Investment Q&A

Q: Good Morning: I would appreciate your advice in the following situation. I currently hold roughly 15% of my portfolio in a Hi-Yld savings acct. paying 1.5%. The benefit of course is total flexibility in case of a market correction where I see opportunities. The down side is the relatively low return on assets. I have been thinking about transferring some portion of those monies to CBO (or an equivalent if you know of a better option.) However, when I look at the fact sheet for CBO I see the following data: Weighted average yield to maturity is 1.72%; distribution yield is 2.84%, and the trailing 12 month yield is 3.23%. To my relatively novice eyes (esp. in regard to bonds and bond etfs) it doesn't seem that I would be getting that much of a premium, and I would be giving up some flexibility and there is always the risk of a continued decline in the share price (even though it is near its recent lows) thus erasing any gain in yield. There are a lot of issues here that I'm finding it hard to balance out and would appreciate any insight or suggestions you have to offer. Sorry for the length of the question. Don

Q: Do you or other members recommend an app for tracking stock prices. I like the layout of Realtime Stock Tracker, however it doesn't track all symbols, particularly with dots and dashes, such as BAM.A, CCL.B, BEP-UN. Thanks

Q: Hi,

I'm looking for an RRSP investment for my wife. What we have right now is a TD US INDEX fund. Chose this one because it has low MER and tracks the S&P 500. Can you give us other index funds that you can recommend be it US or Canadian with good performance?

Thanks,

Sunday

Q: I have watched this company, without actually buying any of its penny stock, for a few years now, fully expecting it to go under. (Initially its fortunes were closely tied to the mining industry.) However, to my surprise it has found other niches for its technology and trades fairly actively, settling down at around 4 cents. It seems to regularly get "rescued" by private placements, who in turn get warrants with a strike price a few cents higher than the share price. I presume that these private investors would not be putting their money into ADK if they didn't see some promise.

What is your opinion of the viability of this company? Is it a speculative buy?

Thanks!

Q: given the present state of the markets, on a percentage basis how would you invest by sectors 1M including a % in cash . thanks in advance

Q: Hi 5i Research team, I have a long term horizon, and more of a growth oriented investor profile. I prefer to well understand the companies I invest in. The technology sector represents a challenge for me in terms of software products, competition, rapidly changing conditions, obsolescence, variety of software portfolio, etc. So I would like to built a sector exposure based on a few companies instead of using an ETF. Based on reading 5i Research, I am thinking a combination of CSU, KXS, GIB.A, OTC, ESL, DSG, TCS, SYZ,SH. Do you agree with this strategy? Would you include some other companies in this list or replace some? In what order would you rank them in terms of total return potential over long term and overall quality? How many of them would be enough? Would you suggest another weighting than equal weight (2% each)? I also need criteria to manage this group since my understanding won't be up to par. How will I know when to sell, or when to over or underweight in some companies? I would not want to react too strongly to short term events (quarterly results). How would you suggest I implement this strategy (buying strategy)? Thank you, Eric

Q: Hi 5i Research team, what do you think of the idea of not strictly using the official sector classification when calculating sector allocation? Would you agree that I split the sector allocation of some companies when appropriate (an option not available for the official classificator)? For example, would you agree with: SIS (healthcare 75% + industrial 25%), ZCL (industrial 25% + energy 75%), TNC (financial 50% + technology 50%), AF (industrials 25% + consumer discretionary 75%)? Thank you, Eric

Q: I am putting together a portfolio called "Big Dogs"
I broke out the 10 largest stocks by market cap in each of the 10 sectors
I will invest in 3 of those stocks in each sector for a total of 30 stocks.Determining which 3 has been a challenge,looking at the usual--
dividends--eps--p/e-- market cap etc.Also have a bias toward your favourites.
Since I am only looking at the top 10 do you think I will be overlooking some better opportunities?I think perhaps, but I would go
crazy trying to look at the whole sector or even the top 20.I feel my odds of success are better sticking with the "Big Dogs"
Over all I will put 10k in each stock but not until I see a market
pull back which I feel is imminent.Perhaps I could have your thoughts on that as well.
This is not something new---What do you think of my idea and approach?

