Investment Q&A

Q: If there is indeed a 5 for 1 split when would you consider initiating a position? Now or after the transaction and why? Thank you.

Q: I owned PPL for years and I just caught the company quietly switched from a monthly dividend payer to a quarterly payer in it last press release. Even thought the payout has not changed I wonder about the logic behind this move? Can you offer some considerations behind this switch? Thanks.

Q: Please translate your response to the possible short squeeze on Feb 24. I do not understand what you are saying. Thank you

Q: Apologise if this has been asked but what is your opinion surrounding Structured Notes being offered by banks. I can't fully understand the risk exposure and my gut tells me if my bank pushes them they must be make the institution fees beyond just buying a bond or ETF. I am quite happy with my bond exposure being only investment grade and laddered to minimize interest rate risk.

Q: When a Corporation needs Cash and decides the best route is through issuing corporate bonds. What are the steps involved? How long does this process typically take? Are there good resources/sites that you would be aware of to learn more about this process?

Thank you

Q: Hi Team 5i,
Can you please recommend a financial software that can be used to develop a retirement strategy for withdrawing funds from RRSP, TFSA, Investment accounts, etc.?
Of particular value would be a platform that details how to draw down funds and at what amount and/or percentage of one's overall portfolio on an annual basis.
Thank you.

Q: Good morning, I am wondering if there is a way to track sector rotation. Do you do it? How do you do it. Typically I follow XLF to follow the financials.
Thank you.

Q: Hi Peter/Ryan, if a stock is going to split, if one wants to sell some of it is it better to sell before or after the split. I'm aware the cost would be adjusted, just wondering if it makes a difference. Thanks, Nick

Q: I have it marked in my calendar that Peter and Ryan are hosting a webinar of sorts on Tuesday Feb 21 at noon. But I don't have a link. Did I misrecord the event?

Q: In case inflation stays above 4% over two years, which sectors of the stock market will do better than others? Please rank best to worst. Thanks.

Q: This question may have been asked a number of years ago. If I hold my entire stock portfolio through a brokerage - one of the big banks for instance - what risk is there to my holdings should the brokerage go bust ? Are the holdings still intact? Is there a dollar amount limit ?
I have a hard time interpreting this from the OSC site.

Q: Hi Peter, I'm 65 and retired, not by choice and have stocks in a Margin account, an RRSP account and a TFSA account. Originally I opened the Margin account as I was told I needed that type of account to short stocks but chickened out and never did. I've held on to this account but am wondering if it's good to hold on to it or if it's better to move the funds into either one of the other accounts. If it's a good Idea where would it be better to move the shares to the TFSA or RRSP. Thanks as always. Nick

Q: Today you answered a question about whether Apple or Microsoft would be the best choice for future growth. You answered by looking at the forward P/E and average growth prospects. I imagine you got those figures from your Bloomberg terminal. But I was wondering what the average investor could use for this information. I imagine there are numerous projections as well, so how to choose a reliable one?

Q: Is there a rule of thumb that you would suggest domestic investors should consider using for a targeted portfolio size before thinking about wandering into developed international and international equities, either ETFs or single coys?

Q: Regarding a recent question on comparing equities, I have found a resource that I don't see mentioned often called portfolio123.com. You can create watchlists by category - 'my RRSP' or 'utilities' for example, you add in the tickers and it generates summaries of various metrics (technicals, fundamentals, price target, analyst trends and then detailed screens on each company) so you can monitor and compare holdings. To help me manage myself, I create an active watchlist, add notes of my target price and then wait patiently. Base access is free.

Q: Responding to another question that you opened up for comment. Not sure how i'm supposed to respond but anyway my recommendation for the user is Simply Wall Street. It will show all the relevant metrics and then show you comparable companies in the same sector. If you want to view two side by side just open a second window.

Q: I’m struggling a bit with the balance of income (dividends) and growth in a portfolio. I just looked up the 5 and 10 year CAGR for my core, large cap dividend paying holdings and discovered almost all were less than 10% (and many much lower, BNS, NTR?). I know it all comes down goals/objectives, but trying to assess the risk of mid cap growthier stocks and then attempting to factor in the tax implications of capital gains versus dividends is making my head hurt. It looks to me that as a financial holding TMX (X-T) would have been a better investment than, say, Scotiabank (BNS-T) over the last 10 years, at what would seem not much added risk. If you could put on a income investor hat, is there some level of longer term CAGR that you would balk at, and say “there has to be an acceptable risk equity out there with a better return”?.

Q: Hi 5i,
A question born out of wanting to save both time and paper (or perhaps just out of laziness...):
Do you know of any site where the relevant metrics of companies can be displayed side by side, for convenient comparison purposes. For example, right now I'm interested in comparing ENB and TRP to decide whether to offload some or all of the former in favour of the latter. I can look up each on 5i and print the page(s) for each containing the metrics, but I'd much prefer to bring them - and maybe one or two others like KEY and PPL for example - up all together and review on screen all at once in vertical side by side displays, but I don't know of any site that will let me do that. I wonder if you, or any members who read this, might?
Thanks!
Peter

Q: What would you consider to be a minimum net profit margin I should be targeting for companies? I was interested in Magna on this pullback but noticed their NPM is in the mid/low single digits which seems skinny for a manufacturer. Thanks

Q: What is the best source of information on the percentage of a stock that is being shorted? This figure is often cited in analysis, but I've never seen where it can be found.