Investment Q&A

Q: We own DSG in a non-registered account.
We own ENGH in an RRSP account.
(Both are relatively equally in weight.)
We'd like to sell one of these, and subsequently rebalance the overall portfolio by adding a Consumer Cyclical in the corresponding account. With a long term view in mind, risk is not a consideration.

Q1: Which of these would you currently recommend to sell?
Q2: What would you consider your top 3 Consumer Staples to purchase?

Thanks in advance.

Q: if you could comment on recent earnings please. Also, given the drop, if a person is bullish on the Teck project getting an ok would this be a good time to step in?

Q: I hold the above equities. I have additional funds to allocate. Your suggestions please. Take this opportunity to thank Peter for a great job, very reliable.
I would not want to add to my positions in ECN.PR.A , ENB, PNG ,& LSPD because of weighting’s and/or risk.

Q: What would you include in a "hard asset" strategy to offset global currency devaluation? Obviously gold is a hedge, but what other sectors would you include - metals, materials (all commodities?), REITs, real estate, infrastructure holdings, maybe even utillities? Please include a few names to consider. Thanks.

Q: I own both parkland pki and pbh. would you switch from pki to atd.b at this juncture or perhaps add to pki?
Also would you suggest an alternative pick to pbh.
I am also looking at buying irdm but would like your opinion please.
Thank you.

Q: In answer to Nick on Feb 7 about the topic of "company share splitting", I thought the practice in the past had to do with a lower share price making it easier for the small investor to buy 50 or 100 share "board lots". Now with the ease and ability of buying even 1 share, the board lot issue has all but disappeared. Not sure...just my recollection....Steve

Q: What are a couple of your favorite Consumer Cyclical & Defensive stocks on the Canadian and US markets.
thanks
Joe

Q: Hi Peter / Ryan, do you know what reasons companies use to determine stock splits. I've heard the price of the share is to high so to allow more people access to it they split the shares. Now a lot of shares are over 500 dollars but they don't split, which shoots that reason out and some split more often than others, for example ATD.B gets to about 90 and they split, its happened twice since I've owned them. Banks used to split more often now they don't. Last time RY split it was around 90 now it's over 100 and still no split. Thanks, Nick

Q: Hello Gentlemen,
Are the above listed companies still buyable at this time?
Thank you

Q: On Feb. 3, a member wrote on the question board that "TD Waterhouse stopped coverage on GSY only because their analyst quit." Would a brokerage as large as TD completely drop coverage of a company if an analyst left their organization, or would they simply transfer coverage of the company to another analyst which they employed (or perhaps hire another analyst if the company in question could not be evaluated by analysts within their employ)? I would figure that any brokerage which offers analysis of publicly traded companies would not drop evaluation of a given company altogether due to one of their own analysts seeking employment elsewhere. I am curious to know your thoughts on this question. Thanks so much!

Q: Hello all,
My portfolio is largely based on your balanced portfolio with some stocks from your growth portfolio. I'm reviewing asset allocation in my portfolio and recognize that some stocks represent too much of my portfolio e.g., GSY which is currently almost 22% and is now a 4 bagger for me. I've always let winners run, but I recognize that this increases my risk. I've seen, in the past, that you typically do sell stocks to reduce allocation to a certain level. Is this a strict rule you follow or do you ever let a stock go until there's a concrete reason to sell it? Thank you as always for your great service.

Q: Would you provide a list of companies covered by 5i that fall under the Environmental, Social, Governance theme? Thank you.

Q: As concerns withholding tax on foreign-but-non-US dividends in registered accounts: the member's concerns are certainly valid, but it bears mention that a great number of ADRs also give holders the option of receiving dividends either as shares, or as shares converted immediately (by the issuer) to cash, neither of which option involves withholding taxes.

To be sure, this exposes you to risk as concerns the share price at the time shares are sold, but for corporations with liquid shares, this is unlikely to cause significant losses, and, certainly, should not cause losses anywhere near the tax hit.

The complication in this arrangement is that not all ADRs offer the most-tax-efficient option by default, i.e., for such ADRs you would need to give instructions to your broker prior to some cut-off date. This sort of information falls under the general heading of 'Corporate actions', i.e.: supposing you trade online, you would need to check your inbox for a corporate action notice re: the ADR in question.

Q: I will be spending a significant amount of time travelling for work. I was wondering if you had any podcasts you could recommend relating to financials and investing. Thank you

Q: What do you think of their latest guidence for the year.

Q: In the Macro economy numbers you publish, is the Canada GDP Growth Rate including inflation? In other words, is that a nominal growth rate or a real growth rate?

Thank you.

Q: EQB and ROKU are a couple of under-performers over the last while that I hold. With EQB, I read your questions and answers everyday and I have come across better stocks than this and I am wondering if I should just move on. I know any information I get from you on US stocks is a bonus but by doing the reading on the Questions & Answers, ROKU is one of the stocks that you used to like, hopefully you still do and there are just so many other US ones I read about that are doing better. What is your opinion on this? I really enjoy the service. Thanks Dennis

Q: Trying to decide what to do with the cash from selling TOY. Thoughts on moving this to a new position in GIL? I see they had a big drop in October. Any reasons to stay away? Or any other suggestions on what to do with this cash. This would be a new position in a TFSA.

Thanks

Q: I have some extra money to put to work and am looking at a 3 to 5 year time frame. From a total return prospective, please rank the above companies. Please add any helpful comments.
Much appreciated as usual. RAM

Q: Do you know when BIP.UN approx. date is for the split and also approx. date for the TSGI takeover?

thanks,
Paul