Investment Q&A

Q: Can I get your present view on this company? Any suggestions for a replacement that might have better growth prospects? Thanks.

Q: with avo recent large contracts would you consider it a strong buy
and when do they report fourth quarter. thanks donald.

Q: Thank you for all your solid advice - you really provide a great service. I am concerned about the lack of activity/inaction with GUD. Is there a timeframe you deem appropriate before you downgrade this company due to inactivity?

Q: With Savaria being in an industry with tailwinds might a larger medical services try and asquire them?? Thx

Q: Does 5i have any concern about the tie between offshore accounts and Loblaws ?? I am getting nervous about Loblaw .. could you please offer your insight to this on going saga? And if you were going to switch out L in the Income Portfolio what would you switch to? Thanks for all you do.

Q: Hello
Stock analysts are predicting a dividend cut. Here are the comments of one analyst: " It was always viewed as a steady dividend payer but it is over 100% payout ratio now. They have a slowing growth business and will have to cut the dividend. If you saw a dividend cut that would probably be the day to buy it."

What are your views? Is there a dividend cut coming?
Would you recommend holding or selling?
Thanks

Q: Please comment on their results. The stock is down sharply. What do you think the prospects are over the next 2 to 3 years.

Q: Hello 5i Research team,
I am always suspicious when a company does not provide or comment its quarterly results in its press release. As I do not think there is some seasonality, I am comparing q4-17 vs q3-17 : quarterly revenue growth dropping from 58% to 27%; gross margin dropping from 54% to 36%; sales and marketing as a % of revenue increase from 14% to 22%; administration as a % of revenue increase from 19% to 30%; operating cash flow before changes in working capital was negative 0,2 M$ vs positive 1,5 M$ for the first 9-months.
Echelon forecasted 2,8 M$ in revenue, 0,6 M$ in EBITDA (very large miss). Could you comment on my analysis? Could you comment on management and board members quality and credibility? Is it a classic case of a growing company having some growing (pains) expenses before some more revenue growth or is this the first signs a management team that is bad at manage expenses? With a year-end of September, the stock has been under presssure since mid-October, it looks like some knew about weaker results, and traded. Would you agree that trading looks suspicious since mid-October? Is PTE still worthy of being included in your growth portfolio or the small cap basket allocation of your clients? Immediate sell order or they invested for future growth?
Thank you for your collaboration, Eric

Q: Results

Q: Just to note that there was also a ratings upgrade on CSU per Globe Investor on Tuesday:
Scotia Capital analyst Paul Steep upgraded Constellation Software Inc. (CSU-T) to "sector outperform" from "sector perform." Mr. Steep increased his target to $850 from $740. The average target is currently $750.

Q: BNS is the worst performer of the big 5 plus NA.It ranks #5 on 1yr return @ 6.1%,last on 3mo.@ 2% & 1mo @ 1.5%(as @ Jan 11/18 per TR).Recently a $2.9b acquistion of BBVA's Chile franchise.It is a fact that the above 6 banks takes turn to lead.So it is time to buy some BNS.Thanks for u usualgreat services & views.

Q: Hi guys,

I have been holding on to ITC patiently but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere? Is it time let go of it and if so do you have any replacement suggestions?

Thanks again

Q: In your model portfolios you hold almost 100% Cdn companies with little allocation to US or International. Can you speak to why when the industry is constantly preaching to diversify outside Canada.
Thanks
Mike

Q: Just a comment on reason for GS share price down today.
GS had a news release yesterday. Net Outflows accelerated in Q2/F18 to their highest level in over five years, thus validating our concerns surrounding the recent departure of key portfolio manager Ms. Jeannine LiChong (responsible for managing ~22% of GS' AUM at Q1/F18) which was announced early in the quarter (Oct. 10th).
Publish as you wish.
Thanks
Victor

Q: DOES THIS 4% DROP TODAY LOOK LIKE AN OVER REACTION TO THE INTEREST RATE HIKE OR IS SOMETHING ELSE GOING ON. I AM DOWN A LITTLE AND WOULD LIKE TO ADD MORE Thx James

Q: Hi Peter and Ryan,
Would you consider Chesswood group a long term hold as the stock hardly moves and if it does, it is to the downside. It does have a nice dividend but given its performance, it is not a good enough reason to keep it. Your thoughts please. Also, i am thinking of increasing my weight to 5 percent for Savaria or Constellation software. I am leaning towards Savaria (growing sector, decent dividend, good momentum), but your thoughts please. Thanks very much.

Q: NWC has dropped more than 10% in the last 6 weeks at quite high volumes relative to previous volumes. Do you have any ideas as to why, given that there has been no news recently concerning this company? Is it sensitivity to rising interest rates? My intent is to buy a half position short term and a full position longer term, but I'm reluctant to buy with what appears to be a "falling knife" situation. How would you recommend one proceed, given my trading costs are low? Wait for the price to stabilize or a partial buy?
Thanks for any suggestions which you are able to make.

Q: Constellation buys Acceo for C$250MM which might represent around $30-40MM of EBITDA. Whereas today CSU's market cap goes up $1.1B on a generally soft day. I'm pleased as CSU is one of my larger positions, however, is this market reaction seem appropriate to you or is something else going on? Or am I just over-analysing things? Thanks!

Q: My father recently sold his share in his company. He knows I manage my investments myself (with your help of course thank you!) and asked me if I wanted to manage part of the resulting cash. It represents 400K$ that he doesn't need for his retirement income. I was thinking of using the Balanced Equity portfolio. I am about start initiating positions. Do you think it's better to buy over several months to spread the timing risk or just buy all at once? At the moment what would be your top 5 stocks based on growth and overall company quality?

Q: When are the results expected and could you post street estimates, please ? Also, how much is the insiders ownership in the company ? Thanks