Investment Q&A

Q: Ryan and Peter. Best of the new year to you and the rest of the 5i team. Thanks to Ryan for his article about re-balancing portfolios. I agree that health care is the sector that provides some value. I have some exposure to Canadian health care but would like to buy some exposure to specific American health care companies. If possible, could you suggest a few companies that offer some growth in 2017 and provide a bit of a dividend? Thanks in advance for your appreciated guidance.

Q: Hello, above are the list of us securities i hold. Can you give me your top 5 US conviction names, mid to large cap, preferably not financials as I am already overweight this sector. Your choices do not have to be sector specific. Thank you!

MSFT (Microsoft),CVS (CVS Health),IBB (iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF),AMZN (Amazon Com),RIO (Rio Tinto PLC),PG (Procter and Gamble),LULU (Lululemon Athletica Inc.),DIS (Walt Disney),NFLX (Netflix),DY (Dycom Industries),RTN (Raytheon 'B'),CVX (Chevron),TWX (Time Warner),JPM (JP Morgan Chase and Company),BAC (Bank of America)

KR

Q: Hi Peter and Ryan. What are your regarding Gilead (Gild)

Q: I have bought XUS to benefit from stock growth and to hedge against a drop in the Canadian dollar. It has worked on both counts. I am becoming a little more conservative and wonder if there any similar ETFs on the bond side that are available in Canadian dollars but invest in US bonds.

Q: Hope you've had a good holiday season thus far. Just picked up a copy of money sense and noticed they are recommending Owens Corning as a top buy in the US. I did a quick scan on the company and found the following: valuation looks ok, growth has been good but the consensus going forward doesn't look compelling. They have been paying a dividend and buying back stock but I don't see much in terms of driving up the value going forward. What's your view? Is this company a good investment?

Q: Could you please provide a list of the dogs of the Dow for y/e 2016

Q: This is the thesis you offered in early July, on NVDA. It is really about gaming and virtual reality. Its chips have one of the best reputations for speed and quality, both very necessary for these industries. Itis expensive at 25X earnings, but growth should be 40%+ this year. It has $3 billion in cash and generates very strong free cash flow. Revenue growth looks good and it has a solid record (7/8) of beating earnings estimates. It looks like chip applications are widening, as NVDA is also showing good growth from the data centre industry. Autonomous cars are another growing market for the company. It pays a small dividend and we think it is very well managed."

I'm having a very difficult time seeing that anything has changed. If anything, NVDA should be on the cusp of something even better, and yet the Citron thesis says "all the easy money has been made." How can this be? If the easy money has been made, that would suggest that NVDA will be grinding to a halt soon, and yet with the ever-increasing demand for all the areas of technology it covers, I'm at a loss on Citron's approach.

Notwithstanding your usual advice that there are always two-sides to a trade, there still has to be someone who is "more right" ... and I think it's you, and the position you offered in July. Is this still worth a 3 year hold ... my ultimate time frame for this particular account.

Thanks as ever. Happy New Year! ... Thanks for another great year of superlative service!!

Q: nhc. is this an ok entry point? is management just ok or very poor. Would the new board members be better than the old ones? the lumpy earnings are not convenient to investors ,with nhc making acquisitions and having their best quarters at certain times of the year. in your opinion do the shorts and or Craig Hellum ($2 target) correct in their (dislike) of the company .thank you!2

Q: Thank you for your excellent service. I wonder if you have any comment or advice regarding the prospects of Bioamber which was recently recommended on Market Call?
Geoff

Q: Les'question today about Alcoa - I think it may be a bit more complex. Alcoa first did a reverse 1 for 3 split and then days later spun off 1 share of a new company for every 3 of the new shares of Alcoa. At the same time they named the new company Alcoa and the old company Arconic. Les' BV for Arconic should be the old Alcoa BV (before the 1 for 3) and his $2,000 BV for the new Alcoa is the BV of the spinoff, so adding the two together he should have GAINED $2,000 in overall BV (probably temporarily). There may be no tax implication for a Canadian holder IF CRA eventually approve the spinoff under S86.1 (they haven't yet, so Les may find the $2,000 reported as a taxable stock dividend in a T5). If and when they do approve Les will have to advise CRA how he wishes to proceed under S86.1 - see an accountant or google several good articles on foreign spinoffs. I intend to file assuming approval and ignoring any stock dividend with an accompanying letter to CRA electing to defer tax and at the same time reducing the Arconic BV by the amount of the new Alcoa BV thus cancelling the temporary increase in BV. Worked for me before on HPQ/HPE and DHR/FTV. Hope this helps.

Q: I haven't been able to find a website that gives me short positions on NYSE listed stocks...could you provide me with a link to a free website offering this information , please and thank you...cheers

Q: If you had a choice between FB and SHOP, which would you choose. The stock will be in a RRSP and a long term hold (likely more than 5 years).

Q: They recently sold their Canadian holdings for around 1 billion. It's come down from 52-week and all time highs due to some anticipating that the Mexico assets would be taxed upon import into the US.

Is this company a good hold for the moment?

Q: OF THE 2 HEALTH STOCK WHICH ONE DO YOU PREFER AND WHY ?THANKS.EBRAHIM

Q: I have an allocation of about $66k for non Canada/USA equity Etfs. For maximum diversification (by country) Should I be looking at a few different ETF's in different regions (BRIC/Asia/Japan/AU) - or should I be buying one or two World (ex USA/Canada) ETF's - If so what what are your top 2 or 3. - Also is there a very broad international bod ETF as well?

Q: alcoa split the shares 1 for 3 in Nov 1. My original book value for the shares are $6000. After the split the book value is reduced to $2000 althought I will get additional few new alcoa shares.It sounds to me it is rotten deal.

Q: You've said this stock is expensive. What do you think of the citrus tweet which dropped it so much on Wednesday? If you were going to shift money to a different stock in the sector (aside from AMD which I also own) where would you put it?

Q: Thank you for your wonderful service. I would like to purchase a couple of US dollar ETF that follows the large cap stocks, and is not hedged to Cdn $. Can you recommend one or two?

Q: involved in internet of things top etf s are piling in . your thoughts please

Q: According to my record keeping over the past year, these stocks were spoken of favorable by you in the Q & A section of your site:

COR, JPM, SIMO, SBUX, QCOM, NDAQ, EBIX, AMZN, ITRI, IWO, PI, NVDA, ARLZ (NASDAQ, NYSE)

Looking out to 2017 do you still feel favorably about these stocks?

If not which ones you cull?

Also, are there any US stocks you would add to this list, whose growth prospects you really like over the next year or two?

Thanks in advance.

Sheldon