to be oversold. Time to buy?

Q: I have owned this company's shares for some time but am now questioning the rationale for keeping in my portfolio. Earnings growth appears to be slowing and below the industry average and it has one of the higher PE ratios in the investment services industry. Technically the shares have been an a steady decline since mid year. Expectations of getting a banking license may have moved the stock up but the apparent market consensus seems to indicate otherwise. The company is in your model portfolio. Why? Is it speculation that the licence will be approved because fundamentals may not be supporting the current price. As you review the companies in your model portfolio is this a keeper or one that could be replaced with another more attractive holding?

Q: Hi Peter and team, How important are Moody's ratings? What are your thoughts and do you agree?

"Moody's Places Bank of Nova Scotia's Ratings Under Review"

https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-Places-Bank-of-Nova-Scotias-Ratings-Under-Review--PR_337955?WT.mc_id=AM~WWFob29fRmluYW5jZV9TQl9SYXRpbmcgTmV3c19BbGxfRW5n~20151102_PR_337955

Thank you!

Q: what are anys. est. of avo,it seems if there is a hint of a miss this stock plunges as i've held thru past reports tkx pat

Q: Q3 results are out; smaller dividend and a lot less debt. The company is doing the right things. Is this a good entry point for a small position?
Thank you.

Q: Hi guys, I still hold both First Service and Collier and would like to reduce the real estate portion of my overall portfolio. I would like to sell only one and would like your opinion on which of the two you feel has the best outlook going forward. Which of these two would you let go? Thanks, Mario.

Q: With the sudden share price drop of Progressive Waste Management (BIN), I am considering the purchase of more shares in the company which at current prices constitute approximately 1% of my family’s investments. A simplistic examination shows debt to be high, price to book in excess of 2 and my crude forward estimate of PE to be about 30 if current earnings continue for the next year. All of these are negative to a purchase; however, as you have alluded to in the past, it is a growing company so one cannot expect low PE’s (although currently they are showing negative growth and assets are reducing). To further investigate I listened to the company’s webcast of October 19 which strongly suggested the downfall was mainly due to mismanagement in the Western Region exacerbated by flooding in Texas earlier this year and FX issues. With the background of the CEO in finance, it is understandable that he would not be quickly attuned to operational and maintenance problems in this important geographical area of the company. The 5i thorough review of the company rated it as a “A-“; which was my original reason for purchasing shares earlier in the year, and the Webcast presentation provided support for my plan to purchase more shares at the current depressed prices. In further investigation, I noticed that CEO and CFO significantly reduced their holdings in late August and all officers essentially eliminated their holdings at the same time. The only purchases from insiders were by directors during September. This disposal of shares 1.5 months prior to disclosure to the public does not give me a good feeling. Am I totally misguided in regards to insider trading prior to disclosure being an important issue? If so I plan to purchase more shares for at least a 5 year time frame since before the management issue, you showed strong belief in the company as shown by placement in the Model portfolio and your “A-“rating. As always, I very much value your opinion in terms of share disposal by insiders, general current metrics of the company, possible re-rating of the company, and any other thoughts you may have.

Q: Do you think it is safe to buy CGX at these levels; it is just off its 52 week high. Do you think that Star Wars is already built into the price or can it go up from here. Thanks

Q: Insta-Teller's of major Canadian Banks such as CIBC are now promoting the withdrawal of US dollars from their machines. So a Canadian who needs US dollars can now go to their local bank branch, even after hours, and get US dollars from a machine. Super convenient way to get US dollars for any Canadian with a bank card. Will this eat into the business of CXI in a meaningful way? Or could this serve CXI if they get their licence and the Banks outsource the currency conversion work to CXI?

Q: Could you comment on recent acquistions ,debt level etc going forward ?

Q: how do earnings look?is this still a favorite of 5i or with the change in guidance make in another disaster like bdi hcg bad or acq. companies that change guidance to the down side really scare me in this market and bin has corrected 20% already.

Q: Any further insights on the quarter's results from the conference call?
Thanks, Tim