Investment Q&A

Q: From what i see in the comments of the last months, these 8 companies seems to be among your US favorite stocks.
1- am I right about those 8?
2- would you like to add a few US names, could be in any sectors
3- I buy companies with a 10 year + timeline. A lot of companies i'm interest in are in the technology sector and I tend to be overweighted in that sector. Its hard for me to imagine technology not directly corrolated to industrial or consumer staples growth for exemple. Does it make senses to you to balance a technology overweight (30-40%) portfolio by diversifying among the technology sub-sectors?
4- I understand that you focus on Canadian companies. I also understand that your are conflicting free and that you mostly invest in US stocks. However, I'm pretty sure that a significant proportions of 5i members would be willing to pay for some form of US stocks advices. Maybe a US portfolio or a US favorise stock list. (maybe with a minimum market cap limit so your decisions would still be conflict free) Your services are unique and are a benediction for small investors. It would be a great opportunity for us to have them for the US market too. I'm sure a survey among members would prove me right.

thanks again for your amazing services

Q: Comments on todays news? How would you speculate the stock will react?

Q: I have a 650 share holding in Aecon ,with a 20% gain? With stock trading roughly $3.50 below the takeover price , do you recommend holding on with the optimistic view that It will receive government approval ? And will it be difficult to get over the net benefit to Canada hurdle?
It seems like the Chinese company is carrying some baggage.
Thanks for the great service.
Philip

Q: Hi I am looking to do some tax loss selling. DGC DOWN 25%, GUD DOWN 13%, RNW DOWN 5%, ENB down 5% and SIS down 4%.
Could you give me some options to repurchase for each company if I decide to sell any or all of the above?

Q: Hello Peter,
I am very fortunate to have recently received an inheritance and am considering the following as inclusion into a TFSA. (SIS) Savaria, (SYZ) Sylogist, (ZCL) ZCL Composites, and (XTC) Exco Technologies.
I would appreciate any feedback you could offer regarding these considerations.
Thank you,
Rick

Q: I have held these loss stocks in my well-diversified portfolio for many years. I am willing to wait for a turnaround and do not need the cash. Which if any would you recommend selling now if you consider holding them to be a lost cause. Thank you

Q: Hello 5i, Can I get your assessment on Dol? It seems fully valued at this point. I have a 1/4 position and wondering when to to pull the trigger on this to buy more or should I but more. I like to hold for a few yrs or until the story does not make sense anymore. Is that the case for Dol?

Q: Has the market overreacted to the recent CCO loss? I have made some decent return buying on dips the past few years and selling several days/weeks later as the stock recovers to near its pre-dip low. Do you think this is another blip I can profit from very shorterm? Have I missed something major?

Q: For a 40 year old, starting to save for retirement. Currently have in an RRSP these stocks: TOY, ATD.B SIS and TD. Now have room for two more holdings. Can you suggest 2 or 3 please?

Q: I didn't know the markets were so emotional , TOY having sympathy for Toys R Us big drop today , what emotion would be attached to EIF's rather large gain today ??Confidence ? ..are short sellers finished with EIF? Have a great day.

Q: With Aecon in the news, what is your opinion of IBG and should I instead focus on a large cap like STN? Thanks.

Q: Hi 5i
Regarding the question asked by JS:
I think your answer is right on the money. I have been holding TransForce for a few years now and I saw some optimism and a bit of a run-up leading into the earnings. A slight miss had to be disappointing to many.
Another thing however, is that their package and courier revenue declined. Some holders of the stock, myself included, were hoping that that P&C would continue to grow with the growth of ecommerce. On a day where Amazon is showing huge gains in sales, we are not seeing that "trickle down" to the P&C business of TFII. In other words, TFI does not seem to be benefitting from the big gains in ecommerce generally. That's a problem because one would have liked growing P&C revenue to smooth out the ups and downs of trucking revenue. I think some investors don't see a primarily trucking play as long hold because it will be rather cyclical.
Anyhow, for what its worth I am holding, as the company still produces nice cash, pays down debt, buys back shares and has increased its dividend several times over the last few years.

Cheers
John

Q: Company just reported a great quarter with good guidance and a 20% dividend increase. Stock declines 3% any idea why?? looks like the dividend has gone from .40 to 2.40 this year alone

Q: I was reading your answer to an earlier question on FSV earnings. The diluted earnings per share were 0.42 vs 0.43 a year ago and expectations of .50 for the quarter.
Which metric would you consider more relevant - diluted eps or the adjusted eps of 0.74? I would appreciate if you could provide the reasoning as it applies to FSV.
Expensive no doubt, but would you consider it a buy?
Regards.

Q: My company has announced an employee share offer plan. I would like your opinion on the pros and cons of employee share offer plans in general, and specifically on the plan being offered to me.

I work for a large European company (20B euro market cap; 65,000 employees in 50 countries), and the stock trades in Europe. This is not a small start-up company.

The key terms of the offer are: (a) 20% discount on the share price, (b) 1 free share for every 4 shares subscribed up to 10 matching shares, (c) account management fees paid by the company, (d) investment locked-in for 5 years (to Dec 2022) (except in the case of early redemption). I really don’t like being locked in for 5 years, but I guess that is the price to pay for a 20% discount.

I have been burned before on an employee share offer program (dot com era), so am always questioning why companies ask employees for help. The employer always promotes how good it is for employees (e.g. 20% discount), but what is in it for the company? If the company needs to raise money why not just go to the stock market? I don’t buy the pride of ownership in the company you work for, blah, blah, at least not with a very large company (I am one of 65,000 employees).

I am skeptical when employers tell employees how great something is for them. Been burned before 15 years ago when they told us how great it is for us to switch from a DB pension plan to a DC pension plan. They neglected to tell us how much better it is for them if we switched from the DBPP to the DCPP.

p.s. Maybe one day you can do a blog on pros and cons of employee share offers, and what an employee should look out for.

Q: Good morning

Thinking about the possible divestitures that POT will likely make to get approval of the merger. Are assets in situations like this typically sold before or after the merger?

If the assets are sold after the merger and at a premium to book value, it would seem the premium would be shared among shareholders of both companies even though the premium was not anticipated at the time the company values were set for the merger.

It would make more sense to me to sell prior to the merger and distribute the premium over book to the POT shareholders. Of course, if the premium is insignificant then it is a moot point.

Anyway, just curious to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for all your help.
Peter

Q: I own all three of these companies. I am up 10% in WSP, 10% in CCL.B and 13% in RCI.B I want to add to one of them, which one would you suggest?
Thanks for your help. Dorothy

Q: Hi ,Earning growth is one of the many factors leading to price going up. Will you please list 10 companies with high earning growth with moderate to low risk for the next few years. Your wisdom is mostly appreciate. Is there a web site that have such information ?

Q: Hi, I’m getting a little disappointed in oil a gas sector and really do think it is more a liability ,as time and technology eats away at the sector.
I have Tog and Wcp 7% and thinking of selling Tog with a loss of 25%, an putting it in healthcare or Tech.
Would you agree with this switch, and what would you recommend.
Thanks, Brad

Q: Comments on TFII earnings please. Looks good but not sure how good.