Investment Q&A

Q: Good day,

I manage about 20% of my portfolio, and the portion I don't (LIRAs and some RRSPs) is 90% in a fairly balanced growth portfolio, 10% in a green energy portfolio.

Recently, my big wins in NVDA, GOOG, AMZN, and ZWT had me hugely weighted in those names. I've sold a significant portion, bought some NXE, RHC, DE, and am thinking of either doubling/tripling up on ZWT, or selling ZWT and then doing a sort of double or triple position in another tech ETF with decent liquidity and keeping a smaller position in my high confidence tech names.

I've seen a lot of 'focused' tech ETFs around, like semiconductor, cybersecurity, data center, etc, in addition to the broader ones, but don't want to get soaked too badly with fees. Are there a few specialized tech ETFs you would recommend that are well managed and have a solid foundation of holdings? Also, for ZWT, would you triple up, or do you think the covered call strategy will be detrimental in a market/interest rate recovery? Is there a small/mid cap tech option you like?


Moving away from tech, there's been a lot of buzz about small caps getting ready to blow. What are your 5 top picks, Canadian and US small caps with a balance of moderate high risk, moderate high reward, for a medium to long hold? Are there a few non tech small cap names you like? Say 3 US and 3 Canadian?

Are there some good small cap ETFs that cover either recovering sectors, areas of growth, or whole class that you like?

On the energy side I have SU, PPL, GXE, NXE, and BIP, so perhaps nothing in that space unless you see a link I'm really missing in my energy portfolio.

Thanks for everything!!

Q: Hi team,

In your reply to Ric this morning, you provided an interesting list of Canadian agressive growth stocks.

Could you provide a list of aggressive US growth stocks ?

Gratefully,

Jacques IDS

Q: When recommending CROX 5i makes it crystal clear that volatility is to be expected.
That has certainly been true.
i like the company, less so the stock given most of the vol has been down since my purchase.
it is now showing some decent upside M.

Does 5i expect 6 month to one year M to be more biased to up than down.

I am inclined to hold and add if the risk reward justifies it…. otherwise I would look for an opportunity to sell it and move the money into one of your current higher conviction suggestions.

Thanks yet again for your advice.

Q: Peter; Not a question but a big thank you - you were consistent in your recommendation on CROX. I was one of the faithful- again- and was rewarded nicely this am! Thanks - again!
Rod

Q: Would you prefer DIS or CROX is the consumer space?

Q: Could i get your 2 favorite companies to buy right now ( 1 Cad and 1 US) in each of Consumer Cyclical, Utilities, and Materials. Thank you

Q: My wife owns the stocks above. She is looking to add 1 to 2 more stocks in the new year. Can you recommend a couple us and Canadian?

Q: Following a recent question about a Canadian TFSA account. For a growthy TFSA contribution for 2024, which U.S. companies would you recommend ? Please rank based on potential gains for a 3-5 year period, with a brief comment on each one. Moderate to high(ish) risk is fine.

Enjoy the Holidays,

Jacques IDS

Q: I am low on Consumer Cyclicals. What portfolio percentage do you advise to allocate? I have broken down the sector into sub-categories: housing, e-commerce, retail, personal services, lodging. Am I missing a sub-sector that shoud be included? Which ones have the most potential? I have listed some names - but am not tied to any. Apart from AMZN [owned], what are the top 5 or more that you would buy today and any others to keep on watchlist with buy targets? Please rank.

Q: could you provide 5 or which ever number you prefer of your 2024 favorite picks
small caps, microcaps, and if possible favorite sectors.
please consider this 10 questions 5 for each on caps.
thanks for your continued excellent service. greatly appreciated.

Q: I have the above stocks in my TSFA account. All about equal weighted. Which stock would you add the $7000 2024 contribution to?

Or do you not favour any of the above and have another suggestion?

Thanks for everything and happy Holidays to everyone.

Dave.

Q: What does the outlook look like for these 3 stocks, how do their fundamentals compare and if you could only pick one, which would you choose? Thanks.

Q: Small caps have lagged the market. What are your top 5 Small Cap Canadian Names and top 5 US Small Cap names? Could you also indicate good entry points. Please deduct appropriate credits.

Thanks
Tim

Q: I was interested in your reply to Ronnie today (14th) on U.S. growth suggestions. As individual securities you suggested IBKR, LPLA, CELH, CROX, DUOL. If I was to add HEI, ADI and ULTA to that list could you rank all 8 for say 5 yr pure growth potential and then re-rank if one was seeking a balance of both growth and safety? Thank you.

Q: The magnificent 7 have had a nice run in 2023. Assuming that the market is broadening out, can you suggest around 5 to 10 US stocks and/or ETFs where money is rotating to. Medium risk stocks. Also what sectors should benefit in the next phase of the economic cycle?

Q: I am looking to set up an RESP for grandchildren aged 8 and 6 with about $40k that will be added to annually. I am thinking of purchasing 8 stocks in roughly equal amounts - ISRG, CROX, GOOG, NVDA, BN, LMN, SMCI, HPS.A

Is 8 stocks too limiting and should I look at ETFs for some sectors or should this give the plan a good start and greater diversification can occur as the plan grows?

Anything you see here that raises a red flag or are there other stocks I should consider?

Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.

Q: The U.S. is growing much faster than Canada. Canada’s much slower economic growth relative to the U.S. seems to be related namely mortgage debt, Given this situation, can you suggest 1) Individual U.S. stocks for capital gain 2) Individual U.S. stocks that pay dividends, and 3) U.S. ETFs? Thank you

Q: If you did a US version of the 5i Balanced/Income/Growth portfolio setup, to which of the three portfolios would you assign the above stocks ? At approximately what weighting ? Are there any that you wouldn't consider ? Please ignore sector diversification.
Many thanks, as always.

Q: Earlier you answered a question about Crox vs BYD, and you mentioned the valuations were 8x vs 44x. Just curious what metric you are using there (P/E?), and what is the most commonly accepted metric when discussing the high level valuation of a company and if its cheap or expensive? Thx

Q: Mr. Hodson, I recall an appearance of your’s on market call several years back, when you deviated from your small to mid cap Canadian equity mandate and recommended Micron technologies because it was simply ‘stupid cheap’ at the time.

Are there any companies out there, CAD or US that would qualify as stupid cheap currently, and hard to ignore as a result. Are any of them compelling enough to buy?

Thank you.