Investment Q&A

Q: Hi 5i,
Perhaps this question should be under Miscellaneous, but here goes:
I have my accounts at CIBC Investor's Edge, but they are all strictly CDN accounts - RRSP, TFSA and unregistered. I've now learned that I can buy CDR's in a number of US companies through those accounts, and I'm thinking about getting my feet wet 'down south'..
As an example, NVDA is available and as of Friday was trading at CDN $46.24. On May 31 the NVDA CDR was trading at CDN $36.30. Thus, the CDR has appreciated 27.4% over that period, whereas the US NVDA went from $378.34 on May 31 to $485.09 on Friday, a gain of 28.2%. So very little difference in the return it seems.
If I were to acquire some US names through the CIBC CDR's, they would all be in registered accounts.
Is there a downside or risk to doing this that I should be aware of (other than the normal investment risks) and are there tax ramifications arising out of either capital appreciation or dividend payments if they are in either an RSP or a TFSA?
Thanks - any information you can provide will be appreciated.
Peter

Q: Dear Peter and team,

Thank you for answering my earlier question on heavy oil and suggesting your picks. Doing my "homework", I see that these three are cross listed in the US and Canada. NYSE/TSX.
As I plan to hold them for a sometime I plan to write covered calls to augment the dividends. (One of your favourite strategies if I recall.)

With this in mind, may I ask you if it is more prudent buy these in NYSE as the options market is more vibrant on NYSE? Or stick to TSX? I understand that there is a currency risk if I buy them in USD. As the will be in our Regd accounts not too worried about tax consequences.

Many thanks in advance.

Mano

Q: Im looking for a site (free if possible) which notes company's yearly and quarterly metrics such as ROE, ROA , revenue growth, eps etc going back 10 years or so. Morningstar used to have quite a nice table, under the heading KEY RATIOS, gong back 10 years on most stocks such as CSU outlining these metrics, but its gone from their site. It gave a great history of the company in a one page table.
Thanks
jeff

Q: Do all companies restrict questions on earnings calls to sell side analysts?
Mike

Q: In Canada under a NCIB an issuer can only repurchase 10% of the public float in one year. Does the SEC have a repurchase limit based on shares outstanding/float or is the only limit that repurchases not exceed 25% of the average daily trading volume?

Q: Please explain what deferred share units are and grant of rights

What does this mean?

Director Deferred Share Unit (DSU)
56 - Grant of rights
+263,366 vol

Q: Could you explain what rights are and the difference between them and warrants. Is it beneficial to own these and how does one buy or obtain them?
Thanks
Jeff

Q: Subscribers sometimes ask 5i for the current P/E versus the historical P/E range on a particular stock. Is there a reliable, free and user friendly source of historical P/E ranges on Canadian stocks?

Q: Hi 5i team,

Your answer to the question asked by Lisa on June 27, 2023:
"we prefer one-month options at just above (or below for puts) current prices. The reason is that many estimates mis-judge short term volatility. In a 'normal' year (not the past three!) stocks do not really move that much, on average, in a month"

1. Can you provide more details or materials on this strategy?
2. Are these one-month options for buying puts or selling calls?

Best,
Matt

Q: Good morning, have you ever invest on margin in the past ? If yes what was your experience and the outcome that you had ? Also what is the maximum % of your portfolio do you think is safe and feel good at night if you invest with borrowed money ? thanks

Q: When you quote long term PE ranges where do you acquire this information?

Q: Hi,
I was wondering if my interpretation of the timing of PSA's monthly payment is correct. My Investor's Edge account says for last month: "PURPOSE HIGH INTEREST SAVINGS FUND UNITS SAVINGS FUND UNITS DIST ON XXX SHS REC 07/28/23 PAY 08/08/23."
I take this to mean, if I hold the shares on 07/28 I will receive the dividend on 08/08. For this month, if I were to sell my PSA shares after 08/28/23, I would still receive the dividend in September. Do you think I have that correct?

Thank you. Michael

Q: A rookie question but I’ll leave it public just in case anyone else has the same question. I don’t understand how to calculate what I need to sell or by to reduce or increase my allocation. If your recommendation is to reduce a sector from 10% of portfolio weight to 5%, do I sell 5% of my holdings in that sector or 5% of the entire portfolio value from that sector?

Q: Good morning,

I know this might be an odd question, but hear me out.

What are your thoughts on taking a more dynamic approach with one's cash allocation in a portfolio to enhance yield? I know there are tax and trading cost implications with the following, but aside from these, what are your views on moving cash towards the end of each month, prior to the ex-dividend date, to a covered call fun like HHL, and then sell just after the ex-dividend date and keep in cash until the end of the next month. A fund like HHL appears to have "some" price volatility (of course), but also a yield approaching ~ 9%. It seems that by taking a more active approach to one's cash, and moving it in/out of HHL monthly to coincide with monthly cash distributions, might make some sense. So long of course as you are prepared for the fact that there is ample scope for capital gains/losses that you would otherwise not have if you were to hold just a GIC at ~ 5%.

Q: Hi 5I,
Regarding El-Annons question on JEPI actual dividend rate, For future reference where does one find the actual dividend that these guys, and maybe others ETFs, actually payout,
I was fooled by the dividend rate posted on brokers site,, it also says 10.2 %
Thx

Q: Is there a software or spreadsheet template you can recommend to track stock portfolios as well as thougts or influences on the decision making process that was made to buy sell or hold?

Q: Not looking for a full-on accounting lesson here, but can you explain why some CEOs would emphasize cash flow over earnings? Is cash flow a better metric than earnings for all companies or just some?

Q: Peter,

What can you tell me about the class action lawsuit regarding Maxar Technologies. I received a proof of claim form in the mail. It mentions an award of $27m. There are currently 74 million shares outstanding.

Thanks

Paul

Q: Do you know where you can consistently find "shareholder yield". Is there a company or service that shows this metric when analysing securities?

Q: Hello 5i,
This message from RBC Direct Investing has just come through. I thought it might be of some interest to the broader 5i community. My guess is that soon the other large banks may follow suit if they have not already done so. Worth keeping an eye on.....

Effective October 31 2023, RBC Direct Investing Inc. is amending the ‘Conflicts of Interest Disclosure’, section 3 to delete the following sentence:

“RBC Direct Investing does not currently offer high interest savings account ETFs.”

Access to high interest savings account Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) is now available on the platform.

Cheers,
Mike