Investment Q&A

Q: A highly regarded economist/strategist recently recommended going overweight consumer staples, energy and utilities for 2020. Can you please provide your top picks for these sectors considering their current valuations??

Q: Ignoring taxes, cash requirements, sector allocation, on a straight-up basis, for a minimum one-year hold, which of the above-listed equities would it be prudent to currently sell,buy, or hold? Thank You

Q: I am interested in your view on the best strategy for selling stocks to raise cash in a non-registered account. I am looking to sell 1% of my total portfolio, and my thinking is to either A) take this out of one or both of two stocks that are the largest (each about 5%) weighting in my portfolio or B) sell my least favourite, lowest weighting, stocks (energy producers) with 3 stocks comprising 3% total weighting.

With option A) I could pare one of my largest holdings back to 4% or both of them back to 4.5%. One stock is ENB, in which I have a 30% gain and the other stock is AAPL, in which I have a 350% gain. ENB pays a 6% dividend, which I am reluctant to lose, and which benefits from the dividend tax credit. AAPL pays a 1% dividend, which is fully taxable and easier to give up, but I will have to pay a sizeable capital gains tax. I have no stocks with losses that I can sell to offset the gains. You have always advocated hanging onto winners, and both of these stocks are "winners" in a way, one for income and the other for growth.

With option B) I could sell half my energy producer holdings. I bought the energy stocks as a "lottery ticket," expecting at least a double if and when energy prices rebound. I hold CVE (up 25%), ERF (breakeven) and WCP (up 32%). They are roughly equal weight, so I could achieve my goal of selling 1% of my portfolio by selling just one of these three stocks.

Which stock(s) would you recommend I sell and why?

Q: I noticed in one of the questions asked yesterday there was the following disclosure: Authors of this answer have a financial or other interest in AAPL, AMZN, GOOG at the time of answering this question. This seems new any reasons to start including it?

Also as you give us great quality names such as SHOP which is up over 1700% since it is inter listed can you by the US listed shares ? Or is the team not allowed to buy inter-listed companies?

Q: In my well diversified portfolio, ignoring taxes and cash requirements, which of the above equities would it prudent to be sell or add to currently? Thank you.

Q: Could you please tell me the difference in these choices? Are all dividends paid by all the Brookfield entities in US dollars. Thanks so much.

Q: I currently hold RUS, TFII and SIS for my industrials. How would you rank the above industrials and should I be making changes?

Q: Hello Peter, Asked this question over weekend, but may be lost somewhere so asking again.
As part of a balanced portfolio in TFSA, which of these are worthy of new money in order of preference ( FROM TOTAL RETURN PERSPECTIVE - 3 YEAR TIME FRAME), I own all of these but low in weights. X, NFI, TOY,NTR,QSR,SIS, ATD.
Or if anyone else you like better.
Also, if any of these is a outright sell and re-allocate into others.

Q: I am interested in buy some shares of Brookfield Properties or Brookfield Asset Management. What are you thoughts on the various Brookfield companies. Thanks.

Q: Hi 5i team,

During the fall, I saw several questions on stock metrics, so I thought I would follow up before earnings season starts again, as I notice differences between business sites, depending on assumptions. I tend to defer to the Companies section as that is what you use in your answers, I believe.

In the Companies data, are the PE ratios and the various Price to Comparisons TTM or forward looking? I use Price to Sales all the time for those tech stocks that do not show any earnings. Would you view around 10X as getting expensive or under which offers relative “value”, if I can use that term for tech stocks? I notice in a recent question, you mentioned LSPD, one of your favourites, but that trades over 30 times. I really don’t use the Price to Cash Flow or Free Cash Flow ratios. They seem to be all over the map, with wide variances, so I have trouble interpreting their significance. Which one do you prefer and what would be a general threshold for getting expensive?

Thanks again for the insight.
Dave

Q: I got quite a lot of Power Financial and I want to sell some to invest more into the US market. Would you advise selling now or waiting until the merger concludes in February?

Q: Could you please explain to me why Bam. has such a small dividend at1.1%, compared to Bip. at 4.08 and Bep at 4.46. Also, which of the three might fare better in a downturn. Thanks, Ken

Q: Hi, what is the outlook for CNR in 2020? I have a small position, about 1%. It has not moved much since 15 months ago and I would sell unless there was growth expected in 2020. If sell, I would move the funds to another sector, possibly buying gsy. Many thanks for the great service.

Q: Happy New Year 5i. Thanks for the great work. Can I please request your opinion on Slack and Pinnacle Renewable for new equity positions today.

Thank you.

G

Q: Hi 5i team,

Both GDI and FSV are in the building service industry. If I can only buy one, giving the growth and revenue projection, the balance sheets. the management, which would be your preference and why for a 3 years hold. Thanks.

Q: Saputo has a significant investment in Australia. How much has the fires affected the supply of milk and the distribution of its products in that country?
The company annually increases its dividend a very modest amount and the share price remains quite flat. In light of the above is SAP still a hold?
Thanks for your great advice.
Ian

Q: For the more passive investor have you considered a small portfolio of ETF's that complement each other and provide a steady flow of income? I have stocks in addition to 4 ETF's yet I'm not sure if the ETF's I have are a good 'set' or have too much overlap. Maybe an addition to the 3 Portfolios you have now, one made up of X number of ETF's.

Q: What is your outlook for WCN? Buy hold or sell? It has been trending sideways after a good long run.

Q: I was reviewing my portfolio and thinking about 2020. Right now I have a large cash position and will want to invest some of that next year. But in what stocks?

An interview with Sir John Templeton on ROBTV many, many years ago came to mind and it may be a good advice for others.

Sir John was asked when was a good time to buy a stock and he stated "at the point of maximum pessimism".

Then he was asked when was a good time to sell a stock and he replied "you sell a stock when you find a better stock to buy."

I hope I can remember that advice as we move into and through 2020.

Q: Can you tell us what the final 2019 returns are for the TSX and S&P 500? Thx