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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: Hope everyone at 5i is doing well in these times!

I have been sitting on mostly cash in my RRSP/LIRA and would like your recommendations on the best ETFs to consider for my full US and International exposure. All of these would need to be listed on the TSX as I am purchasing in CAD $. While I know you prefer non-hedged, I’d greatly appreciate if you could explain benefits/workings of hedged vs. non-hedged considering the current environment. And provide ETF recommendations for each.

I am looking to achieve a balance of diversification, reasonable MER, minimizing any withholding tax while optimizing the potential in market recovery. For US, I would like to have a technology ETF, health care ETF and a broader spectrum ETF – but also open to ideas. Also, looking for recommendations on International – one broad ETF or perhaps that and a mix of ETFs. I recognize there can be overlap (e.g. between a tech and broad sector fund), so if you can give me a sense of the degree of duplication that may be present in your recommendations. Perhaps going heavier on tech right now could be a good thing.

While I started off thinking ETF selections would be relatively simple, in reading various Q&A there seem to be many important considerations - your assistance is appreciated. Again, all of these are being purchased in RRSP/LIRA accounts with the goal of optimizing my returns over a 10 year window.
Read Answer Asked by Loretta on March 30, 2020
Q: In this market, is Absolute one to worry about. Is the dividend covered? Do they still have lots of cash? If there is a possibility they will cut the dividend, I dont want to see my investment cut in half with no dividend and I will bail now.
Read Answer Asked by Helen on March 30, 2020
Q: Hi Team! As more more and more people are working from home, cloud based software companies, cyber security companies will benefit as I think this will become a new reality as companies realize they can save money. In Internet communication and hardware companies out there that will see an increase of their services and products are there any names you would recommend? I thank you in advance. Sam
Read Answer Asked by sam on March 27, 2020
Q: I believe it in the last year or so has not been one of your favourites, however I have held GIB.A for a long time and it has been a stalwart; I (unfortunately) added a significant amount last year. In the last few weeks it has decreased a lot, more than many other tech names. I am still not sure why; any comment about that? I was attracted to the idea of harvesting a tax loss and migrating to another position (eg KXS) but since the drop in GIB.A has been much larger, does it have more potential upside than KXS which is not down as much? Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Leonard on March 27, 2020
Q: Just to alert your readers: there seem to be two Zoom's out there and one of them was a penny stock that has some pretty wild and expensive trading. You've been correct in noting that ZM is the correct one. Do you think ZM is currently too risky for this market? A lot of companies seem to be using Zoom for online communication, and it seems to work pretty well.
Read Answer Asked by Ed on March 23, 2020
Q: Hello Peter and Team,

Thank you for your helpful guidance during this unprecedented turbulence. I know you've liked Docusign in the past, but do you like it even more now? Would it be a stock that potentially plummets after the virus is controlled, or would a raft of new users adopt it for the longer term? Any thoughts?

Brad
Read Answer Asked by Bradley on March 23, 2020
Q: Hi,
A question about this company was asked to your team sometime in January and you mentioned that it was an expensive stock at that time, based on certain metrics.
Since then, DT has fallen significantly but I was surprised that on Friday (March 20th), it bucked the trend and closed up over 9%.
Has the stock reached a point whereby it is now cheap?

Your opinion is appreciated.
Read Answer Asked by ilie on March 21, 2020
Q: In light of the company's audit and material weakness in financial reporting, what would you suggest someone holding a full position of one's growth portfolio? It is very close to the 52 week low but given the size, should it really matter? Get out at any cost, or count it as dead money until it gets back on its feet with outsized percentage returns? Is it fair to say the business model has little financial risk; mostly it is the reputation that fetches clients?
Read Answer Asked by Rajiv on March 19, 2020