Investment Q&A

Q: I’d like your opinion on my currrent Canadian equity holdings (please note I own gold and silver as a sepearte part of my portfolio.) I couldn’t buy all of the ones in your two portfolios so had to make choices.
Is it diversified enough? Would you make any changes. Also, technically I am overweight in my Canadian holdings by one position (I should own 16, rather than 17). What would you suggest me selling? I’m wondering if I should sell ACQ because it has gone up so much.

ESL
BDI
CSU
MDA
POT
STN
T
AVO
BEP.UN
SJ
ENB
SU
TD
L
SLF (should I swap for HCG instead? Which will do better in rising interest rate market if housing declines etc?)
ACQ
BAD

Q: Peter, given the seasonal "sell in May" scenario, even though it seems irrelevant this year, combined with the extremely high TSX near record levels, would it not be prudent to wait till the summer to rebalance or increase current holdings, even in growth names like DHX, SJ, ACQ, AVO, AYA, BAD, SGY and WCP. Or are today's prices ok for a 3 year hold. Thanks as usual
Dave

Q: Hi 5i Team,

Can you please comment on the report from Seeking Alpha today that Moody's has downgraded big Canadian banks (e.g., BNS) to "negative" due the prospect of "bail-in" legislation being passed in Canada?

Also, any quick thoughts on how investors with discount brokerage accounts should respond to the possibility of a "bail-in" occuring should something really go wrong with their bank? Does it mean investors would take a haircut if they held stocks and bonds in their brokerage accounts?

If so, is there any defence an investor can mount?

Thanks so much.

Michael

Q: When asked to recommend 4 growth stocks on June 9th you suggested AVO,ACQ,BAD,and AYA. When asked a similar question today you suggest DHX,SJ,and WSP. Please explain why you would recommend completely different 'growth stocks' to the same query within a two day period? Otherwise when scanning the Q/A column for my own guidance I find this inconsistency confusing rather than helpful.
Thanks

Q: 10:18 AM 6/10/2014

Hello Peter :

I am confused as to which sector in which to classify certain companies which I own. The S&P/TSX lists a lot as "Energy" but you seem to classify some as "Utilities".

It seems important to know which are Utilities and which are Energy because as you said to Gord today, for example : "Altagas. As a utility, it should act quite differently from the oil and gas holdings, and may provide more diversification and balance to your portfolio."

Which of these are Utilities and which are Energy? : ENB, ENF, TRP, PPL, PKI, PSK, BNE, BTE

Where would you classify BIP.UN, and BDT ?

I would really appreciate it if you could please classify these for me. What maximun Secor weighting would you place on Utilities and on Energy in a large well diversified income portfolio.

Thank you very much.............. Paul

Q: Hi Peter: The TSX and others offer subscribers what is called a level 2 view of what order volumes are for a given stock both on the buy side and the sell side at specific prices. My question is if someone was to place a stop loss order does this show up on the level 2 feature. If someone was to be able to see stop loss orders on such a service they could manipulate the stock price lower then snap up the stop loss stocks at market prices. Is this a possibility?

Regards
Derek

Q: Dear Gentlemen,
Question : Consumer Sector (for PF balancing)
1) Do you consider Consumer Good, Consumer Defense and Consumer Cyclical as one sector or 3 sectors ?
Thanks
Best Regards

Q: As an avid market follower I value your comments on the market. Knowing that market timing is virtually impossible, what would your favorite indicator(s) be that we have reached the "euphoric" apex? Thanks for the great service! Ron

Q: Not a question, but a comment.
Greg asked about the "parking" of $2mill in a bond fund (Pender) for a short space of time and the fees being charged.
I am sure 5i do not want to advise this member to go to the full service firm management and complain about this purchase/advice for reasons of not wanting to get directly involved, but as a past senior management person in the Investment Industry I will say that this is what Greg should do.
This is client abuse, and precisely the type of thing that management at a reputable Investment Firm would not put up with and a complaint to them would ( I feel ) bring some corrective action.
( Following my management career I did some work acting for lawyers representing abused clients, so I have experience in this field.)
5i/Peter........understand if you do not want to post this comment on the site, but if not then maybe you can pass the advice on directly.....this sort of thing upsets me and the industry needs to clamp down on it.

