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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: Just reading your response today to Brad re his BCE query and your thoughts on analysts recommendations. Could you please provide any additional comments on this as we tend to view these summaries of analysts as a reasonable guide in our thinking when buying or selling, but I'm not not sure how totally prescriptive these are. How much faith should we place in these summaries?
Thx
Read Answer Asked by Peter on May 01, 2017
Q: The first baby boomers aged 71-72 (~1945-65) will begin cashing out their RRSP's or converting them into RRIF's or purchasing an annuity, this year. As will all the major boomer shifts, it is exciting to look at and predict the impact their money will have on government (tax revenues), financial institutions, personal wealth etc. What sectors will benefit; insurance companies like (SLF), banks (BNS), brokerage/ investment firms (FSZ), other. Where will the bulk of this money flow to: fixed income (bonds, debs, gic's, savings acc's) or (pref's and dividend stocks, common stock) or annuities. I welcome your thoughts and predictions on this interesting matter.
Read Answer Asked by LARRY on May 01, 2017
Q: My average annual return based on 5i guidance is 13.3% over 8 years. Can't argue with that. Thank you.

Question: XWD, for example, is a global ETF which invests in 5000 companies around the planet, which has returned a very steady (almost a straight line) 13.09% since inception.

So why not sell my 40 stocks and simply buy a combination of:
- XWD (growth)
- CBO (fixed income + security)
- XGD (security)
and call it a day? This would have returned say 11% - 12%.
Pretty close...

Maybe this should be addressed on your ETF site, but I thought it was worth asking here.

As usual, thank you for your sound advice.
Read Answer Asked by J Carl on May 01, 2017
Q: Very interesting article. I don't know if you have read it. The World According to a Free-Range Short Seller With Nothing to Lose.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-02-09/the-world-according-to-free-range-short-seller-mark-cohodes

Publish if you wish.
Read Answer Asked by Peter on May 01, 2017
Q: Cohodes said to Bloomberg he is getting ready to announce another company that he's going after. Says "It’s a doozy". I had to look up what that means: unique. It's not EQB, it's another one. I don't think it's CIBC, because it isn't "unique". What are your top 2 guesses for this company? My guess is Genworth, because it's the only mortgage insurer in Canada and so, is "unique" in my opinion. But the carry cost to short it is over 5.5%, so there might be a better choice I have not thought about.
Read Answer Asked by Matt on April 28, 2017
Q: There is a link to an article in today's Globe by Meb Farber that calls into question the generally accepted wisdom that companies that grow their dividends are superior investments. (at least I think it is a generally accepted theory) Is this a theory that you have come across before or do you think that his argument has merit?

http://mebfaber.com/2017/04/26/dividend-growth-myth/

Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on April 28, 2017
Q: With all the activity recently involving stocks that are shorted, it got me to wondering how and why the actual process works. I believe that the shorter borrows the stock with the promise to return the stock at a future date. The shorter is hoping that the stock falls in price so that the stock can be replaced at a lower price and the shorter pockets the difference.

My questions are: who does the shorter borrow the stock from? Is it from the brokerage who holds stocks in nominee name? I can't imagine an individual wanting to lend stock to someone who is going to do their best to drive that share price down. So if it is the brokerage, do they have the unilateral right to lend the stock or do they need my permission? Do all brokerages participate in this activity? Do I (as the actual owner of the stock) get any of the money the brokerage charges for this service? Why would I want to deal with a broker who is working against me in this regard? Finally, is there a time limit at which point the stock must be returned?

Thanks for the help in understanding.

Paul F.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on April 27, 2017
Q: In regards to the comments of another subscriber's about HCG.

The investment thesis made perfect sense: management navigated well through 2008, the greatest financial crisis of the modern era. The company had good capitalization ratios, valuation, and track record. David Baskin, Barry Schwartz, Jason Donville, Martin Ferguson/Jeff Mo thought so, and they have great track records and returns.

Judging the outcome of one company outside of the context of the whole portfolio is not constructive. This company was also dropped from the portfolio before the crash even happened. At the end of the day, 5i has provided market beating returns EVERY year since inception with the BE portfolio. These sort of events happen in the market every now and then and we shouldn't be ignoring the gains on our big winners.

