Investment Q&A

Q: TMX Group has been on a steady decline since June. This pretty much is the same timing as the drop in oil prices. Are the two correlated or is the X drop due to other factors such as a reduction in IPOs etc? Do you think it is currently at an attractive entry point for a long term income portfolio (a little bit of growth would be nice too of course). Many thanks

Q: Hi 5i I'm looking at buying a U.S. financial..What would your preference be Prudential ( PRU ) or one of the U.S. major banks.
Thx Gerry

Q: currently have only Canadian index funds in bulk of portfolio;
plus a dividend fund... am considering the addition of the banks and insurance etf to take advantage of the pull back in the banks and the long range benefit the interest hikes could give impetus to the insurance industry. your thoughts??

Q: Happy New Year! We have exposure to the above Banks. After these 2 day's of decline I am concerned about the future and we are considering selling them now and coming back later. Would you consider this the right move OR would you advise to stay the course. Some of this Bank money will be used mid summer for a new house build so we need to make as few mistakes as possible right now. Thx for any help you may be able to give.

Q: Would you add to HCG at today's prices? It appears to be dragged down along with other financials like the banks right now.

With regard to HCG, I am also trying to connect the dots on a couple of the guidelines that you have provided over the last couple of years, namely buy on upside strength and (generally) do not add to a losing position. Again, generally sell a stock when it drops 8-10%. I apologize if I am takinng anything out of context, but I am trying to make sense out this market. Case in point I have owned HCG for a couple of years, saw it drop and then recently start to reverse. So I added to my position on Monday and saw it drop 5% today! Ouch.

Hold and wait for a better time to buy or buy more now? (I am sure selling would not be a wise option for a quality company like HCG)

Thanks for helping me sort this out.

Q: td has been slapped pretty hard in the last few days, is this an entry point? I am looking to generate long term income. I am very interested in any suggestions you might have for stable income generation....THANKS

Q: All my holdings are Canadian, but I would like to get some exposure to the US while keeping in Canadian dollars. An actuary friend of my husband told us that Manulife tends to move in a leveraged manner with the US markets because of its pension portfolio. Would this be a good way to get the exposure I am looking for, or are there better ways?

Q: A couple of questions on the financials. Your Jan/14 report showed $360 million in cash. The most recent quarter you noted shows $1.3biln ($14 cash per share).That's quite a jump for a company with a market cap of $700mil I am wondering where all the cash comes from?
Your report also mentioned $8 of book value. Equity as of the most recent quarter is $1.1biln with pref stock of $206mil. Does that mean $12.50 of book value?
The current ratio is just over 1, is that normal for this kind of business?
Finally you mention principal trading as a risk.Is this represented in the $1biln of short term investments?
Thanks
Mike

Q: Hello- Do you think and investment in the large US banks might be a good idea right now? Of JP Morgan,Citi, Wells Fargo,Bank of America,
Goldman Sachs or others, which are a few of your favourites?
Thank you.

Q: I have held Intact for some time and have a decent profit. Would you continue to hold or would you recommend a switch to another Insurer/financial?

Q: How secure is their dividend?

Q: I see that there is still a bit of insider buying in Aston Hill with net buying overall. Do you have any insight regarding how AHF is progressing with restructuring their Assets Under Management ? Would you consider them a speculative buy here ?

Thank You
Clarence

Q: hello 5i:
I'm currently slightly underweight financials and would like to add to a small holding of FSZ. I've read your reply to a question in December (FSZ vs CF),and am slightly puzzled by the response. FSZ currently trades at a PE of 13.7 vs a normal PE of 21.5 and a cash flow of 15.4 vs a normal of 24.5. This appears, to me, to be much more upside than CF offers. Do I have my figures right? Do you consider FSZ a buy at the moment, or should I be looking to add to positions in BNS, or other areas of the financials that show more opportunity?
thanks
Paul L

Q: Was wondering your thoughts on the greater potential growth TD or C, I know hey are different types of banks but was wondering your thoughts on growth thanks

Q: could you please recommend one or more etfs that would target US banks in Canadian fund. Do you think it is a good move having limited exposure to the above.
as always thanks
yossi

Q: If I sell shares in my TFSA account does the superficial tax rule apply ie must i wait for 30 days before repurchasing the same stock within my TFSA . Also what is your outlook for Scotia Bank in 2015 . Thanks Rick

Q: What is your view of the news released after-hours on Dec 31? The payment of $4.9 M across 13.3 million shares is .37 per share. I can't find details of the US royalty stream and how it compares to the buy-out amount. Perhaps this is a "bird in the hand" scenario: better to have $4.9 million in cash now, to grow the Canadian business. I'm up 20% on a half position and considering adding. Does this news support that?

Q: Can this stock maintain its payout going forward.

Q: I keep wondering why so many pundits, including you, seem to prefer BNS and TD to the other banks. I have positions in all the major banks and, on checking my holdings, see that BNS has not moved in a year while BMO is up over $11 a share since last January. Your thoughts?

Q: Good Morning 5i team

I have owned MFC for some time now and to be honest it has felt somewhat like dead money with my realizing a modest 8% return including dividends. Without the dividend return on equity is around 3% or approx 1/4% higher than my savings account.

I read your answer for George on Dec 13 and read your blog comparing Sunlife & MFC. Quite telling.

I am thinking about selling out of my MFC position and buying into Sunlife. It seems like an obvious move and am wondering if you would agree?

Thanks for all you do and Happy Holidays

Gord