Q: Both my parents passed away recently, and we are waiting for the estate to be probated. The Portfolio Manager has put all of the $2,000,000.00 into Pender Corp. Bond Fund Class F-NA. We expect settlement in about 2-3 months, and are being charged 1.5% Fee/annum by the PM, and another 1.5% MER by the Bond Fund.
Do you consider this a safe holding for such a short period of time, especially when we are trying to preserve capitol, not make money.
Do you consider the fees, about $2500.00/month by the PM fair, for virtually doing nothing, and then the additional MER on top of the fees appropriate.
I really enjoy your site, your advice, and you have really helped me make more informed, timely descision with my investing. Keep up all the good work.

Q: With markets at all time highs Is this a good time to look at taking some profits and moving to bonds such as ishares 1-5 laddered Bond ETF or a DEX ST Corp Universe ETF?

Q: 5i gets numerous questions on where to park cash; Rob Carrick addresses this in a comprehensive assessment of Investment Savings Accounts and Money Market Funds in the June 7 Report on Business of the Globe and Mail. Bottom line: ISA's pay 1.25% and MMF's way less.

Q: Can you see any indication of a topping to the present bull market (other than it's length) - investor euphoria - divergerce of indices- excessive P/E etc. ??

thanks Jim

Q: Peter,

If you were going to put together an equity portfolio for $1mill (say) with a combined goal of income and capital appreciation and medium level risk, how many holdings would you suggest and what would they be ( presumably some from each of your recommended portfolios?)

Q: Peter- I have been heavily invested in 4 key stocks. The are Byd, Acq,Avo,and Bad. All have done extremely well and I have done exceptionally well because I have been overextended in each. For example in some of my accounts ie TFSA,RRSP,RRIF OR UNREGISTERED accounts have anywhere from 15% to 23% in each of these stocks. I know I should cut back and I will but I also know these stocks will continue to do well. What percentage should I cut back to and should it vary between my wife's RRSPs or my RRIF or our TFSAs or the unregistered account. With your help we have been able to make very material financial changes to our lives. I never thought I would have $850,000 invested in the stock market. Thank you so much for your help.

Q: i have just taken control of our 13 year old grandson's RESP - value 25,500 cash - i am looking for suggestions of stocks to buy preferably with DRIPs - thinking TD, CNR, CPG, a pipeline and some small caps - appreciate your expertise - thank you

Tom Sinclair

Q: Hi Peter, Please tell me when you are going to update the "summary" list of stocks.

Thanks,

Peter

Q: Hi team - what do make of the IPO re pricing going on - specifically with Journey. Is this a sign of weakness or just the market pushing back?

Q: Good morning, I just want to thank Bryan (June 3) for his suggestion re: a donation button and your answer which led me to the National Kids Cancer website where I donated to Peter's ride challenge. A very worthy cause and a great challenge for Peter. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to donate to this cause. Like Bryan I, too, am very pleased to be able to give something back as a token of my appreciation for the fantastic advice 5i has given me. Since I started my subscription and changed by investments I am up 77% in 18 months. Thanks, 5i team. Best of luck on your ride, Peter.

Q: Hello,

Ref: 4 Jun question from Thomas about laying one stock chart over another.

NB: You indicate about posting it to the Resources Q&A section, although I cannot find such a section. That is maybe where I should be posting this (plse advise where this section is).

Many free sites offer a comparison feature (Google Finance and Yahoo Finance being two). I use Google for my example, and will use BNS and TD to compare. Enter BNS in ticker field, and one will get a chart of the stock price in $. Select time period you want (let us use one year). Above the left top corner of the chart box is the 'compare' field, enter TD, and select the add button. The chart will convert to two lines: one line for BNS and one for TD (each in diff colours) and the scale will convert to %. One can then read the chart to see the relative performance for the time period selected. One can add quite a few names to the same chart. Hope this helps.
Bob