Investment Q&A

Q: I use 2 online brokers and subscribe to a couple of premium data providers (capitalcube.com and GuruFocus.com) . In addition I use well known commonly used sites, including for example: FinViz.com, stockcharts.com, Yahoo and Google Finance.

I often find differences in ratios as reported by the different sites. I am referring here to significant (meaningful) discrepancies , not to non-material data. The two bank-owned online brokers also have differing ratios between each other.

Do the various providers not use the same or similar data providing services (e.g. Factset, Bloomberg , Thompson-Reuters).
How would a retail investor know which ratios one can rely on? As one example (out of dozens) : OZM.us is shown as having dividend yield of ~24% at RBC Direct Investing; it is 8% at GuruFocus. The actual yield is very different : as a shareholder,even after I gross up the dividend for withholding tax, I find actual yield based on cash received is less than 4%.

I use different sources to confirm the reliability of data I am using. But when there are wide differences, one is forced to go to the (very) long form financials filed with regulators. The latter is a cumbersome process for someone who is a DIY investor.

Would you care to give suggestions of the more reliable sites one can use reasonably safely?
Adam

Q: Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan posts 13% return in 2015 and 10.3% annualized since 1990, see Globe and Mail article. Are these returns for real? Even Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway did not come close to these results. Do you know any publically traded companies that achieved similar results?

Q: Good Afternoon,
My parents are getting older now ( in their 70's) and getting more and more nervous with volatile stock markets and problems around the world, needless to say they have become nervous investors. What do you think of Segregated Funds, more specifically Guaranteed Minimum Withdrawal Benefit (GMWB)? Basically a seg fund that not only provides a maturity guarantee, death guarantee but a guaranteed income stream as well. I know all these benefits result in much higher costs. Do the higher costs associated with these products make sense for all these guarantees and hopefully more of a sleep factor? They seem very complicated though.
Thank-you

Q: What is your opinion on what to do with a new found $100,000 at this point in time. I have $200k invested in the stock market currently and have managed to do well over the past 5 years (less so in 2015). I am getting concerned about all the cash that is floating around out there. All the QE does not seem to have had the desired affect on economies/markets. P/E s on many so called safety net large caps are getting quite high although I think there are some that are still ok to hold.
So, I'd like your opinion on how best to invest/protect $100K. ie, leave it in a low interest savings account? Put it large cap "safe" stocks? Canadian Banks? DJIA? TSX 200? Any comments are appreciated.

Q: Hi Peter,

I have an idea I would like to run past you to see what you think about it.

I like stocks that pay me dividends each month. Now if companies that pay every three months would change their format to pay monthly it would be an advantage for us dividend collectors and a huge disadvantage for hedge funds that like to short stocks, as they would have to pay those dividends each month and maybe they would think twice before shorting stocks.

Pretty hard to implement but an idea.

Thanks, Charlie

Q: There has to be some consequence for these short sellers when they are spreading rumours that cannot be substantiated. Apparently in the US they have slightly different rules for short sellers. Apparently there are some regulations is in effect before the stock is driven down.
Is this true and if it is, why TSX regulators do not do something about it to help investors.
Could you shed some light on it and is there anything we can do about it.

Gail

Q: In response to Matt's question. These short attacks are becoming a contagion on Canadian stocks because these shorters are not accountable for anything they say. So how as small retail investors can we fight this ?
If the regulators do nothing then this will only get more prevalent.
Would a collective response to the regulators make any impact?
This is certainly a worrying development as your (5i's) manadate is to help level the playing field for us small retail investors (of which you are doing a great job). If this predatory behavior is allowed to continue then eventually the small investor will leave the market never to return.

My rant for the day.

Q: I am a senior with RRIFs and TFSAs. I am not currently living off these but could in the future. I read questions in this space about income producing products such as XHY. These look good but, frankly, I have a great deal of difficulty investing in a product with a total return of just 21.08% over the past five years, or just 4.2% average per year, when I can invest in XST (Canadian Consumer Staples) with a return over the same five year period of 168.8%. Yes, XHY has a great yield but almost no capital gain. And yes, XHY is less volatile but am I wrong, at my age, to be more interested in total return than just yield? I am not afraid of some volatility and am not a believer in the old outdated dictum of holding bonds in proportion to your age. And the total of my investable assets could not produce adequate income if I relied on yield. The standard deviation of the Consumer Staples ETF is still quite low at 0.35 to 1.2 and it has been by far, the best performing Canadian sector of the past 14 years. No, I don't currently own either of these products but may in the near future.

