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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: I bought Whitecap and SPE a month ago for the grandchildrens RESP. Are you satisfied these things are ok for the long run?
Read Answer Asked by Nick on October 15, 2014
Q: My partner and I currently have about 16% of all stocks we own in RRSP, Non Registered and TFSA accounts as Canadian oil and gas (excluding oil service, pipelines, etc.). I have brought this down from 19% based on a previous recommendation from 5i. Within the oil and gas stocks I hold, 45% are in Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ), 24% in Suncor (SU), 12% in Husky (HSE), 10% in Cenovus (CVE), 3% in Vermillion (VET), 2% each in Paramount (POU) and Tourmaline (TOU) and 1% in Enerplus (ERF). I feel I probably have too many oil and gas companies in my portfolio and would like your thoughts in consolidating. Reading your previous posts, I get the sense that all of these are good companies thus there isn’t a compelling reason to sell any. However, it seems from your posts that some of my smaller holdings and perhaps Surge and Whitecap, could be increased at the expense of some of the majors with the reason being higher growth for some of the smaller companies. Can you give me your thoughts on the best thing to do with my oil and gas holdings? You suggested some time ago that the larger companies would hold up better during a market downturn. Based on this logic it seems like a perfect time to reduce holdings in some of the bigger names and buy some of the beaten down smaller companies.
Read Answer Asked by ED on October 14, 2014
Q: Hello 5i Team;
Oil sector is beaten down. Please select 2 stocks among the following you like. I can wait for 1 year.
RIG, BTE, CNQ, CPG, ERF

Thanks a lot.
Read Answer Asked by Shah on October 14, 2014
Q: Please comment on the dramatic negative impact on TAO share price since announcing the abandonment of the deep well project. Tag continues to increase daily BOE production and share price plunges. Your thoughts please
Read Answer Asked by Glenn on October 14, 2014
Q: Hi Peter and team

Could you give me your opinion on Gear Energy. Paul Harris mentioned favorably on BNN and it has an outperform rating from RBC who recently removed their speculative risk qualifier.

Thanks

Ross
Read Answer Asked by Ross on October 14, 2014
Q: What is your outlook for Ithaca the stock has been slammed hard in this downturn.
Read Answer Asked by Keith on October 14, 2014
Q: May I have your opinion on this fund. I realize the fees are higher that you like. It pays a good dividend, has a book value of $ 6.24 It has always paid its distribution even during the 2008 - 09 market decline.
If there is a better stock with a similar dividend in the oil sector please advise.
Read Answer Asked by Pete on October 14, 2014
Q: Hi Peter any thought on the upcoming Seven Generation IPO?
Read Answer Asked by steve on October 14, 2014
Q: Good morning....At what per barrel would the oil stocks "most likely" be required to look at cutting dividends....ie. CPG, SYG,WCP etc...what can they be sustained at?

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Matthew on October 14, 2014
Q: hello 5i Team,

First, am loving the correction and the opportunities it is providing. With that in mind I would like to hear your thoughts on PRW.

There is tons of commentary regarding the BC LNG proj and the probabilities of it moving forward in the foreseeable future. There is no question it would do much for the BC economy. For every positive comment you hear, there are just as many negative comments stating it may not move forward for many years.

My Questions???? PRW has many projects in the works. How would their prospects be effected IF the LNG project did not go forward in a reasonable time frame? What is you thoughts on whether it will or will not go ahead? And lastly, what are your thoughts on PRW in general (sell, hold or buy) at this time with the pull back in full force?

Thanks for all you do

Gord
Read Answer Asked by Gord on October 13, 2014
Q: hi, is prw a longterm (2yrs plus) buy. thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Dario on October 13, 2014
Q: This looks to be caught in the falling of energy shares in the past couple of months. It pays a high dividend - is it worth accumulating here? Thanks a lot!
Read Answer Asked by Michael on October 13, 2014
Q: Hi 5i: There have been a lot of questions recently regarding oil producers and the apparently ongoing declines in their share prices. It seems people have been having trouble getting their bearings and are coming simultaneously to the questions ‘should I be buying now?’ and ‘should I be selling and exiting the sector?’ With the same thoughts in mind I found it useful recently to look at the 5-yr chart on the WTI oil price. Outside of their own operational issues, successful producers rise and fall with the oil price. The path of the oil price since a trough valuation on May 17, 2010 can be described in terms of the following series of upward “runs” and downward “slides.” Each run or slide represents at least a $15 change in the price of oil and I was interested in how long each move lasted and the magnitude of the price change in each case. This is what the chart says in those terms:
• May 17/2010 to May 2/2011 (nearly 1 year duration) – Trough to Peak run from approximately $70 to $114
• May 2/2011 to Oct 3/2011 (5 months duration) – Peak to Trough slide from $114 to $74
• Oct 3/2011 to February 27/2012 (5 months duration) – Trough to Peak run from $74 to $110
• Feb 27/2012 to June 18/2012 (4 months duration) – Peak to Trough slide from $110 to $77
• June 18/2012 to Sept 10/2012 (3 months duration) – Trough to Peak run from $77 to $100
• Sept 10/2012 Oct 29/2012 (1.5 months duration) – Peak to Trough slide from $100 to $85
• Oct29/2012 to Sept 2/2013 (10 months duration) – Trough to Peak run from to $85 to $110
• Sept 2/2013 to Jan 6/2014 (4 months duration) – Peak to Trough slide from $110 to $91
• Jan 6/2014 to June 16/2014 (5 months duration) – Trough to Peak run from $91 to $107
• June 16/2014 to Oct 10*/2014 (4 months duration – * still going) – Peak to Trough slide from $107 to $85

