Investment Q&A

Q: I have small positions in FFH and OCX, 1% in each. As a long term investment I would like to build each to 5%. I would appreciate your opinion on this strategy. If you agree with this weighting would you recommend adding another 3% now? Thank you.

Q: Could you provide an update on LGT.B please? It has fallen off in the past year since I bought it. I was thinking to add to my position. It makes up a small portion of my portfolio.

Thank you

Q: For an investor not sure if they will retire in 10, 15, or 20 years with no need for funds before then put definitely needing growth in order to retire, what portion, if any, of a portfolio would you put into fixed income. I can tolerate portfolio losses. The way I have been constructing the portfolio is to have about 30-40% in more solid dividend growth stocks such as BNS, BIP, JNJ, POW, etc. I have considered this more of the 'fixed income' part of the portfolio although I know that this is clearly not investing in debt instruments. I would appreciate you comments. Lets assume the 15 year scenario for simplicity. Thanks for the help!

Q: For a long term hold in an income account, would a switch from WSP Global to National Bank make sense?

Q: The price of Transat is up. Do you think it would be a good time to sell. Ron

Q: Because the CAD $ is steady at a 40% Discount to the US$, I just can't get myself to buy some good opportunities in US stocks. Am I wrong? If I buy a share @ $100US, it is costing me 140CAD......so the stock will need to appreciate by 40% just for me to break even!

Thanks

Q: I am building a portfolio of dividend paying stocks as a source of revenue for retirement in a few years. Am I correct that in the consumer staples area (where I am under weight), your top picks at this time would be ADW.A and PBH? Or would you go for something larger for more stability (e.g. L)?

Also, I observe that your sample portfolios run to two pages but I think you suggest 20-25 stocks is a good number for most of us. Have I missed something?

Q: Hello team,

Thanks as always for your valued insights.

Can you please comment on ATA in general terms and speak specifically to today's announce deal. Is this not the sort of deal that could give the name a serious tailwind?

Q: Hello Peter, I need your help to rank the above with respect to safety, income and growth for 2-3-years.
Many thanks, J.A.P.,Burlington

Q: To Peter:

You may wish to respond privately, if you feel this question is too long, and not of interest to anyone else. For me, it is very important. If you do publish it, I apologize to those members who feel that some questions are "way too long". To them I say: please skip ahead to the next question. : )

I like to be an informed consumer in all aspects of the market, and that includes the Stock Market, so that's why I buy into 5I and its philosophy. You provide exceptional value in helping "the consumers" of the stock market wade through all the gobbledy-gook of business-speak. A very technical term, I realize, for industry jargon. In that vein I need some clarification.

I've bought into -- both literally and figuratively -- the growth stories of Constellation Software, Enghouse, and Open Text, with nice returns. Thanks very much.

However, I don't know at all if I'm participating in an act of "department of redundancy department", because the jargon is drowning me.

In your report on Constellation Software, you state that it is a "global provider of enterprise software ...[which] ... manages and acquires vertical maket software solutions."

Your report on Enghouse states that it "develops enterprise software for a variety of vertical markets" and "specializes in customer interaction software and services".

You do not cover Open Text, as such, but the most I could glean from its own website is that it specializes in "information management software ...[that] helps businesses attain a 360 degree view of their big data and analytics by streamlining organizational workflow."

Huh????

Wading through this miasma of language, given that I am not a techie nor an MBA, the closest I can figure is that Enghouse provides some sort of software to expedite functions in call centers.

The other two escape me completely. They're very successful at what they do, obviously, and I'm glad of that, but ... what DO they do? With all due respect, their websites are drowning in as much jargon as are your reports. I don't mean that facetiously -- I just think investors are drowning in so much "industry speak" that they don't often know what they're buying -- they just go on gut instinct, and the recommendation of trusted managers, if they are lucky enough to find one.

Could you provide a plain-speak response to this, please?

Apart from being interested in the companies themselves, I would like to know if I'm simply duplicating an investment strategy by buying all three, because they may all be doing the same thing, and all seem to be "leaders in their space" ???

Thanks so much!

Sylvia F.

