Investment Q&A

Q: I am interested in finding out more about structured notes. On the surface, it appears a good instrument for regular income. However, do not understand several aspects of it and also there seem to be several types of structured note, e.g. principal protected, exchange traded notes. Not sure what types are suitable for my goals. Can you please provide your views and brief description, or link for more information, or contact who could provide more information. Thanks

Q: Me, scratching my noggin to explain this......Today, the market is down but in my portfolio, the US stocks broke even but the Lonnie ones are way down. Maybe it's to do with the mix of the stocks in the portfolio, eh?!.....or the timing, which Canada just catching up the down ongoing down drift in the US market?
The Canadian ones relate well to the 5iR portfolios and my total portfolio is 45% balanced, 22% income, 11% growth, all Canadian, and the remaining 22% is composed of US stocks. Coming back to today, I wondering if you agree that the Canadian stocks seem to be hit harder or fell more than the US ones? Any specific reasons for that? Thanks for attempting to put a finger on it, or two.....Tom

Q: Good Morning,
Some time ago you shared a link that showed Canadian Companies that paid dividends in USD. Is it possible to share that link again, as I am unable to find the specific question.
Thank You

Q: https://youtu.be/rtlTZL3Q5tsW
The above link is a part of Warren Buffett annual meeting. I would appreciate 5i views going forward on interest rate increases and if you agree. If so when would you expect this to occur.
Thanks
Rick

Q: I'm a firm believer in not trying to time the market. Having said that the Shiller PE for the US market seems to be at a high level. How much do you pay attention to this? Should the current number be cause for concern?

Thanks,

Joe

Q: Hello Peter,
My margin account is dominated with US stocks and a corresponding borrowing of US dollars. The Canadian dollar has been exceptionally strong probably at the top of the trading range. I generally prefer not to speculate on the dollar and keep the borrowings in the same currency as the assets. However, I am tempted to convert about 50% of the US borrowings to Canadian.
In your experience, would you endorse this, or just stay the course?
Regards
Rajiv

Q: Do you know of a German Small Cap or Micro Cap ETF that is available for purchase.
My reasoning is Alot of Smaller German banks lend money for Business Development, Not just Asset purchases like Real Estate
Thanks Gord

Q: Good Morning,
My portfolio, although generally diversified across all sectors, is definitely tilted toward growth stocks and technology. It reached peak value in mid-February, but things have gone downhill since. The market shift to value, materials, financial, and industrial stocks continues to push my personal NAV lower. I know this is driven by the fear of increasing interest rates and inflation. I have only made some minor tweaks to my mix of holdings, but in your experience, is it time for investors to lighten up significantly on growth stocks, or will the pendulum swing back with so many positive earnings reports. Of course, this is somewhat of a market prediction question, but do these trends last for years? My investment horizon is about 5 years. Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you for your excellent service, which (by the way) is attributable to substantial gains in my portfolio since I became a member.

Brad

Q: My son, 19 years old, wants to open a TFSA. Would appreciate your advice given that he has a small amount to invest (around $3,000 to start), a long-term horizon, not adverse to some degree of risk and except for small discretionary expenses has no immediate need for cash (parents pay for university, food and lodging). Thank you.

Q: I am sure this question has been asked before. As a general rule of the thumb that stocks, and etfs should be held in various accounts.
Accounts:
CAD Cash
US Cash
RSP
TFSA

I think I know that US Dividend payers should be in RSP, Growth in TFSA, but do you have a high level how to best allocate various types of Stock assets for Cad, US, and International, along with sector allocation or divend?

Thanks.

Q: As a general rule how much of one's portfolio should be in US dollars to hedge currency risk?

Q: I realize that you do not have a crystal ball however my concern is over the Covid Variants especially the ones in India. There is a suggestion that some of the variants may block the effectiveness of the vaccines. If this becomes a huge issue, I am thinking that the market could be in for another rout. I wonder if sitting in cash is the prudent thing to do and just wait out the current virus situation. The market has gone up allot and I would rather give up a small potential gain over time vs a large drop in a much shorter period of time. Your thoughts?

Q: Hi! I am using the Balanced Equity portfolio however as a complete portfolio it falls short in that there are no Us/Global stocks. There are area s the Canadian market doesn’t represent well. If you were to complement the Balanced Equity portfolio with 6-8 US/Global names, what stocks would complete the portfolio?

Q: Hi group wondering what your general thoughts are on inflation and what stocks would benefit the most if we get high inflation going fwd . What are your thoughts and recommendations going fwd

Q: Around march or April last year you published a special opportunity report listing 10 companies such as Byd,Csu,Cae,etc.
Would you make any changes today?
Do you plan to do an update?

Q: Thanks to Moez for a nice article/stock screener today. I was surprised to see so many companies from the Metals sector.

IF he were to apply one more criterion to the 22 companies that made the list, i.e. debt load, which companies would come up on the top?
( the companies with the least debt load to the most)
Thanks.

Q: The CAPE ratio (Cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio) of the S&P 500 presently rests over 36X compared to its historical average which is much, much lower. What future influences can you see to affect its measure going forward other than a market pullback?

Q: How do big block trades work?

You mentioned yesterday LSPD's SP dropped almost 6% likely due to a 3 million share+ block trade, while Friday's total volume traded was only 1.3 million shares. If so, can we expect another sell down on Monday until that 3 million share+ block is totally "consumed"? It seems the large portfolio managers are manipulating SPs, at the expense of the retails, to get their privately negotiated deals done (by suppressing SP to the deal's level). Where is the regulatory agency's protection for all investors in this regard. My "paper loss" was about 17% on LSPD from yesterday. Please help me in understanding this process better. Just frustrated. Thanks.

Q: Hello 5i gang.
I have a general question that I'm hoping you can shed some light on.
I find it difficult to get my head around some of the market cap. vs revenue etc of some of these high flyers discussed here on a regular basis.
Can you give me a general sense of how a company that is currently at 20m in revenue with a market cap of 1.3b would grow into this valuation? Are we talking multiple years of several hundred % growth compounding? Or am I looking at this all through the incorrect lens?
I assume at some point fundamentals will matter and if said growth does not materialize, the stock price will come back to the "correct" valuation?

Thanks for your help.

Q: I read the questions and sometimes I get the impression you view volatile stocks as risky. For example, TSU could be at $17.00 and three days later it is $24.00 and the next day it is $16.00. This happens with other stocks as well. Is this as a result of people dumping when these stocks go up a few dollars in a few days or is it computerized selling. What is your opinion on why this type of volatility happens with some stocks. I have read that this DMYD is going to act like that but produce big gains. Thank you. I await your good information.