Investment Q&A

Q: I see the indexes rising inexorably while much of what I follow and should otherwise be supported by emerging policy wallows, from which I conclude that the market is very narrow - that those doing well and driving the indexes are a small portion of the whole. That is very frustrating especially when the outperformers role/function is not clear. Do you think you could address this? From my point of view the indexes simply do not represent the majority of investment sentiment.

Q: Hi 5iresearch team

On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being certainly, how likely do you think a stagflation scenario will happen in the US economy?

Second question, what types of investment will likely win in stagflation (gold, certain stocks, bonds, real estate, cash … etc)?

Third question: can you recommend 3 Cdn and 3 US stocks that you think will do well in stagflation? Can you please rank them if possible?

Thank you for your great service, I really enjoy reading your answers everyday in the Q&A section.

Q: I am trying to grow a small position in GDI and have two options. As I add funds over the coming months I can just average in, or I could sell my position in QIPT and get a larger position right away.

I know the stocks aren't comparable, but what would your thoughts be on this move? I think QIPT has decent growth prospects but one thing this move would do is take remove some risk (from small-cap to GDI market cap over 1 billion. Thanks for your thoughts.

Q: Owning stocks is by nature an intangible asset. In the event, of lets say, a black swan event such as a cyber threat world wide and all our intangible assets are basically in digital form (as opposed to physical and tangible) what, if anything can an individual owning stocks do, if anything, to make that asset more tangible? I assume the stocks in all your model portfolios have been suggested because of they have been deemed higher rated companies, those more likely to survive any temporary stock market crash. But can we make owning them more tangible or are we fully at the mercy of the Internet?

Q: If you had to pick only ten stocks or ETF's to hold forever which would they be?
Thanks

Q: Please advise 5 top defensive growth stocks - Canada, US or global.
Many thanks for your advice.

Q: Hi 5i!

I try to diversify well my portfolio between sectors but i never paid much attention to allocation between the size of companies. It probably explain the weakness in my portfolio this year, too much invested into small caps.

How would you split your porfolio in % between small, medium and large caps?

I mostly use growth potfolio with some stocks from the balanced porfolio and some us stocks.

Many thanks

Q: I have a non-registered account which is invested in roughly equal weights of 13 Canadian blue chip dividend payers (NTR, RY, BNS, TCL.A, T, BCE, SLF, QSR, ENB, FTS, LNF, BEPC, AQN) and CPD. I am in the process of re-organizing it a bit and have some additional cash to invest.

I have tinkered with SYZ, FSZ and LIF in this account and none of these quite fit the profile I'm going for (steady eddies thru next economic cycle, decent and reliable dividend).

Over the last year or so, I have been tweaking this account to get it to the point where it will be very low (or no) maintenance. Game plan is to drip for another few years, then start to take the dividend in cash to live off. Capital preservation and dividend reliability are obviously key.

Looking for some guidance on choosing 2 or 3 additional holdings from the following list:
EIF (nice div, needed industrial exposure)
AW.UN or ZRE (are these OK in an open account?)
CVD or XHY (some fixed income to smooth out any upcoming lumps) or other fixed income idea.

Do CPD, CVD, XHY make sense now with tapering about to begin in the US?
All comments about this strategy and my stock selections are most welcome.

Several questions here - please take several credits


Thanks in advance,

Jim

Q: What eft or fund would you recommend for upside in case of Black Swan event. Is there any etf that mimics Mark Spitznagel’s $4.3 billion Universa Investment fund. Any thought on Kim Bolton's Black Swan tech fund?

Q: We are often reminded that one should not try to time the market, and that it is time in the market that counts. But would you be in favour of an investor re-weighting to more defensive positions if one is worried there is a "correction" on the horizon, for example if the Delta variant explodes Covid numbers, there is a gov't policy or interest rate change, an external shock with China, etc, ? If one was going to make that change, can you pls provide 10 names that currently would be more defensive? Thank you for your very excellent service.

Q: With Tapering now on the doorstep, where do you see short term bond prices going? Is there any scenario where ZCS and/or XSB might actually rise? Thanks.

Q: Hello 5i,
Thank you for your great service! The new HDIV ETF mentioned in the ETF &MUTUAL FUND UPDATE seems to fit in to my value oriented portfolio (albeit with some growth stocks LSPD and LEON'S). Is it a good idea to get in on the ground floor or wait a year to see how it does. Mouth is drooling at 8.5% not seen for many years on a quality position.
Stanley

Q: In response to yesterdays "tapering" report, if one is looking to add liquidity in order to take advantage of a resulting market dip, would you consider selling existing positions that have done well in the recent market growth with the intention of buying back in at a low point? I know you often advise against trying to time the market but this seems like one of the few scenarios where it could be in ones interest?

Or would I simply be better off to leave my current positions alone (everything is slated for long term holds) and try to put aside as much cash as possible in the meantime while we wait for the opportunity to buy?

Thanks

Q: Do you know what the average portfolio turnover rate is for retail investors and how that compares to actively managed funds? My sense is that lots of individuals feel that they are long term investors but that in reality there is much more "swapping" and trading within individual accounts than would be expected.
Thanks
Marc

Q: CN took a bath today, and it looks like CP may get Kansas City after all.
I have no rail stocks; would you pick one today? Would you prefer the "winner" of Kansas City Southern?
John

Q: As a portfolio manager would you consider a 5-10 % of gold assets in one portfolio (income balance for example ) as a strategic stabilizing asset ? Or you are not in favour of such asset and of different opinion?

Q: Please kindly suggest a reasonably priced EFTs and stocks in a consumer cyclical and consumer defensive categories for an portfolio. Possibly with a reasonable dividends if such exists.

Q: Hi,
What are your favourite criteria to evaluate a company? for example, PE ratio, quick ratio, etc.
Also, could you rank your criteria by most important to least important?

Thank you!

Q: Hi 5i Team

When investing monies into a diversified ETF, such as SPY or QQQ, which investment approach provides the best risk-return profile? More specifically, how would you rank the following investment approaches: lump-sum, dollar cost averaging, (DCA) and augmented DCA?

Augmented DCA is a modified version of DCA where the investment strategy is more aggressive if the economy is expanding and more conservative if the economy is contracting. Macroeconomic factors are employed to determine if the economy is expanding or contracting (e.g., market volatility, unemployment rate, and capacity utilization).

If an investor chooses DCA or augmented DCA, over what investment period would be reasonable? Is it 6 months? 9 months? 12 months? 15 months?

Thanks

George

Q: Can you provide guidance on what is the most appropriate strategy for profit taking? Should you have an objective in mind when purchasing, and when that goal is achieved, sell? Or if underlying investment still has solid fundamentals, continue to hold?