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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

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
Read Answer Asked by Philip on October 30, 2017
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?
Read Answer Asked by JEFF on October 30, 2017
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
Read Answer Asked by Rick on October 30, 2017
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
Read Answer Asked by Harold on October 30, 2017
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?
Read Answer Asked by pietro on October 30, 2017
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?

Read Answer Asked by Tom on October 30, 2017
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?
Read Answer Asked by Elliott on October 30, 2017
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.
Read Answer Asked by Alan on October 27, 2017
Q: With Aecon in the news, what is your opinion of IBG and should I instead focus on a large cap like STN? Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Michael on October 27, 2017
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
Read Answer Asked by john on October 27, 2017
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.
Read Answer Asked by Rajiv on October 27, 2017
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.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on October 27, 2017
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
Read Answer Asked by Peter on October 27, 2017
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
Read Answer Asked by Dorothy on October 27, 2017
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
Read Answer Asked by Brad on October 27, 2017
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