Q: Hi 5i Research team , I am preparing for my next round of investments when the market decline broadly. I would like to capture the illiquidity premium: What percentage of a stock portfolio would you recommend for an average investor (1) and a lower risk aversion investor(2) to put in illiquid stocks (market cap between 1000 and 100 million $ and average daily trading value < 200 000$) such as VLN, TCS, TC, SCB, RX, RPI-u, PSD, PEO, MRD, MDF, LNF, LGT.B, LAS.A, ISV, HNZ, GDL, EFH, GBT, CXI, BCI, AF?
What would be your top five selections among these from total return/quality perspective over the long term? Would you have other such companies to suggest? Several of these companies do not have coverage from analysts neither conference call after quarterly results. Besides reading documents on sedar (press releases), how do you suggest following/analyzing those companies? Thank you, Eric

Q: Hi,

I know you like the following: PPL.PR.M and ALA.PR., TransCanada (series 13), Canadian Utilities (series FF) and Brookfield Asset (series 5). With these type of minimum reset preferreds, where would you expect the prices to be in 3 or 4 years under the following scenarios:
1. Current govt of Canada rates 0.5 point lower than today
2. Current govt of Canada rate same as today
3. Current govt of Canda rate 3 or 4 points higher than today

Regards,

Robert

Q: I have a $300,000 lump sum to invest for a little more than 10 years before there will be a need to start to taking income. What would you suggest is a reasonable time frame over which to make the purchases? I was considering equal purchases over a 3 month time frame (as opposed to a doing it all right away) but with the US presidential elections, all the talk of interest rate increases and tax loss selling I am wondering if three months is too quick.

Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.

Q: Hi Peter and Team,

Perhaps Wayne (and others) would be interested in Gordon Pape's article on binary trading/binary options. The article was written over six years ago, but the regulators haven't acted yet. Thank goodness that 5i "has our back"!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/2010/07/27/dont-gamble-on-binary-options/#595c41961908

Q: I have a Canadian dollar RRSP with a significant portion of US dividend paying stocks, to avoid dividend withholding tax. My RRSP is charged $10 per trade but otherwise there are no fees appearing on my statements. The dividend amounts from US stocks appear in Canadian dollars. Although my investment company has US and Canadian dollar accounts for non-registered investments, there are no US dollar RRSP's. I often wonder if, and how much, I am paying in exchange fees when my US dividends are converted to Canadian dollars. Will those currency fees be included in the new disclosure rules? Thanks!

Q: Greetings: In one of your recent answers you indicated that best current GIC rates are in the 2.75% range. The best rates I see in Vancouver (2% one year, 2.5% fiver year) are with Oaken Capital, part of the Home Capital Group (Home Trust, Home Bank). Is Oaken Capital a pretty good provider? Are those rates in line with what I should expect? I intend to set up a laddered series with about $100K
Thank you

Q: In 2016 I had significant realized capital gains as I sold off shares to re-balance my portfolio. Currently I am in a loss position with the above mentioned companies. I was thinking of selling shares in these six companies to help offset the realized capital gains. Which of these shares do you think I should buy back after 30 days to avoid the superficial capital loss? Normally I would not be selling them, but for tax purposes I am contemplating doing so. AAPL makes up a significant part of my Info Technology sector and GILD is my only exposure to the health care sector. If I do not buy back the other four companies it will not impact my asset mix in my portfolio significantly. Is this the right time of year to do tax loss selling for these companies?

Thank you

Q: Hi 5i team
A friend sent me a note on binary trading. I had never heard of it before but when I googled it I got mixed reactions. Is it a scam, are there questionable people involved or can you in fact make money. I am a little suspicious. Appreciate your thoughts.

Wayne

Q: my rrsp account is as follows IT 24% FINANCIALS 20% ENERGY 17% MATERIALS 7.5% INDUSTRIALS 7.3% CONS. DISC. 5.7% HEALTH CARE4.7 %TELCO 2.6% UTILITIES 2.5% OTHER 8.5 %. WHAT CHANGES WOULD YOU MAKE IF ANY PERCENTAGE WISE. THANK YOU

Q: Hi there,

What's your suggestion to a retiree who needs guaranteed income over 4%/yr and protection of capital. Doesn't wanna capital be in bonds maturing 10+ years.

Q: Hello 5i team,
I have been following Pure for awhile and have been tempted. What causes hesitation is the size. you mentionned in one of the comments that there are some companies that a relatively conservative, retired investor should not own, as they are too risky. I make more than I need to live and so I am not adverse to a little risk. But, I was wondering how you see a company like Pure under this perspective? It would be great to have your comments on that subject in general, if you have time.
thanks

Q: Hi 5i,

I have a general questions about how trades are executed on an exchange. When there are multiple bids for the same stock, is there an order on which ones get executed first? Is it first in first out or do traders get to pick and choose? Is it the same with sells? Thanks.