Q: FYI re Wi-Lan activity and price appreciation. A lot of share buyback re NCIB from Feb 12 to 26. WIN bot about 1,000,000 shares in the range $1.78 to $2.31. (There goes 2 million of the 96). Last year they only bot a total of 125,000 total on the NCIB.
What I find interesting is the recent rights offers to insiders.
Jan 31, 2016 rights issued to Directors at $1.85 and
Feb 3, 2016 rights issued to the CEO, CFO & other officers at $1.63
By my calculations, Skippen gained about $170,000. & several other officers gained about $60,000. + in the last 3 weeks (assuming 1 right can purchase 1 share).
Why don’t right show in the holdings list for insiders?.
How can we find information on rights issues? I never see a news release with this info. How long do rights usually last and are there rules re pricing? The above gains are almost criminal after the dividend cut.
Appreciate your comments.

Q: It seems tornado damage is on the increase in US. I was thinking wef may benefit in helping with the rebuilding on top of any rebound in new construction. Are there any companies or etfs you would recomend based on this thesis

Q: Hi Peter and Team! Like Bryan, I have read Peter Schiff's doom and gloom articles. Food for thought at times, but is he not peddling his own investment company as well? I have been reading the various authors on seeking alpha, Peter Schiff being one of them. You can get those that say we are going to hell in a hand basket and should invest in underground bunkers, to those on the other end of the spectrum that think everything is rosy...and those in between. I figure we have faced uncertainty before and the industrialized world is still standing. So in my naïveté , I will stay calm and carry on. Cheers, Tamara

Q: Do you recommend using trailing stops? And if so, what levels would you recommend setting them at?

Q: I like reading the articles that you put in the Financial Post
Five reasons the stock market is plain weird is good
Thanks Charlie

Q: I have a question about stock quotes in general using TNC as an example. I often see quotes and %gains/losses that don't seem to make sense. As an example, if I look at quotes for TNC this morning across a variety of platforms, I see a price of $1.86 for a gain of 3.91%. If you look at the numbers however, it opened at $1.85 for a 0.01 gain - but this would only be 0.5% gain, nowhere near 3.91%

Just checking again now, the quote is $1.83, which should be a two cent loss, or 1.08% loss, but it's showing a gain of 2.23% on the day. What's going on?

Q: Hello.
I would like to ask you to put your Income Investor Hat on for this question. But in saying that, I have to add that I am not willing to be an Income Investor who gives up Capital value just to collect an income stream.

The situation is one you may have seen before....... Significant number of BCE shares held in Senior's investment account. To identify the sensitivity of the situation, the amount affords dividend payments that exceed combined company pension and CPP together. The BCE income stream affords the lifestyle as it is today.
This is great except for the lack of diversification and the associated risk of a single stock position being so large.

The question to start, I have to ask whether for a senior who has been comfortable for over 50 years investing in a single stock, does a third party even talk about diversification?
If yes, from what you see here how would one go about identifying investment choices and creating a diversified portfolio with similar attributes as BCE has offered throughout these years. (Bonds not currently desired due to low income yield - And the Pension Plan is already an excellent Bond proxy)

Given the Market activity over the past 14 months and BCE price holding up while other dividend paying investments are declining in price/ increasing yield, I sense this is a good time to begin this diversifying activity.

Thanks for the effort you put into offering us all Market and Stock insights.
Dave

Q: I would appreciate some clarification to your answer to my question.
My guess is that you are telling me that I do in fact have a 22% Energy weighting.
Am I correct in saying that?
If so then I suspect that when Oil turns around I will look like a genius!
BUT in the meantime I am more concerned given the fact that your recommended weighting is 5% for Energy.
My goal is reasonably safe dividend income(you've heard that so many times recently) and all of the stocks I had mentioned pay decent dividends.
I am underweight Financials (10% weight) and Industrials (14% weight) compared to your recommended weightings. Otherwise I am pretty much in line with your recommended weights by sector.
I am also 30% cash right now.
Based on this information, what would you suggest I do?

Thanks again.

Q: The second part of my question was....
Would you recommend buying POT at this time for an investor who is looking for income and long term capital growth?
Thanks.

Q: What do you think of their latest results. Is this a good stock for income and some growth.