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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: What is the outlook for CRMD ? I am 21% under water. Hold, sell, buy more ?Thank you for the good work.
Jacques
Read Answer Asked by Jacques on March 21, 2019
Q: Hello,
Staring to set up a stock portfolio and looking for some guidance. Can you provide your must have stocks in CDN and US.

Enjoying 5i
Darryl
Read Answer Asked by Darryl on March 21, 2019
Q: I am puzzled by the recent strength, of PRU US. PRU has had ratings upgrades. TipRanks ™ ‘top analysts’ rate is as “Strong Buy”. RBC Cap has it as at outperform. All of the several financial sites I looked up rated PRU as a buy or above. FT of London has made favorable comment on Prudential Group in the past year. (MFC has also been showing signs of life only some of which is attributable to winning litigation this week). It is generally accepted that interest rates in the US and Canada will remain low for more than a year. These LifeCos are holding up well... why? What gives? SLF is doing well, but SLF has non-overlapping operations and has had better strategies than MFC.

Question: would you sell PRU and deploy proceeds elsewhere? Would you expect PRU to appreciate more than dividend plus about 3%, that business prospects for the LifeCos will improve? Although PRU looks great value, its ROE, ROA, ROIC look poor--- but then I see conflicting ratios and metrics… your Bloombergs or service provider would have the deeper stuff of substance that I always want to see before buy/sell decisions.
Read Answer Asked by Adam on March 21, 2019
Q: Hello Peter, Ryan and the 5-I Team,

I was very late to the cannabis party, but dipped my toes into a couple of stocks about 6 months ago. I have now done well on Village Farms and Canntrust in this short period of time. Of course, this may be a bubble, but with many states in the U.S. considering legalization, some argue that there is still a long runway ahead, especially for cannabis companies that will serving the American market. As well, with the change in US hemp farming laws, my understanding is that CBD products are now legal across the country.

I’ve also noticed (anecdotally) that at least a dozen of my friends and colleagues are using CBD oil on a regular basis (and I’m 55 years-old). It’s being recommended by some doctors and many naturopaths, leading me to think that it's becoming the new “aspirin”. My guess is that it’s going to be much more popular than Paw Patrol!

That brings me to my question. If you were going to take a position in a US CBD producer, would Charlotte's Web be one of your top picks, and if not, do you have any other suggestions? They have very slick marketing and claim to be the #1 brand by market share. Additionally, I read in the Globe yesterday, that Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index has just added Charlottes Web to their index.

Thanks,

Brad
Read Answer Asked by Bradley on March 20, 2019
Q: Celgene appears to be stumbling higher, presumably towards the value assigned to it from the Bristol Myers merger. In past months, you previously suggested holding on; is that still your view? Also, can you suggest a source for information on the tax treatment from the merger for Canadian taxpayers who hold Celgene? Thanks,
Read Answer Asked by Leonard on March 20, 2019
Q: In this month's MoneySaver magazine, there is an article by Rita Silvan titled "Spin-offs, Ticker Symbols and Other Investment Anomalies". In this article, she states that in the last 15 years, from 2002 to 2017, the Bloomberg US Spun-Off Index returned nearly 1,000% compared to the S&P 500 Index which returned 203.9%.

Are you aware of any ETFs which track this index? What is your view about ETFs which track spin-offs? Is this a strategy which you would recommend? I could only find the Invesco S&P Spin-Off ETF (CSD) and its returns appear to be 2.15% annually over the last 5 years, and is a significant underperformer compared to the S&P500.

Thank you again for your invaluable advice. This service is truly excellent!
Read Answer Asked by Dale on March 19, 2019
Q: Hello, A friend told me about this company that is moving well with the market. This is a new name to me. What do you think about this company in terms of financial situations such as, cash flow, debt levels, etc? From risk/reward considerations, for a medium risk investor, is it buyable at this level? Thanks. Lin
Read Answer Asked by Lin on March 19, 2019
Q: I am very fortunate to be a member of 5I,Thanks
I wish you were actively advising on US stocks meanwhile however
for me to start please suggest some US stocks or etf for not very aggressive
stocks with high volatility but something like BNS,SLF,td in Canada Income is not my priority but steady growth is in my mind not stocks like canabis?
I appreciate your sugestion and has always benefited from them
Nizar
Read Answer Asked by Nizar on March 19, 2019
Q: Hi 5i, I currently have 3 U.S. stocks now. Bank of America, Jpmorgan and Pfizer. Would like to add 1 or 2 more, thinking along the lines of a stock like Aqn ( just the quality doesn’t have to be in the category) just to let you know I’m up 117% on Aqn because of your recommendation sometime ago. So looking for decent growth, nice dividend and my time horizon is very long term.
Thx
Gerry
Read Answer Asked by Gerry on March 19, 2019
Q: Hi team,

Several years ago, I started moving money to the U.S. side for greater growth opportunities. I am now at 80% U.S. and with the weak Canadian dollar outlook, I won’t be going back soon. So, I appreciate your advice on the U.S. side, which I find to be very insightful, even though it is not your primary focus area.

To offset my tech risks, I like big cap and/or Dow stocks. DIS intrigues me for their many growth arms. I was not following closely all the wheeling and dealing among DIS, Comcast and others last year for Fox and other companies. DIS bought FOX and/or its entertainment assets and the deal closes early Wednesday morning. DIS was the worst Dow performer today (aside from BA). Did DIS overpay for FOX or is this just arbitrage on the stock before deal closes? DIS has a ton of content already so what does Fox add? I believe DIS now gets a bigger share of Hulu. Will Hulu become their primary streaming service or is something else planned by DIS to compete with NFLX?

I am just trying to better understand the outlook for DIS once the FOX deal closes.
Thanks for the insight.

Dave
Read Answer Asked by Dave on March 19, 2019
Q: Could I get your thoughts on how HHL might behave in a recession. I understand Healthcare as a sector would be a Defensive sector however I also understand 5i is not to crazy about the cover call aspect, believing it would not protect again the down side. So how would HHL behave? Would the price fall greater than the average defensive share price, or would investors still consider it a defensive play and hold steady the price. Or would the cover call aspect cease to work and the dividends reduce? If it's more an impact on the dividends, is there a way of telling how much the
cover calling is adding to the dividends and therefore what dividends could be expected in times of a recession. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Phil on March 19, 2019