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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: Hi is it possible to explain how this occurs or if it does
A company does a financing at say $1.35 with a 1/2 warrant (each full warrant entitles holder to acquire a share at $2 fr 24 months) and the share price is $1.52 (using #s from EMH.v's recent financing as example)
So the share price drops as share holders sell to get in on the deal . My QUESTION is do they also short and use the $1.35 as insurance ?
Hope that makes sense ,
David
Read Answer Asked by David on February 06, 2017
Q: In response to Robert's question about the loss showing in his Investorline account for DIS, Investorline uses the exchange rate on the day you bought the shares for the cost basis, so it does sometimes seem misleading if you try and track your US purchases in US currency.

Here is BMO's explanation from the Investorline platform:
The Unrealized Gain/Loss is the difference between the current market value of the security and its original cost. Where applicable, the original cost will reflect the exchange rate in effect at the time of the purchase while the market value reflects the current exchange rate. This exchange rate is updated periodically throughout the day and this may cause some slight fluctuations in the market value and unrealized gain/loss.
Read Answer Asked by Jeffrey on February 02, 2017
Q: Hi 5i. I have 18% of my entire well balanced PFS in US stocks. I'm thinking this may be a good time to use 2 or 3% of my Canadian cash which is 8.5% of my PFS to buy US dollars to eventually buy another US stock. Do you concur? I am thinking our dollar is going to fall in the next 6 to 12 months but I await your ideas.
Thanks guys. I'm up 30 % since I joined in April 2014...
Read Answer Asked by El-ann on February 02, 2017
Q: Hello 5i,
Just a further note to Steven's question about ex-dividend and dividend payout: Be careful if you sell a position that is in a DRIP since it is possible, if one is not careful, to end up with a small number of shares (1, 2, ??) resulting from the DRIP even though you completely sold out of a position. I know this is possible because I let it happen to me - once.
I hope this might help even just one person not make the same mistake!
Read Answer Asked by Mike on February 02, 2017
Q: On January 27th, I receive a notice from TD Direct Investing dated from January 16th. In that notice, I was proposed to choose between two options: option 1 to transfer my Intertain stocks to Intertain Exchange (ITX) or option 2 (default) to transfer my IT stocks to JackPotJoy (JPJ) on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

I called TD on the day I received the notice. After arguing with the clerk and his coordinator, they said that the delay was expired to choose any other option than the default and that TD was not responsible for the 10 days' delay. It was either Canada Post's or the transfer agent's fault. At some point, the clerk said that I was not the first client to complain.

The alternative given is to trade the JPJ stocks after they will appear on my account and TD would wave the commission.

Please give me your opinion on this situation, what are the possible consequences and what can be done.

I think that
- Canada Post is the usual suspect in any delay but 10 days is too much and TD and the transfer agent should take some blame in the matter.
- The default option to transfer Canadian securities to a foreign exchange is borderline incompetent decision.
- What if there is an impact of the FX from GBP to CAD with the sale of JPJ stocks on the LSE.
- Is there anything that can be done or compensation that I can claim in that situation?

I started a blog on 5iR on this subject, because there could be a class action case, in my opinion.

Thank you for your support in that matter.
Read Answer Asked by Jean on January 30, 2017
Q: For covered calls, can you see a reasonable risk adjusted return profile if you can only write 1 or 2 contracts? Or do you think the friction will be a setup for failure (based on typical CDN bank commission structure of 9.99 + 1.25/contract). I've been wanting to dip my toes (maybe with something like Loblaws) but the healthy chunk coming from my payout has me wary. Also, do you happen to know of a good beginner resource for understanding if the contract price is at least reasonable for the option writer (I know it is fairly speculative but don't want to get completely fleeced). Thanks for everything.http://www.5iresearch.ca/questions/category/miscellaneous-misc
Read Answer Asked by Andrew on January 30, 2017
Q: I am connected to a 41 year old who is about to start investing and putting some money away for retirement

He has very little investment knowledge
He has about $ 200,000 to invest We are going to start with his TSFA and make the maximum contribution and then we will set one up for his wife

Where is a good place to start Would you recommend a basket of ETF's or buying individual stocks His investment horizon is 20 to 25 years

Which are your preferred ETF'S or your 6 equities

Thank you very mucb

Paul
Read Answer Asked by Paul on January 30, 2017
Q: Hi 5i team, I have a general question on companies being removed or added to the different s&p tsx indexes. On Jan 23 a number of companies were added and many deleted (gte and exe among them), so my question is with these being very large indexes with many eft's and mutual funds holding them, is there actually a lot more buying or selling of these particular stocks by these funds or funds copying them. and if so do they have much lead time before the actual replacement date (jan 23) and would you see more adjustments continuing after the date possibly affecting normal trading of such companies.

thanks Tom
Read Answer Asked by Tom on January 30, 2017
Q: Hello 5i team. My question is in regards to taxation. I have an investment account at a CDN discount brokerage in US dollars. If I was to buy a cdn company say TD bank that trades on the US market and buy it in US dollars how would the dividends be treated? Would the dividends be paid in US dollars or paid in CDN dollars then converted back to US dollars? If they are paid in US dollars then are they subject to the 10-15% US withholding tax? I am trying to find investments that I can buy with US dollars but not be subject to the US withholding tax. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by pietro on January 27, 2017
Q: When doing my research, I have a defined method that includes 5I views but also Morningstar (for Quantitative view) Thomson Reuters for fundamental views and forward looking views and if buying USA stocks Bloomberg. Recently my brokerage made S&P research available and I am finding contradictions in how seemingly same facts are both viewed and presented. There are several quantitative S&P views on stocks that give "sell" ratings while the others give positive ratings. I was wondering if you use any of these sites for information an if you have a bias towards one being more accurate then another. Thanks Jim
Read Answer Asked by James on January 27, 2017
Q: I buy a number of my international stocks on the OTC Market, since my brokerage account does not let me directly transact on exchanges outside of North America. The American Depository Receipts (ADR) for a particular company ("xxxx") have the ticker format xxxxY, whereas the "fungible" shares (i.e. for which there is somewhere, at least in principle, an actual stock certificate issued by the company) have the ticker format xxxxF.

Assuming that there is at least some liquidity for the shares of a particular company, it is almost always the ADRs (xxxxY) that have the most trading volume. However, sometimes the fungible shares (xxxxF) are slightly more liquid than the ADRs.

In terms of risk (e.g. in the event of another major financial crisis) are the ADRs more risky, i.e. do they depend on the solvency of the custodial bank in New York (e.g. BNY)? On the other hand, who actually possesses the fungible shares (xxxxF)? Is it this same custodial bank? Is there a real stock certificate somewhere?

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Gregory on January 25, 2017
Q: As we get older we are thinking of making our portfolio less volatile. Therefore, we have been thinking of eliminating cyclical stocks, such as energy, companies like Agrium. Do you think this is the best route, or would you prefer, as I think you do, hold a smaller percentage of cyclical stocks? Also, would you consider a company like Finning, which is related to the energy sector in many ways, as a cyclical stock?
thanks again for a wonderful service
Read Answer Asked by joseph on January 24, 2017
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