Investment Q&A

Q: Peter and Associates,

I read your responses to members daily and find them most interesting and highly useful. My question this morning has to do with Spin Master(TOY). You regularly get questions on it and from what I read you think rather highly of the company as an investment.

With technological advances, we are seeing a lot of changes in the retail landscape due to impacts in buying habits and preferences at all age levels. Reading your comments on Corus is a good example of change and the consequences suppliers must adapt or at least deal with. Toys are Us just announced it went into bankruptcy protection. No doubt more than one factor explains why.

As grandparents, what entertains today’s children is rather different to their parents! Might TOY become a victim of this change and could Toys are Us prove to be a form of leading indicator? Or, might more typical business explanations or Amazon explain the problems at Toys are Us?

Beyond the obvious potential impact from the loss or cutback of a major distribution channel at the retail level, is/are there reason(s) for concern that suppliers to the toy market will be facing serious headwinds? Or is this simply a front line retailer facing viability problems in a changing landscape?

Thank you

Mike

Q: Hi,

What are your thoughts about Open Text's growth prospects in the next year or two?

If the growth is anticipated to be low and the return is going to be just the dividend, maybe I should look elsewhere.

Are there better growth/income options in the tech sector?

Thanks,

Gord

Q: 5i Team,

Thanks for your service.

My portfolio is made up of your balanced equity portfolio + several growth portfolio companies, some large cap US companies & some equity portfolio companies. Very balanced with a hedge towards growth.

I have big winners all over the place, thank you!!!!

I am however down big (approx. 50% each) on 3 small cap names: AT, CRH & ITC.

They are now about 0.5% weightings.. fairly insignificant to my portfolio and I am wrestling with whether I top them up... leave them alone as is... sell and consolidate it into other names in my portfolio (ie. CLS, PKI & CAE comes to mind right now)... etc.

I have no tax benefit to sell as they are all in registered / TFSA accounts.

My question is how confident are you in these names? For a riskier investor, would you be ok with top ups to 1% weightings today? Should I just let them sit and maybe top up during tax loss season in a month or two? Or just sell?

Thank you for your guidance.

Q: Hi,
I have owned OTEX in the past. I recently bought it again around $44 after last earnings report which was good. Since then the stock has been sliding for no apparent reason. Momentum is negative. It recently bought Guidance Software. I thought it may recover but still hovering in low $39s range. I do not like to average down, but if I was looking at it as a fresh investment, it would give me pause to consider. Your thoughts please.

Q: Hi Peter and Team,
Please give your advice on XTC going forward. Would you think this is a good entry point here for this stock?
Thanks

Q: I do not currently hold a position in CSU. Do you fee there is sufficient upside potential to justify buying shares at the current price?

Q: What is the likely impact of Toysrus closure on TOY. If the stores close there would be less shelf space for TOY products. What do you think.

Q: Do you think that a company like premium brands would split their shares now that they have reached the $100 level? I know it makes no difference but retail investors tend to buy when the price is lower so that they can buy more shares.

Q: Hi, There are a number of stocks in the 5i balanced portfolio that I don't have yet. If I were to buy only three from the following list, which three would you pick for its growth and its value? My portfolio is well diversified so the sector allocation isn't a big concern:

GC, AIF, BYD.UN, CAE, CLS, PKI, SYZ, or GSY, PHO, ECN,

thanks

Q: Could you elaborate on your answer today to Alan regarding CSU debentures. I am not familiar with debentures...Am I correct in understanding they are like bonds but have no rights to any of the Company's assets if things go wrong ? Other downsides?
Would you recommend the CSU debenture as part of one's fixed income ? You mention liquidity, but not sure how poor that is ? How would I find out more information about the CSU debenture - length of term, etc. I use a discount broker - is it possible to buy through them ?
Any other information that you think would be pertinent would be most appreciated. Many thanks as always.

Q: NFI has been dropping for the last month. Is there any particular reason?

Thanks for your valuable info and advice.

Q: Appreciate your views on CSU debentures. They seem to guarantee 6.5% plus the inflation rate, so have been yielding 7.5-8%. Seems like a good vehicle for income. Thx

Q: Why is CCL.B being hit hard since its recent $68.47 high in mid June?Is this the time to enter a position? Appreciate u normal great services & opinions.

Q: Magna seems to be on a bit of a roll the last few weeks? Do you know why and is this momentum sustainable or an opportunity to take profits?
Thank you
Maggie

Q: Hi 5iResearch Team,

I have started a position on SHOP since this past January and have been adding to my position since. I am currently up by about 100% on my total holdings and now it accounts for about 5% of my total portfolio. I am debating if I should take some money off SHOP and put the proceed on something else (preferably with a dividend). May I please have your thoughts on this and if you can also recommend a company to buy with the proceed from the sale of SHOP should I decide to trim my holdings on SHOP>

Best Regards,

Q: The couch potato portfolio has an annualized return of about 4% and the cms portfolio has an annualized return of about 7%. Would you please compare the returns of the two portfolios for a common time period ie the couch potato portfolio has gone though the 2008/2009 period while the cms portfolio did not exist at that time. Thanks

Q: Hi Team,
Looking at the charts of these companies- 5, 10 & 20 years ago, they had a very high peak which diminished to today's prices (fraction of their high prices)
Since you are positive toward these companies today, how relevant is to look at their history? (Peter used the performance history of a company as a negative sign)
Thanks,
Moe
Morris

Q: An insider sold a block of 31 million non voting on Friday. Thoughts?

Q: Hello,

PTG announced a partnership with Moogsoft recently which the market seems to like. Moogsoft looks like a very interesting AI software company. Moogsoft is private, but from what I can find publicly, appears to be doing very well. Your thoughts on the partnership?

Regards,

Robert

Q: Please advise on methodology for new members entering into 5I research model portfolios. Do you ease in with multiple steps based on 5I recommendations of new positions or jump into the entire portfolio? Presently the TSX is in a downtrend and I would probably wait for 10 period exponential crossover of a 50 period simple moving average prior to entry.
Thank You,
George