Investment Q&A

Q: In this market,your advice is to keep calm,& the best course is to do nothing if portfolio is set up properly.Please advise if there are any stock in my below portfolio that I should NOT own. CGX,CQE,CRR.UN,DRT,ET,INN.UN,KEL,PHM,SJ,CEF.A,MNW,RX,SYZ,XSR,SU,PFE(US),HSBC(US),AMD(us) Thanks a lot for your usual great services & views.

Q: Some general guidance please. In this stock market correction some of the 5i stocks have held up quite well. Examples include CSU, ESL, DSG, SJ, SYZ, FSZ. Some other stocks have been creamed. For allocating new funds at this time, do you think the best risk adjusted returns will come from adding to these strong positions or adding to the stocks that have been creamed? Or is is entirely a company specific decision? Thanks.

Q: Good Morning. I have built up a considerable amount of US cash over the past few years. Does it make sense to buy dual listed stocks in US? Do you have any favorite US names in large cap companies as well that I should consider trying to pick up at lower prices in the next weeks? Some names I'm considering are MG, TD, DIS, GILD, HD. I would like companies exposed to the US market such as health care and the US consumer. Thanks so much for your help!

Q: We are thinking of taking a 3% weighting in either CCL.B or AGU. Our US dollar weighting is currently around 20% which may be too low. We have cash and I would probably sell some ALA in which we are slightly overweight (6%). I suppose our bank stocks (BNS & TD) are inter listed on the NYSE so the shares could simply be transferred to increase the US dollar weighting and purchase CCL.B. I am aware AGU offers a better dividend than CCL.B. We don't own any agriculture stocks but have a number of industrials - MDA, NFI, WSP, ALC & LGT.B. I like all those companies and don't want to sell any of them. In fact I intend to buy more MDA & LGT.B. (I assume CCL.B is sort of an industrial stock). Do you have any random thoughts one way or the other?

Q: LGT.B dropped a bit last week. I own it and want to buy some more. It is a great company but a pretty thin trader. If something ever went wrong I know I would take a bit of a "haircut". We own about 27 different companies & ETF's - most of them large caps. I think ALC, LGT.B and SYZ are the smallest caps we own. ALC acts like a large cap even though it isn't. I'm waiting patiently on SYZ.
Is a 4% weighting too high for LGT.B?

Q: Can you give me your opinion on Pivot and their QR? Are they expensive? Is the outlook positive with the initiation of the dividend?

Q: Hello Peter
What is your recommendation with these market condition ?
I have almost all of the stocks in the 5i Balance and Growth model portfolios ,should i do nothing and ride the market and wait for the market to rebound ?
Please advise.

Kindest Regards

Claudio

Q: HI Peter
Buying a Canada/US Inter-listed stock in CAD your Canadian account, asking your broker to transfer it to your US account, then selling it in your US account to now receive the proceeds in USD, is called NORBERT'S GAMBIT, I believe. Justin Bender or Dan Bartolotti has written a detailed article about how to do this in TD, BMO, CIBC, Royal or Scotia accounts. This article can probably be accessed if one googles Norbert's Gambit, I believe. sarah

Q: Hi teanm. I have tried to find an answer in the Q and A's but can only find a bit. I have about 13% direct US holdings with US$. I have most of your 3 PFs (just a few of the Growth though). Can you list the holdings/stocks which have US exposure from all 3 PFs please. And do they count as some US exposure or do you suggest I have more direct? I prefer to try and not buy more US$ at this rate. I bought just before it dropped for Canada. I am semi retired with some fixed income. Thanks by the way for helping us keep calm....you're the BEST!

.....sorry..meant to ask for International as well within our PFS??

Q: Peter, it is my understanding that the Enbridge deal passed Aug 20 and is to close Sept 1. Do you think that may not happen? There web site says it will. I phoned them and they said it will? Ken

Q: What is your view of Agrium as a long term hold.

Q: I know you mainly look at Canadian companies...but could you have a look at this one. LL just released what I would view as critical results. The laminate flooring in question which has caused much of it's decrease in share price was just announced "Well within the normal range." That being said could you have a look at the balance sheet and what your thoughts of revenue could be with this behind them going forward. Also if you might know the cash on the balance sheet and any issue from this perspective going forward. Thank you for your great work. Jason N

Q: Back when you were running your hedge fund and you faced a market like we are currently experiencing can you tell us how you managed/modified your portfolio - did you sell low quality losers that were down a lot to buy high quality winners that were down less? did you lower the risk in your portfolio by buying lower beta dividend stocks or did you double down on your best small cap/high beta stocks that were down a lot? Did you buy in stages on the way down or did you wait for a catalyst that told you the market may have bottomed? Since I have 30% in cash just wondering how I should navigate this market. Thanks

Q: With the carnage that has been happening in the markets for the past few weeks, and the severe drops in the markets, I assume you would agree we are in correction mode. Looking into your crystal ball, just how much further do you expect markets to drop, and other than oil, what sectors are going to be effected.
As usual, thank for you insight!

Q: Peter what the cheapest / easiest way to convert Canadian $ to US dollars. I also need to keep the funds liquid. I recently sold my house and do not need the funds at present. Do you see further downside to the Canadian $.

Q: I have some stocks I only own half positions in as I was waiting for a market pullback to take them to full positions. Well the market pull back is here, but of course we don't know how much further the market will fall. How do you suggest I approach buying more. Should I buy it all now, half now, more later or wait until it seems things have bottomed?

One of the stocks I want to add to is CXI. Do you think the current price of 32 dollars is good value?

Q: Hi Peter and 5i Team,

I currently own a good amount of GUD, mainly due to management, large cash reserves and zero debt. It has performed excellent the past few days. I've seen stocks I have been watching such as WSP, SJ, AYA and IT sell-off sharply over this time. Do you think a partial switch out of GUD into any of these would make sense?

Thanks

Q: Looking at the current pullback as a future opportunity, what 10 companies in your coverage universe would you recommend as a purchase once the bloodletting stops. Do not worry about weighting or sector and whether or not they are an income or growth story.

Q: Where do we hide in this market?

Q: In a reply recently, you mentioned that there is no sign of a capitulation yet. Will you have a posting when you think capitulation has, or is, happening. Thanks