Investment Q&A

Q: Hello 5i Team,
I have a couple questions where I'd appreciate your expertise.
First, I've been holding BRK.B long term, and even after shaving my position last year, and the year before, due to its performance, it's currently 28% of my total non-registered portfolio. I'd appreciate your thoughts on whether I should continue to pare down my position (it's up 170% at present).
Second, I would like to add some international equities to my overall portfolio. As Scotia iTrade is limited to US and Canada, can you recommend a solid, and cost-effective online brokerage for global markets?
Thank you! Aaron

Q: I handle my 40 year old daaughters portfolio. In her $170,000 balanced portfolio which is equally balanced, BYD has grown to 13%, LSPD to 19% and SHOP to 7.5%. The funds are not required for any other purpose than growing the income for retirement. We are not too concerned about the downside of these. Still, 5i keeps insisting that a maximum to hold for equities shwould be 5%. Should we trim and put the excess else where and if so could you suggest where or keep on with no change. We are comfortabl with this. Thank you
Stanley

Q: Not a question but perhaps an answer for Garth and others re TD Waterhouse problems. I finally got thru on the phone after at least an hour AND MANY TRIES and they suggest using their APP...and that people have told them that it is acting better than the conventional path. However the phones remain an issue...and that they are working on improving the issue....(ya right! ).

Q: I have seen a couple of questions on TD Waterhouse lately. I too have been experiencing problems. Unable to trade online for 9 days now and put on hold every day for 2 hours before being automatically hung up on for 9 days straight using the telephone .....The only thing I can think of is to contact another bank and have them transfer the account to their service . I suspect they will be able to contact where I cannot. Just checked several bank trading sites and they are reporting unusual wait times which makes me suspect I may not get through to them either... Any idea what is going on ? And advice on how to proceed ?

Q: I got a notice from a law firm in the US regarding a class action lawsuit against QSR. Is this something worth pursuing?

Q: What is your opinion of the strategy whereby as soon as the investment doubles, sell half to recoup principal and just “play” with profit?

Q: Would you consider adding a symbol to indicate what sector the securities you review are in? It could be a simple system, following the stock symbol. Or, as an alternative, provide a list somewhere on the site where investors could easily look up this information (could also provide your recommendations for percentages for various sectors). I think it would simplify portfolio construction for most of us and reduce questions on this matter.

Q: I am unclear regarding the "board lot" remarks on the Toi spinout.
Does "board lot" mean the minimum purchase / sale amount is to be 100 shares? And if so I hold less than 100 shares and can they be sold?
Thanks John

Q: In an earlier question ask by Clayton you responded “We do not formerly cover US companies except via our premium Investor Suite service”. I don’t find any link or reference to a premium investor suite under membership types, but I do see an “Investor Suite” tab on the left hand menu bar that seems to be inactive. Can you elaborate a bit about this service and how one would subscribe?

Q: Hi Gentlemen . I am trying to learn to use and better understand the tools available here on your website. Let's say I type in a stock to view. Example: AC. Then, from the drop down box I click on "view AC profile".
When I scroll down to the Analysts recommendations box I notice currently there are 3 lines of different colours. Dark green - strong buy Light Green - moderate buy Yellow -Hold . So are these 5i Analysts? and which line should I pay most attention too? The highest one? I would appreciate some assistance in clarifying the lines shown and the degree of importance they play when I am doing my homework here. Thanks, John

Q: Protection question: I hear and see many of the "pros" talking about protection .... especially the Najarian bros. In the absence of their talent and knowledge of options trading, what choices do us "little guys" have to protect ourselves - other than selectively selling off some of our holdings; and ensuring proper diversification?
As usual, thanks in advance for the outstanding service 5i provides. So many of us would be poorer $$$'wise and knowledge wise without you fine folks.

Q: Hi, do you have a link to US companies that you cover or have interest ? Thank you!

Q: Hi Peter,

How do you see the hedge funds unwinding their position? All the data says that there is still over 100% short interest.. if "the people" don't sell and keep buying it will drive the price/daily margin calls higher and higher until they are bankrupt (and they are already probably close due to the $2.75B injection Melvin had to get, which was before the price was as high as it is now and is probably all gone).

But if they start unwinding the massive short position it will just squeeze them harder. Am I missing something? What do you think their plan is here? Are they all calling each other saying "don't unwind we need to hold off?" Seems like a big game of chicken and the masses are not backing down - people were already pissed off before hand, but I think people got extremely enraged on that day the retail guy for restricted and could only sell but the hedge funds could trade freely.

I think they were already on the brink and it would have been game over if robinhood didn't restrict trading that day last week. But even now they only allow 1 share to be bought. If it wasn't for the restrictions "the squeeze would have be squoze" they say! What do you see as likely scenarios for this ending?

Q: Please tell me about this situation

Q: As it says no trading commision Does it make sence to switch to them?
Are they insued for clients money.This is not stock related but most of Us will benefit
by Free trading.
2.Is it because of GME and others that Hedgefund is selling stocks and driving market down.Please advice us how to protect us from big losses from current wild fluctuation.

Q: How long of notice do these short squeezed companies have to give to issue new shares and shore up the balance sheet? If AMC was to issue new shares at the elevated price it would be a win for them. I see executives are cashing shares in - why not? I would.

Q: I’ve heard that the costs to borrow shares for shorting purposes have gone from 29% to 50%. I’ve never shorted shares before and was curious if this was an annual percentage fee.

Q: hi 5i team

2 beginners questions about options

Question 1; This may seem like a silly question. I owned 300 shares of FLGT for a while, then I sold 3 july calls at 47.5 Now the silly question is, when the call expires, do I have to give specific instructions to the brokerage, or do they just see the 300 shares in my account and automatically sell them at 47.50 ? (since I did not place both the buy share order and sell call at the same time).

Question 2a and 2b: For the sake of the question, let's assume a zero bid ask spread. From what I see in the quotes in my account, and suppose the call was to expire at the same prices tomorrow, then I would be better (by about 1000$ US) to buy back the calls and sell the shares at the current prices then to let it execute ! I am surprised by that, any comment you can make, does it seem normal ?
Question 2b: then IF I thought the price of the stock would keep going up, it would be better to close out the position now.
many thanks

Q: The typical suggested portfolio size seems to be about 20 stocks. Your portfolios are constructed at about this size. Why?

Why not a larger assortment of stocks/ETFs/etc...? Perhaps a limit of $2000 (or whatever) per selection could be made and each sector would then be represented and diversified within. Would not this mitigate risk while still providing opportunities for gain?

Q: Is it possible to create a list of USA and CDN stocks that are heavily shorted if not is there a site that you can refer to?

Thanks for the great service