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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: Very disappointed in yet another 5i pick in the income portfolio down substantially until a final sell recommendation is released.
You state: "With declining equity markets, lower assets under management and increasing competitiveness in the Canadian financial industry, we have decided to sell Gluskin Sheff"
My question is, why did you recommend it in the first place? All the items applied when you decided to add it to the income portfolio. Seems another stock where you were simply chasing yield without dying proper DD.
Read Answer Asked by Curtis on January 21, 2019
Q: Hi there, I'm looking to replicate your balanced equity portfolio with a few adjustments for a slightly higher tilt towards growth. I have a 2 part question: Would AQN be a suitable substitute for ENB for an investor? Also, what other more conservative names in your balanced equity portfolio would you swap out for higher growth names at this time?

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Michael on January 21, 2019
Q: Hello there ,
Do you think Mark Leonard of CSU has ever thought of selling CSU and starting again? As Constellation gets larger and larger one would think their growth rate will slow. It might be a challenge to have the same success in the next 10 years as he has had in the last 10 years. I know he has identified tens of thousands of potential takeover targets, do you think it makes sense to sell CSU and start CSU part 2? A new company could be valued back at $25/share and one would think he could double to $50 quickly and again to $100 starting from scratch quicker than $1000 to $2000? So many more deals need to be made now and much larger deals potentially to move the needle. Thoughts?
Thank-you
Read Answer Asked by Chris on January 21, 2019
Q: Can you please identify if any 5i stocks in your 3 portfolios are "zombies" as defined by the following quote from Cresat:

" Crescat calculates that about 80 percent of Canadian non-financial stocks have been cash-flow negative in the past 12 months, which he measures as cash flow from operations minus capital expenditures.

That may be inflated by the the large numbers of “zombie” companies on Canadian stock exchanges, which the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development defines as those 10 years and older and whose earnings aren’t high enough to cover interest payments on their debts. In a September study, Deloitte found 16 percent of public companies on the Toronto Stock Exchange and its sister Venture Exchange are considered zombies, compared with 10 percent globally.
Costa said even if he excludes energy and materials stocks, 70 percent of Canadian stocks have still lost money on a free cash-flow basis. If you consider only non-financial stocks with a market value of more than $100 million, the share is still more than 50 percent, he said."
Read Answer Asked by Steve on January 18, 2019
Q: Good morning,

I am struggling with the recommendation to sell WCP at current levels in exchange for Suncor.

Consensus ratings for WCP: 18 buys/1 hold.
12M target price: $8.68, or ~ 86% return from current levels.

Consensus ratings for SU: 23 buys/6 holds.
12M target price: $53.65, or ~ 26% return from current levels.

Suncor is a great company – no doubt. And I get that the recommendation does tie in nicely with upgrading to a "higher grade" energy play. But just wondering that when energy does turn if makes sense to continue to have exposure to the lower cap, higher beta WCP. I just really hate to sell here.

Read Answer Asked by Trevor on January 18, 2019
Q: I sold DOL for tax loss reasons at the end of 2018. And now I am allowed to buy back, given the elapsed CRA time period is over. You recently mentioned DOL is a wait and show me company. How would I know went this "wait and show me" period is behind? Is it too early to buy DOL now?.....Thanks Tom
Read Answer Asked by Tom on January 18, 2019
Q: Regarding the recent news on "internet gambling" in the USA. My understanding is this is in relation to online games of chance essentially, not sports gambling and not poker. Is this correct? I thought the most hype/hope in the USA for TSGI is legalized sports betting gaining large traction among most States. If this is the case then I would think this is not a big deal?
Read Answer Asked by Michael on January 17, 2019
Q: I am a senior dividend investor, and try to have holdings in the 5% range for dividends from about 15 to 20 stocks. At the moment I am heavy on the pseudo utilities side (PPL, AQN, ENB, RNW), and do not have any core financial holdings. I am looking at trading my AQN for BNS, on the theory that the dividend is similar, and the current short-term upside for BNS is better with any sort of comeback (just surmising from the 52 week highs of each obtained, not any analysis of Payout Ratio or such). I would appreciate your thoughts.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on January 17, 2019
Q: Good morning: If we follow your suggestions to buy and sell in your recent Balance and Income portfolio's, and a lot of members do, the cost of rebalancing is high. In this case nearly a $100 in commissions to sell and buy. Do you account for this when you make your suggestions??
I am also having trouble with your suggestion to buy 1% of this and 2% of that stock. If the goal is to get to 5% over time, that's also a lot of commission fees. There has to be a better way to diversify without paying so much fees.
Read Answer Asked by Jean on January 17, 2019
Q: All the above is what I have in portfolio with equal weightings. I purchased all stocks 1 year ago. I am down on all except for SHOP and BYD. TOY is Down the most. Do you recommend to sell any of these stocks? What new stock would you recommend to add to a tfsa for growth?
Please deduct credit as you feel appropriate.
Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by D on January 16, 2019