Q: I have a Scotia rrsp tirade account. I am looking to purchase some US stocks in this account. What are the advantages and disadvantages of purchasing these stocks with Canadian vs US dollars. At present my account only allows Canadian dollar purchase, I would have to open a US dollar account at $30/quarter.

Q: This is in regard to all the posts about the new "Bail-In" laws for Canadian Banks.

A little off track, but a very interesting story of how Iceland dealt with the 2008 financial crisis.
Do a search on Youtube for: "Iceland's President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson Radio Interview". It's about 27 minutes long and starts off slow, but he eventually goes into heavy detail of what happened, what steps were taken, and the reaction of the West when he allowed the private banks to fail. He and the Citizens went through a very hard time, but were the first to come out of the crisis and lead the way in growth.

Paul

Q: Good evening Peter,

I am looking for a list of Canadian stocks that have increased their dividends & had share buy backs in the last 12 months that you could recommend ?

Thank you for your help.

Gordon...

Q: Peter and His Wonder Team
Just spent too much time writing my question and got stopped out...so I will be brief. In the event of a global financial collapse... because we are drowning in debt... who will survive? How can we prepare...own hard assets like land, gold or silver coins, the minings stocks, be debt free with no mortgage? Are there any sectors which would benefit? Your thoughts please...so I can sleep better! Ha! Ha!
With respect...
Dr.Ernest Rivait

Q: In a question asked by Steve on Mar. 21, there was the mention of "subscription receipts". What are they? Do they benefit the Advisor selling them more than the investor? I recall a former Advisor phoning me and offering them to me.

Q: Hi Peter and Staff,

If I bought a stock, and never added to the position, but later sold it to generate a tax loss, am I correct in assuming that the Adjusted Cost Base (ACB) and the Book Value are one and the same? My broker supplied only book values. (I'm assuming that CRA considers ACB and Book Value to be different when an investor continues to add to a position, either through trading, or when enrolled in a DRIP program.) Am I correct? Is this why some advisors recommend that in order to simplify your tax return, you shouldn't enroll in a DRIP in a non-registered account? Or is calculating ACB when you DRIP easier than these advisors suggest?

Thanks as always for the valued advice.

Q: Help! I'm not an analyst or an accountant and I'm trying to do the calculations for EV/DACF on my oil stocks. I have added preferred shares to my EV less working capital(just added this recently). DACF= CFO+financing costs + exploration expences. Income tax and interest expences are already included in CFO so I'm not sure if I should be adding them in again? Would it work just to add financing activities and investing activities to CFO to get DACF. My head is swirling but i am determined to get it right. Need your help badly. Thank you for your service.

Q: There is a report of existing home sales in the U.S. falling sharply in Feb. Do you see some negative impact for TCN or the market in general ?

Q: With reference to Scott's comments on your interview on Market Masters, how do I gain access to it. Thanks, Catherine

Q: Today's volume of 680,620,000 shares is a record dating back since 2006. Is this record volume, in a down market, significant? Does it foretell the fact that the current rally since the beginning of February 2016 is a dead cat's bounce?
Thank you as always for your insight.

Q: If you need the sector for a stock, it's listed on Bloomberg.com/quote. Using that source, we can increase the 5i time for more interesting questions.

Q: I am looking to eventually replicate one of your portfolios. I plan on eventually using my tfsa for this portfolio (growth probably ). I do not have a lot of capital in my tfsa yet. I started contributing $225 biweekly. I do have roughly $6000 in it now with roughly equal holdings of aya, gud, and yfi. How should I proceed with my contributions? Should I start contributing to a d series mutual fund to build up capital or should I save $1000-$2000 and then pick a stock from your portfolio? If going the mutual fund route, would there be a low cost option you would suggest? I'm 38 with time on my side. Thanks as always.