Of course one has to consider that past patterns do not guarantee future paths and for one reason or another ‘it might be different this time.’ But that aside, a number of observations may be made. In each case the next significant move in the opposite direction followed immediately on the heels of the prior one. The longest slide was about 5 months long. The present slide is nearly 4 months long already, about the same duration as two of the other four slides in the past 5 years. So from that perspective what we are presently experiencing is nothing out of the ordinary and each past similar instance has resolved into a nice run to the upside. Unless it is different this time, 4 months of sliding puts us much nearer to the end of the slide than to the beginning.

In dollar values, the magnitudes of the past slides are (oldest to most recent): $40, $33, $15, and $19. The present move is $22, so far. Again, unless something makes this time different, the present slide will likely end with an intraday trough price somewhere between the present $85 and the previous lowest lows of $74. Again, but in dollar terms this time, that would put us closer to the end of the move than to the beginning.

Overall, I’d note that this particular slide has so far shown us nothing out of the ordinary and for that it should provide us no reason to panic. No good quality producer is put in danger of failing as a business enterprise by virtue of a short term commodity price slide. But it may be important to stress “good quality” in that observation. On the other hand, the shares of even the best quality oil producers have become significantly cheaper during the present slide. Whenever similar share price declines have occurred in the past five years, it has provided a good opportunity to add high quality producers to one’s portfolio (and some very nice ‘Yield on Cost’ numbers as well).

Hope that’s useful to someone!
Read Answer Asked by Lance on October 13, 2014
Q: With the U.S. comments on becoming self sufficient on energy the NEW supply is going to come from shale which has a huge demand on water .The Ogala Aqua for the largest in the US has been depleted down to 20 per cent this depletion took place in the last 20 years a result of growing vast amounts of subsidized corn for ethonal production .
My opinion is that the jury is still out on fracing and I am not prepared to write off Canaidian oil and gas as a major supplier to the U.S. market.
Kind regards Stan
Read Answer Asked by Stan on October 10, 2014
Q: https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://business.financialpost.com/2014/10/09/peter-foster-look-whos-demonizing-canadian-oil/&ct=ga&cd=CAEYBCoUMTM4MzI4MDkyMTIyODQ5NTU3NDUyGTlkYWUyYWQxMjY0MDFlY2M6Y2E6ZW46Q0E&usg=AFQjCNGwShKkotWE0qYczudb26li4x9bCQ

Mr. Hodson, is the movement mentioned above likely to hurt seriously the oil sands companies referred to ?
Read Answer Asked by Serge on October 10, 2014
Q: BXE - i have invested a lot in this company but can you explain the following comment from a recent BNN commentator as i have not read any details about this concern here or on any investment blogs …thx

"Very cheap. Had third party facility problems. Their own won`t be ready until spring. They can`t get their product to market. It is absolutely excellent value here. It may take into next year to rebound”.
Read Answer Asked by Bob on October 10, 2014
Q: Hi Peter
Rock Energy is down almost 30% since its top in August and crossed already MA 200 it looks very familiar to situation from April 2011 when Rock Energy plummeted from $6.16 to $0.86. Do you think is time to sell or there is something else going on with Rock Energy.
Thanks Andrew B.
Read Answer Asked by Andrzej on October 10, 2014
Q: CPG has been on a steady decline for the last two weeks. Right now it is sitting at $37.28, which is at the 52 week low.

I know you do not have CPG in your portfolio, but I am wondering if you can shed some light? Is CPG reflecting the movement withing the sector, or is this a sign of other more alarming issues?
Read Answer Asked by Patricia on October 09, 2014