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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: I noticed on my broker's platform, that there is a borrowing fee is up to 5% for this security. The URB.A doea not have any borowing cost. Just wondering if that is because the majority of voting shares are tightly held by insiders. For now the Voting are not trading at a significant premium to the Non Voting. My question is, where can I find the public info about the current short interest on TSX listed shares?
Thank you
Read Answer Asked by francois on March 25, 2021
Q: Could you help me understand how dividends works ?
For exemple, I bought GSY when the dividend was 7,4%. I see that if I add new shares today, the dividend will be 2,20%. How will the dividend be calculated for the next dividend payment if I do buy new shares ?
If I don't buy new shares, will the dividend payment on my existing shares be 2,20% ?
Or to put it differently, do I just multiply the present dividend (0,66$) by my number of shares ?

Gratefully,
Jacques IDS
Read Answer Asked by Jacques on March 25, 2021
Q: There are times when I wonder about continuous disclosure rules and adherence to them. At the open on Friday, CP traded down sharply on much higher than average volumes. Over the weekend a major announcement. KSU did not trade up much on price during Friday but experienced higher than average trading volumes. Should a retail investor care or is their an issue here? Do the regulators watch this type of activity surrounding a major announcement?
Read Answer Asked by Greg on March 23, 2021
Q: Good day gentlemen.
Your thoughts on Scotia's new notes.
Thanks, Peter
Read Answer Asked by Peter on March 23, 2021
Q: In your answer to David, you state that WELL had a positive EBITDA, yet when I bring up the profile, the EBITDA MARGIN shows negative -8%. Is the EBITDA reference in the answer to David different from EBITDA MARGIN % ? 5i refers to EBITDA a lot in your answers and I notice BNN guests do also. I notice that, with the exception of AC (Air Canada), all the stocks in the BE PORTFOLIO have positive EBITDA MARGINS. In contrast, some of the US stocks everybody keeps asking you about have a negative EBITDA MARGIN: AFRM, CRWD, U, and PLTR is a whopping -115%. So when you warn this humble subscriber that a stock is risky, how useful is it to look up the EBITDA MARGIN? For example, how should I interpret XBC having an EBITDA MARGIN at +1.8%, or DFLY at -199.5%
Read Answer Asked by Lionel on March 22, 2021
Q: i own a small cap stock that habitually sees a trade of 100 or 200 shares in the last hour of trading to bring the closing price down to less than its daily high. If I traded like that I am certain I would be investigated and possibly even demarketed by TD brokers. Why is it that when a firm like Goldman does that (as in my particular stock), its OK? Is there one rule for retail investors and another rule for institutional brokers? Same goes for those houses that trade to walk the price down so they can trade a block. Is that not stock price manipulation?
Read Answer Asked by Murray on March 20, 2021
Q: Good morning. Happy St Patrick’s day to everyone
If I wanted to find stocks in the semiconductor sector thru 5 I is there an area to go to - also if we were looking for value stocks vs growth stocks - can I somehow do a search request in the ask a question area by using the word growth etc

Thank you for all you do - always enjoy my time on your site.
Read Answer Asked by Marla on March 18, 2021
Q: Are you still reporting on companies that have increased dividends? If so, please remind where we can find this information.
Read Answer Asked by Peter on March 17, 2021
Q: Lots of concern regarding this company and want to get an idea about how to handle the dramatic drop in share price. If you were a shareholder that bought in at say 9-10$ range would you think any differently about the company than you would if you bought in at 2-3$. I notice that when any high flyer has a hiccup, your answers are generally to "hold for now" and that the "stock is up 140% from last year". We certainly were aware of the risks with this company and should not be surprised that some investments just won't work out. It's easier to "let go" if your gains dropped back to near your purchase price than if your losses are nearer to 75%. Any lessons learned or is it still too early to give up on XBC?
Thank you for any comments
Read Answer Asked by Rudy on March 17, 2021
Q: you referenced in a previous question that Trading volume and 'travel' is also important. Is there a certain term or way to track "travel" for individual companies stock prices and what do you like to see for "travel" for a daily chart... I am sure straight up is ideal but not what we tend to see.
Read Answer Asked by Michael on March 15, 2021
Q: Investing forums are great places to have a respectful and civil discussion/debate with fellow investors. It’s a resource that seems to be underused by 5i members, possibly because it is difficult to navigate.

Are there any plans to make the 5i Forums more use friendly?

Now a user has to open each subforum to see if anyone has posted or replied to a post.

There is no way of knowing if someone has replied to a post.
It says This forum supports BBCode tags. But only a few. There is no easy way to quote a poster or part of a post so that other posters know who or what you are replying to.

I’m new to 5i so maybe I’m missing something. I’m looking forward to exchanging ideas on investments, investment strategies and portfolio management with other members.
Read Answer Asked by Rob on March 15, 2021
Q: Hi Guys
In a hypothetical $1 million portfolio, approximately how many different stocks or ETFs should be owned? Would a position represent 2% of the portfolio? Any comments on a portfolio's composition would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by David on March 15, 2021
Q: In the lithium field, I have both LI and LAC
My question is two fold, am I better to double up and just own one stock and if so which one would be your choice? I know you recommend having at least 1 per cent of your portfolio in a stock. By selecting one, I’d achieve that
I guess it would also be like owning Linamar and Magna. Do you choose one or does this bring one more diversification?
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on March 13, 2021
Q: Hi Peter,
This is a general question, When looking at valuations specifically, like the EV/Sales, what number is considered the" middle ground" whereby the stock is neither cheap nor expensive?
Second question relating to the same EV/Sales formula, when looking at for example, SHOP, its EV/Sales based on the next twelve months (NTM) revenue is 33.3 while it is at 46,4 when it is based on the last twelve months (LTM) of revenue. I would have to say that the NTM is a better indicator. Am i correct , if so or not, why?

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by ilie on March 13, 2021
Q: Greetings 5i Team,
I have noticed on occasion that you will respond that a particular security represents 'higher risk income'. This occurred earlier today when a question was posed concerning EIF.
When you say this, do you mean that the income itself is at a higher risk than say that of BCE or do you mean that the company itself tends to be a higher risk security as compared to others within its sector?
Thank you as always
SP
Read Answer Asked by Steve on March 12, 2021