Investment Q&A

Q: Dear 5i Research,
I enjoy reading your watchlist questions. I am 67 years old, semi retired and enjoy doing my own investing through a discount brokerage over many years. I do have a high risk tolerance. My retirement income is CPP, OAS and my stock portfolio in 7 figures divided amongst 6 stocks. I am a very “concentrated” investor having gone from 30 plus stocks and ETF’s to only 6 stocks – Constellation Software (CSU), Alphabet (GOOG), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B), Amazon (AMZN), Alibaba (BABA), and Tencent (TCEHY). I follow them all closely. Should I be concerned about my high tech component and rather concentrated portfolio? What type of diversification if any would you recommend?

Q: Preferred Shares: How to evaluate risk? How have blue chip preferred shares behaved during previous massive downturns such as 1987 and 2008? Have they gone down as much as regular shares? Thank you for your fine service.

Q: In the past, when asked what the optimal geographic allocation is for the 'typical' Canadian investor with a long time horizon, 5i has variably replied 50/30/20 Cdn/US/Intl and 50/40/10 Cdn/US/Intl. Does this answer change if one considers the Canadian 'dividend-focused' investor, where the dividend tax credit would be a significant consideration? For this type of investor, would a higher allocation to Canadian equities be acceptable/preferable? If so, what would you consider to be a prudent 'upper limit' (percentage-wise) for the Canadian portion of one's total equity exposure? How would you allocate the balance between US and Intl. equities? Thank you.

Q: The cash positions of each 5i portfolio are currently:
6.67% - Income Portfolio
8.17% - Balanced Portfolio
10.59% - Growth Portfolio
As an individual investor, one of the factors affecting cash allocation might be cash requirements for living expenses. Could you outline other market factors that an investor should consider when deciding on the cash allocation in a portfolio? Thanks!

Q: I have an RESP for my two year old granddaughter that is diversified into 6 TSX stocks and one US ETF. Each TSX stock is currently a small holding because of the limited RESP donations to date. My question is - when the RESP is liquidated many years from now, is there a minimum number of shares I should have in each stock to facilitate selling the position?

Q: Quantitative, Fundamental and Technical Analysis are the three basic disciplines used to analyze stocks. What is 5i's preferred method and why?

Q: You have repeatedly recommended PBH, TSGI and PHO in your portfolios, so I am interested at starting positions in PBH and TSGI, and adding to my existing position in PHO.
While I like that they have all come down in price, I am hesitant to buy because you recommend buying into positive momentum not negative.
I use stockcharts for my evaluations before I buy so my question is: How would you determine when to enter a stock showing negative momentum using technicals? Do you wait until it crosses the xx day ema, MACD crosses positive, RSI above 50, etc.?

Q: I much appreciate the US market maps that finviz.com provides, with its various options and details. Finviz does provide a small market map of the Canadian market, but it lacks relevant detail. Is there a site that provides more fine-grained maps of the Canadian markets? There is a Canadian one at https://stockcharts.com/freecharts/carpet.html?[TSX], but it lacks much detail. Thank you.

Q: Are there Canadian companies whose dividends are paid in USD and qualify for the dividend tax credit? If so please provide a list of a dozen or so or alternatively how can I locate them?
Thank you.

Q: Peter,
In your opinion, what is a better predictor of future cash flows, Earnings vs Cash Flows? The FASB indicated operating earnings are a better predictor but just wondering your general thoughts on this topic? Also, which earnings do you prefer: EBITDA, EBIT, EBT or Net Income?

Thanks.

Q: Press release from last week:
American Hotel Income Properties REIT LP ("AHIP", the "Company") (TSX: HOT.UN, HOT.U, and HOT.DB.U) discloses that Rob O'Neill, CEO, purchased 5,000 additional units today, through open market purchases.
Since January 1, 2018, Mr. O'Neill has acquired 163,398 additional units of AHIP, including 15,498 units provided as part of his agreement with the Company to take 100% of his 2018 compensation in the form of equity.

Seems to me a CEO taking 100% of his 2018 compensation in equity is a great sign and bullish for the stock. Do you agree? Also, how common is this for a CEO to be 100% compensated in equity?

Q: Thank you very much for your answers and service. You has been helping me in my investment decisions quite a lot.
I have noticed that responses to questions seems to be variable at times. It seems that some answers have a different approach than others. I am not saying that responses have been wrong of conflicting, just different. Different perspectives are indeed helpful, but can also be confusing.

My question is: How many people do you have answering questions? Would it be possible to sign the answers so that we know who is answering? I am sure each person has a slightly different view. All views are valuable, but knowing where the answer is coming from would also be valuable.

Thanks,

Fed

Q: Hi 5I team, when you adjust the portfolios, you talk about 1%. Does it refer to total capital . Is it not easier to understand if number of shares is used? We try to follow your recommendation as close as possible. Thanks.

Q: How does it work that a Canadian co. trades in US $ on the TSX??

Q: Hi 5I
You have answered previously that you prefer and have done well by adding to a position experiencing upwards momentum. My question is to what degree that applies , would you overweight a full position (by a little/a lot) ?
I'm guessing you're reply will be along the lines of each situation is different but hey I've loads of credits so appreciate your experience.

Thanks

Q: hello
I could swear you used to have an excel list of all the companies you cover, but I cannot find it.
Do you still have one or could you provide such a list?
thanks
Francois

Q: Hi 5I
It has been my experience for the last few years that around the 2ND half of August my portfolio (hopefully we'll diversified both by sector and geographically) sees high volatility and drops only to pick up in September where it left off as nothing happened,! Just curious to know if there is any known "effect" (like a Santa Claus rally type event) that exists or whether it is just an odd recurring feeling that I'm experiencing.
Thanks

Q: Russia has sold most of its US Treasuries and is buying gold hand over fist. Putin is not a nice guy, not stupid either.
Trump is making everything more expensive for people in America with his trade war, and other countries are retaliating, could this is help drive inflation?
The stagflation every one was on about did not materialize because our consumer oriented economies responded to the central banks band aid.
Inflation did not happen as it "should" have after the 2008 crash because interest rates are artificially held down and "money" was printed like it was going out of style.
I feel like the past ten years of bull market maybe be the mother of all "dead cat bounces" and the piper is yet to be paid.
I also wonder if the inflation numbers are artificially low/lagging?
Makes me think I should sell the investment properties and buy more gold or gold mining stocks that would normally be acceptable.
Opinion?
Please take as many questions as you see fit.

Q: Recently there have been discussions regarding a change from quarterly to semi-annual reporting. Do you have an opinion on a change of this magnitude. What affects, both positive and negative, might this have on investors, both small and large?

Q: For safety's sake I believe you recommend not allocating more than 5% to any individual stock in the event it went poorly. What about an ETF such as XTR for the fixed income portion of a portfolio - would 5% still hold as a maximum? If it is higher what percentage would you be comfortable with?