Investment Q&A

Q: If the fear of higher interest rates was causing the share prices of tech companies to fall, why would share prices rise today (April 13) with the announcement of a 0.5% rate increase?
Puzzled...Steve

Q: I have owned XIT since 2017 and use it as a proxy for my technology allocation. Based on trying to keep relatively close to my allocation targets, I have trimmed it 14 times and added it 3 times (most recently adding at $47 and $41.

It looks to my amateur eyes that we are near a reasonably strong technical support level of +/- $41, which leads me to consider topping up to my target weighting again. In January I also thought we had support at $46-47...wrong.

However, the forecasted aggressive interest rate hikes might be a headwind to each of the underlying stocks, in which case I am more than happy to sit on the cash to see what happens with the next rate increase or two.

So, it really comes down to SHOP, CSU, GIB.A, OTEX (over 74% of XIT). When you look at each individually, and then in aggregate, what does your crystal ball say for adding at this time? I suspect your answer would include...if it is an asset allocation question, just add/sell now.

Your thoughts? Thanks...Steve

Q: HI,

Do you think its time to get back to tech stocks? I already own CSU. If so, can u rank the CDN teck stocks (CTS, DSG, XIT, ZQQ, KXS, LSPD, Shop) based on reliable growth and manageable volatility? if you have better ideas please include them.

Q: Thoughts on XIT?

Q: Hi 5i
We don't have any Canadian tech companies but lots of AAPL, GOOGL and NVDA. With current pullback, SHOP and XIT are down a lot (70% and 40% off highs) but CSU only about 15%. Would you buy CSU or XIT?
Thanks,
Greg

Q: XIT is a capped technology ETF. How often is the ETF holdings rebalanced ? With the recent downfall of SHOP, Yahoo Finance still shows SHOP at 27.7% of XIT but Morningstar at 14.1%. Who is right ? Good day.

Q: I would like an ETF to take advantage of the pull back in tech stocks. I generally like the holdings of XIT except for the huge position in CSU (I bought some anyway because I've always been wrong on CSU). Its a small position which I would like to build on but I would also like to add some US exposure - preferably CAD since I don't feel like exchanging more funds right now. Suggestions?

Also, what is your current opinion of PTF? I only recognize a few of their holdings and have no idea how to assess, apart from noting their reasonably good history.

Q: Retired, dividend-income investor who usually has ALL of my cash at work. I am currrently sitting on roughly 2.5% cash and am considering topping up the above holdings to achieve my asset allocation targets.

Q#1 = Assuming a diversified portfolio, if I wanted to deploy my remaining minor amount of cash, in what order would you spend it and why?

My view is as follows:
First = PBH and WSP (good value right now = fundamentals and technicals look good, if you ignore the death crosses).
Second = ZRE (should do ok in a rising rate environment?).
Third = XIT (wait until at least the first interest rate increase has happened?).
Last = ADW.A (may need another quarter or two to get past the Covid impact).

Q#2 = or should I continue to sit on this cash if you think there are better opportunities coming in the future. It's not as if this minor amount of $ is going to make a huge impact on future performance.

Thanks...Steve

Q: I hold the following IT equities and ETF and am reviewing them for duplication. Please advise which of these you would sell; ASGN, RBLX, UCTT, META, LOGI, MSFT CSU, XIT, TOI, STC. Thanks very much.

Mike

Q: As per your team Industrials, tech and materials/energy can be decent sectors in times of inflation.

Can you please recommend USA & Cdn ETF that you would consider holding in each above sector.

Thanks for the great service.

Q: Hi...do you put much stock in the "death cross"? I see the 50mda has dropped below the 200mda for each of PBH, WSP and XIT (ya, I know technicals aren't as reliable when applied to ETFs). What is your opinion on both the "golden cross" and the "death cross"? Are either or both reliable?

I trimmed all three on the way up (in keeping with my asset allocation target ranges). I have already added a bit to XIT, with more planned next month. I was considering adding to PBH and WSP once things settle down in a week or two.

Your thoughts?

Thanks...Steve

Q: Hello Peter,
For an RESP today and future contributions with focus on Canada and USA, I was thinking of allocating more monies to indexes such as xic and xsp and less to sectors such as xfn or zeb , and xit. What are your thoughts? Also, i noticed that xsp has not done as well as SPY. i am assuming it is do to currency. In an RESP, I would think xsp on toronto and SPY on NYSE, both have withholding taxes.. Please comment. Thank you

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan, and Team,

Portfolio Analytics indicated that we had too much Technology, and not enough Utilities. I recently sold XIT, and added more BEP.UN. In the Utilities sector, among our accounts, we own AQN, BEP.UN, and FTS. The Utility weightings are now AQN = 3.65%, BEP.UN = 2.86%, and FTS = 1.49%.

In 5i's answers to questions, I notice that you generally rate BEP.UN higher than AQN.

Recently, John Heinzl wrote in his "Yield Hog" column that he bought more AQN, and gave some good reasons for doing so. I'm now wondering if I did the right thing in adding more BEP.UN, and am asking for some "reassurance".

Finally, I note that PA still shows that we could add more Utilities. I would be doing this in a non-registered account, and am wondering what to add. Please rank AQN, BEPC (better tax advantage than BEP.UN), FTS, and NPI (this would be a new holding).

Thanks in advance for your insight.

Q: What ETF's follow the 12 sectors of the Canadian market and which ones would you invest in.
Thanks for the great help and have an excellent 2022

Q: With the recent shift from growth to value I was hoping to add a bit of Canadian Tech with XIT, instead of picking away at CSU, GIB.A etc individually, as these are all held within the fund. Can you let me know your thoughts on this or a proxy to XIT? XIT seems quite expensive with Management Fee's 0.55% and Management Expense Ratio (MER) 0.61%

Q: Retired dividend-income investor, who trims-adds around core positions. I own XIT (my proxy for tech) in my TFSA and have been trimming as dictated by my asset allocation targets. Done very well with XIT.

Q#1 = Looking to start adding again...where would you step in?

Q#2 = A related question is regarding the recent sell off in tech. A BNN guest said that this current drop is way overdone and sees tech at least 20% higher by year end. Your thoughts?

Thanks...Steve

Q: Hi Peter and staff, Happy Holidays.

These are my holdings in TFSA account. Can you please suggest two more names, Canadian or US to add for the 2022 contribution.

Thank you.

Joe

Q: Hi Team,

Would you consider this an attractive price to add to a long-term core position in this ETF?


Thanks

Q: I own XIT within both my RRSP and TFSA and I have done very well holding it. It is mostly (72%) made up of SHOP. CSU, GIB and OTEX.

Question #1 = It recently has dropped from the $59 level to around $51. Do you believe the current drop is overdone? My amateur eyes think the next support level is around $50. At what price would you consider adding?

Q#2 = Is the drop related to the potential for interest rate increases? When you look at the 4 main players, where do you think XIT is heading in both the short (< 1 year) and long term (3-5 years)?

Thanks for your help...Steve

Q: What do you think of this for an RESP for two kids aged 3 and 5:

30% XSB
10% XIT
60% VEQT

Anything I should consider with this mix? Is it to late to get into XIT where its is already up so much?