Also, should we criticize Buffet for investing in United Airlines? How was he supposed to predict the self inflicted PR nightmare that the company suddenly got themselves into. Educated estimates based on disclosed information is the best we have.

By the way, I'd rather swing for doubles and triples and average market beating returns than swing for singles with vanilla names to get the market return. No need for soul searching here.

Keep doing your thing.

Elliott

Read Answer Asked by Elliott on April 27, 2017
Q: Hello,

I just want to make sure I fully understand the dividend and tax differences amongst different companies. Could you please list where these different scenarios are best held (TFSA, RRSP, Non Registered), how much they are taxed, and any other important tax information (i.e. which dividends need to be reported, eligible dividends, other common scenarios etc.). This question obviously has many parts so dock as many questions as you see fit.

A) US company with US dividend trading on US exchange:

B) US company without dividend trading on US exchange:

C) Canadian company with US dividend on Canadian Exchange:

D) Canadian company with no dividend trading on US exchange:


Thanks in advance!

Alex
Read Answer Asked by Alex on April 27, 2017
Q: Great article: The Other Side - April 19, 2017 by Michael Batnick
http://theirrelevantinvestor.com/2017/04/19/the-other-side/

See/Insert graph:
http://theirrelevantinvestor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/12.jpg

Excerpt:
...
If I were in the business of picking stocks, I would do two things: I would try to exclude the worst stocks rather than attempt to pick the best, and I would focus on value, which are really two sides of the same coin.

While the best performing stocks from year-to-year are all over the map, from deep value to high beta and everything in between, the worst performing stocks over time share similar characteristics. So maybe it’s not such a bad idea to be a closet indexer after all, except you should try to be in the closet that screens out stocks that are highly levered, have growing accruals, inventory build, or whatever metrics you prefer.

Investors are drawn to glamour stocks because the payoffs can be huge. But while they have great possibilities, they also have bad probabilities, as Patrick has shown. The best performing glamour stocks outperform by 112% on average, but the median result is underperformance of 11%. The best performing value stocks on the other hand, saw a 78% average excess return, while the median saw a 5% average excess return.
...

Comments? As usual, thank you for sound advise.
Read Answer Asked by J Carl on April 26, 2017
Q: Dear 5i
I am two years away from retirement and currently switching over my portfolio to a self directed acct at Questrade .
I want to be fairly conservative in my portfolio and feel that a 30% Equity 70% Fixed income would be appropriate .
I will be using 5i for stock selection . I`m just uncertain if 70% Fixed income is too much or not considering possible interest rate hikes down the road . Are there other fixed income investments other than Bond ETF`s , GIC`s cash etc . Also with bond etf`s are both interest and yield paid or is it one or the other only ?
Thanks
Bill C.
Read Answer Asked by Bill on April 25, 2017
Q: Hello,

In the real estate sector, I have a position of 7% in D.UN, and 2.5% in CUF.UN. Both positions are respectively held in my TFSA and RRSP. I would book a 15% profit over the past year if I were to sell. How important is it to be exposed directly to real estate?

What's your thought on selling to buy more growth oriented stocks since I am a young investor and don't really need the income. What would be your company suggestions? I am currently underweight in consumer defensive (3% ATD.B), industrials (3% SNC, 3% WJA) or/and could also add another position in technology (2%BB, 2%PHO, 5% OTEX, 6% KXS).

Thank you,
Read Answer Asked by Julien on April 24, 2017
Q: Hello,

I assume that VFV and ZSP are identical EFTs provided by Vanguard and BMO respectively. Their MER, asset allocations, sector breakdown are close to identical.

However I notice the following anomalies (VFV vs ZSP):
1) Dividends of $0.238 CAD vs $0.145 with yields of 1.565% and 1.789% respectively. Why the difference in dividends?

2) Portfolio turnover rate of 13.18% vs 31.90%. Why would there be a difference in turnover rate?

3) Benchmark: S&P 500 CAD vs S&P 500 TR CAD. What does the "TR" mean?

3) Market price (NAV?) of $56.33 vs $34.94: Is this due to dividend reinvestment and inception date?

If one were to buy one of these, which would you prefer and why?

Thank you for your excellent and unbiased opinion and service

Read Answer Asked by Vee on April 24, 2017
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