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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,

I asked a question yesterday about fixed income investments. You recommended a couple of ETFs that I will look into.

My question is the merit of ETFs vs actual bonds. I understand that individual investors can't get the same diversification with bonds as with an ETFs, but ETFs never mature unlike actual bonds and you could end up with a loss. What are your thoughts?

Jason
Read Answer Asked by Jason on October 27, 2016
Q: I am by no means an expert, but I certainly am an observer of circumstances.

Since joining 5i one of my key observations is, when one of your companies is under a short attack, be amongst the first to leave.

If the ship stays afloat, you're still safe, having abandoned ship. If it sinks you're off and alive to fight another day.

My observations are based on CXR, HCG and of course today's DH. Certainly this strategy would have worked on all of these.

Perhaps a good strategy for those investors with a risk averse bent.

On to fight another day!!

Sheldon
Read Answer Asked by Sheldon on October 26, 2016
Q: Hi guys,

I recently read the intelligent investor and it gives several metrics by which Benjamin Graham would analyze stocks. Given that the book was written so long ago, are the metrics still relevant or have they evolved?

I'm specifically referring to a few, such as:

1- Current assets should be at 2 time Current liabilities

2 - Uninterrupted dividend payments for at least 20 years

3 - P/E Ratio of not more than 15 times when using last 3 year avg of earnings

4 - Long-term debt should not exceed working capital

While a lot of the information is helpful, it seems some of these criteria are nearly impossible to meet in the current low interest rate environment where companies are leveraging themselves to buy back shares or do other things. While we need to keep a close eye on long-term debt, net debt to EBITDA or net debt to total capitalization may be better tools to use?

Thanks,
Jason
Read Answer Asked by Jason on October 26, 2016
Q: Having an Income portfolio including the above companies, I'm unsure of the effects of a potential increase in US rates in say December 2016 when at the same time the Bank of Canada holds rates or even maintains dovish tone signally near term rate cut. Will holding Canadian interest rates steady offset what would otherwise be negative pressure of a US rate increase on Canadian dividend paying stocks? Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Ian on October 24, 2016
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