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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: Retired (25 years) investor, preservation of capital and income paramount. Can you please provide the following, ETF or equity suggestions for:
Basic Materials (hold 2% LIF), Communications Services (hold 4% BCE), Consumer Cyclical and Consumer Defensive (hold 0%), Healthcare (hold 1% HHL), Industrials (hold 0%), Technology (hold TXF 4%).

Thank you for considering my lengthy question for which I apologize.
Read Answer Asked by Gail on April 10, 2024
Q: Hello 5i
I know the policy is to stay invested through thick and thin. In the past with some companies I was up thousands. I started to see the price per share decrease but 5i wrote to "keep going we will see what happens". By the time 5i got around to throwing in the towel I was down thousands. After, when a company started to go belly up I listened to my gut and got out before 5i gave up the ghost. I saved several thousand by doing that. NOW, with PBH, I am up several thousand. Though the metrics still look good, I want to take my winnings before a disaster happens, however I will still keep the principal invested in PBH.
Question: does this sound like a plan or should I still keep fully invested in PBH?
Read Answer Asked by STANLEY on March 25, 2024
Q: I struggle with when to sell a security as many others have said here, but particularly when there is large unrealized capital gain. My ACB on Premium Brands is in the low $30 range leaving me with a sizeable cap gain, so I look at PBH lately and wonder do I take the tax hit and sell, do I hold on and collect the dividend at the risk of it drifting lower? Theoretically it could fall to point where the erosion in capital would leave me wishing I had sold it and paid the tax. I know you suggest selling if something fundamental has changed for the worse, and also am aware that I have to have something else in mind to employ the capital in that is going to “make up” for the tax hit if I sell. Can I have your thoughts?
Read Answer Asked by Stephen R. on March 19, 2024
Q: Hi Peter and Staff

Please rank the 4 stocks in order of preferred ownership today for long term hold with a ranking 1 to 10 score as well with 10 being perfect
Thanks for all you do
Dennis
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on March 18, 2024
Q: Can you please provide your thoughts on the stocks listed for a RESP that will start to draw down in 4 years? In addition to these positions the portfolio has a good core position in CDN, US and INTL large cap ETFs. Any that you would get rid of now? If so, please provide alternatives (both Cdn and US).
Read Answer Asked by Chris on March 04, 2024
Q: Hi Peter & team,

Could you please recommend two Canadian Consumer Staple and/or Discretionary choices to add into a portfolio?

Thanks for all you do

gm

Read Answer Asked by Gord on February 27, 2024
Q: Good morning - I need more US exposure as I am overweight Canada. I will need to sell some/all of holdings I have in PBH, L, ATS, TOU, SU and EIF. I hate to sell any of these companies but someone's gotta go to raise cash. Taxes are not an issue. Can you suggest US companies that you would like just as much, which pay dividends and which will keep me in the realms of Industrial, Consumer Discretionary, Energy. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by alex on February 21, 2024
Q: I have held PBH in my cash account for sometime and am up a paltry 6%. I'm considering selling and replacing with either LLY, HD or TRI. Looking for greater growth and willing to take on moderate risk. 3-5 year hold. I know these companies are apples and oranges, but I would appreciate your views on risk and reward for PBH, LLY, HD and TRI and which you would recommend I hold going forward. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Maureen on February 16, 2024
Q: Good Evening
I am a long time holder of Premium Brands, have always liked its prospects but have grown impatient with the stagnation in stock price. Considering a move to Hammond but wonder if I have missed out on the run up in price. Would you endorse the switch or have another suggestion. When I have made these types of decisions in the past many times patience would have been the best move.
Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Marty on February 09, 2024
Q: Hello, can you suggest 5 consumer stocks and 5 industrial stocks, either in Canada and US, with a brief reason for each suggestion. I am trying to re-balance my portfolio and I am overweight in tech right now. Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Martin on February 09, 2024
Q: I recently transferred my employer TFSA account to my trading account, so I now manage my entire TFSA. I have many solid growth names, and have XIU and BNS as a dividend/diversification play.

I am looking for a solid set it and forget it Dividend play to DRIP, and have some share price appreciation for long term.

Would BAM or FTS be your top pick for this type of thing? Can you provide say 7 or 8 of your top picks for dividend growth, business development runway, and a higher dividend? I had considered growing XIU significantly to drip more, since its diversification almost guarantees the set it and forget side of things.

Thanks for all your recent help! I'm definitely ripping through some credits this month. ;)
Read Answer Asked by James on January 24, 2024
Q: Hi,

These are some names that I hold that are smaller weights in my portfolio (<2%) and I would like to add to my positions. From comments, I think all of them are solid going forward and some have run hard, such as HPS.A, TVK, CRWD...The thing I've struggled with before is adding to names at the wrong time after they've had a good run and then the market turns and your gains turn into losses. How do you approach these situations and when do you decide to add to a starter position.

Would you be comfortable adding to any of these names at the current prices and can you rank which ones you would add to first?

With the market at record levels, I'm a bit more gun shy of doing so but I think on any market pullback, I would add to any of these names. Would you agree?

I remember a question you answered recently about increasing the avg. cost base vs the % of the position when adding. So for example, I bought HPS.A at $50 and now its $93 for a nice gain, however it's only 1.5% of my portfolio now. So if you are comfortable with a 3% position, do I just add now to get to that 3% even with the run that its had? Or wait for a nice pullback, which of course is impossible to predict. I try not to anchor prices and of course the buyers today are forward looking and expect good things to continue. How do you approach this? Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Keith on January 24, 2024
Q: The two least profitable stocks in my entire portfolio are SIS (up an anemic 6% after two years) and PBH (up 10% in the same time period). I'd like to replace both with something growthier - but here's the catch - I want similar dividends (+/- 1%) and I want Canadian replacements in the same sector. My only other Consumer Defensive is COST. Current industrials are WSP, HPS.A, J, and TFII. I would welcome your speculation on how SIS and PBH are likely to grow this year...and what potential replacements might be. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Maureen on January 19, 2024