Investment Q&A

Q: Given the recent Bank of Canada action, I am trying to put together a strategy to handle bond re-investments as they mature within my portfolio. This would include risk (spread) and maturity (duration). Have you considered entering this arena as a service to clients or is there somewhere you know of that can be of assistance? I am not a bond trader. I invest with the desire for income and hold to maturity.

Q: Hi- I know that when a new closed end fund is started up that the first buyers end up paying for the administrative costs of the fund. Is the same thing true of a new ETF? Horizons has put out an Insider etf which I find interesting, but I want to buy it when it reflects the actual fund's value.
Thanks

Q: I currently own GG:NYSE and have a paper gain. If the ECB does provide stimulus this Thursday would you sell GG:NYSE and buy a European ADR listed on the NYSE. If they do not provide stimulus would you sell GG:NYSE and buy a Swiss ADR traded on the NYSE, thank you for taking the time to read and respond to my question.

Q: There seems to be so much negative news lately: slow growth in China, deflation in Europe, commodity deflation (oil going to zero)and of course the Greek exit.
Can you think of any positives that might happen this year to bring joy to the hearts of us poor old weary investors.
Mike

Q: Hello Peter,
Can you please provide a view as to how you would sell stocks? For example, a company like BCE is much easier as it does not go up dramatically and one can compare its fundamentals. We can do the same for PHM or NHC, but the stocks go up 10 - 15 % up in one day, and another day, they may down alot and than bounce back. Is it best to simply trim as they go up? Please advise on the sell strategy, specifically on the smaller names. Thanks very much. Umed

Q: ** Congratulations to 5iResearch on your recent nomination for the Small Business of the Year award (1-10 employees) with the K-W Chamber of Commerce.
Best of Luck on February 19 at the Chamber`s 2015 Business Excellence Awards Gala @ Bingemans!

Q: This question has little to do with this particular VSE stock but it is an example of today of my frustration on these smaller companies and their reporting. My understanding is that TSE and NYSE firms must report their quarterly numbers within 90 days of that date and usually they give you a 10-15 day heads-up of when these numbers will be announced. I believe VSE listed companies are given 120 days to announce results and from what I can see, they are under no obligation to state what day this will be announced. Am I right in my assumptions? Is there any way to know where to look for when these results might be posted or are you supposed to guess?

Q: Re Louisa question today - If by tax reporting she means the T1135 "Foreign Income Verification Statement", it would not be considered foreign content for that purpose and would not have to be reported. Post if you wish.

Q: Good Morning 5i,

I am looking to buy ZDY for it's dividend. Usually when I buy stocks I always buy for 5% of my portflolio. Now I want to buy an ETF's how much % of the portfolio do you recommend to buy?

Thanks

Paul

Q: I'm not certain if this would be of use to Robert regarding setting up his contest: I'm sure everyone is familiar with Investopedia's Market Simulator -- where you can enter a fictional portfolio to track your market acumen.

There is a section where you can customize your own portfolio game -- which essentially can be just a portfolio tracker if you want it to be -- without having to play any "games". I wonder if this would not be enough to track his contest performance? Just a thought. It's a great site, and it's free.

Q: Some TSX-traded companies - TCN and DR are just examples, perhaps you can suggest others - carry on most or all of their operations in the United States. If their market caps have been boosted by the Canadian dollar's decline, then will the opposite occur when oil+gas stabilize? As such, might these stocks be topping-out now?

Q: I have an unusual request. I have been organizing an investment contest at work since 2002 on Globe Investor - Portfolio at no cost. Being a DIY investor it gave me an opportunity to talk about investing with my colleagues.When I went to input the 2015 portfolios this weekend I received a message that the Globe and Mail no longer supports this site and it suggested that I use the Globe Unlimited site at a cost. I registered for this site and paid the monthly fee. When I went to create the 2015 portfolios on Globe Unlimited I found they had made major changes to the input screen which made it virtually impossible for me to update the portfolios. My question is does anyone know of a site I can use for our investment contest? I have 26 entries all assuming they have $100,000 and have 8 to 20 companies in each of the portfolios that must invest in companies trading on the TMX. I would like to have a system where I can input the portfolios all in one input page (like the old system did)and have the system determine the purchase price based on the date entered. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions. Thank you.

Q: Thought I'd let members know that Peter has a blog on the
Financial Post website today.
"5 (non-energy non-Alberta) stocks to watch this year"

Q: I don't have a company or symbol in mind for investment, but there is a group of investment newsletter and research publishers online I would like to know more about by the name of Money and Markets AKA Weiss Research Issues. They too claim to be conflict-free advisors. Their research, I believe, is excellent, and the accuracy of their projections has been surprising a number of times. Though my dad says their sales pitch is sensationalist, I believe they are trustworthy and have put investors first. I would simply like to know, would the team at 5i trust the advice and models at Money and Markets? Thank you.

Q: Would you explain how ETFs generally work. When I buy an ETF, am I buying someone else's or am I giving money to the provider to buy shares as allocated by the particular index it is tracking?
Likewise when I am selling-is someone buying my units or is the provider selling the composite shares? How is the price determined-NAV or what a buyer is willing to pay? Should liquidity be considered? What are the major factors when considering purchasing an ETF? Thanks

Q: (Prevoiusly known as Davis & Henderson)
Re: All the comments about DH Corp initiating a DRIP. If you own shares thru a Broker (i.e TDDI) and you own a sufficient quantity of shares that your dividends allow the purchase of at least ONE SHARE then your Broker will purchase for you (called a Synthetic DRIP, with no commission)as many shares as possible (only whole shares, no fractions). This is why Mike has been recieving re-invasted dividends since March 2013 (as have I). One qualification is, at least with TDDI you need to have this feature turned on for the respective A/C. This cannot be done by the Client. You must contact your Broker to ascertain or request that the feature is enabled.
Company DRIP's are an economical way for small investors to start to build a position and also re-invest 100% of the dividends including fractional share purchases.
Hope this provides some clarification.

Q: I was doing some research on CXI and, this morning, I found an article signed by 5i Research on the Seeking Alpha website. I quickly returned to the 5i site to see if you posted it here and I didn't find anything. If you are writing for other websites, how can we find out about it and is there a way you could notify us when one of your pieces is published?
Robert

Q: Hi Peter and 5i staff.
I've been browsing the website for awhile now and really like the service you provide, it's great for a novice investor like me. I've made most of the newbie mistakes in the past and as a result went completely conservative to GICs for a few years. Your service has given me the will to get back into buying Stocks and EFTs.

My first question is an easy one, but I think it's important for me to be clear on this:

Several times I've seen where you mention a company is good for growth, are you usually referring to a share price increase, or can this also mean dividend growth?

Thanks for any help on clearing this up,

Paul

Q: I agree that the U.S. market is a good place to be and you have had a number of inquiries on which stocks to buy. But what am I missing? The exchange rate is at $ 1.19. To me, this means any stock purchased would have to increase by 19% just to break even. Can u help me with the logic of buying US at this time.

Q: Hello,

I wonder how often you revise the ratings given to your coverage universe file.

For example, February 27, 2014 you writed a report on Enbridge with a grade of A-, since that time I have not seen a report on Enbridge ENB but is still A-

Does this mean that you are always confident Enbridge and your opinion on the title identitique.

thank you