Investment Q&A

Q: I am considering selling Macy's for a capital loss. Could you recommend a US name to replace or do you see some upside? Thanks

Q: About a year about, I purchased CVS as a hedge against a downturn in the US health care. Since then CVS price dropped nearly 20 since then....first attributed to Amazon purchasing a grocer retailer, then recovered somewhat but then declined because of the news of three large parties, including Amazon planning to get into the health care sector to reduce costs to consumers. Seems CVS is out of favour...and could be so for sometime. Question - do I hold or do I let it go and focus on another US stock and what names would you suggest?

Q: May I get your opinion on Costco after today's decline ? Earnings seemed pretty good, safe for a small miss on revenues. Do you like the company?
Would you considering entering into a position at this point, or is valuation still too high?
Thanks
Karim

Q: Could AMZN prior to buying Whole Foods short stocks like Kroger, Costco, Target and Wal Mart and use the money made on the short to buy Whole Foods for the win?
Most companies use cash to buy equities. Or would this be totally offside?

Q: Is this a good entry point to buy COST-N for a long-term hold?

Q: Hi 5i team,

Costco has been taking a beating ever since Amazon announced its bid for Whole Foods Market (WFM) three days ago. At the time, it was selling at a premium but today it dropped well below its 200 MA. How much lower would it have to go before you would consider it an attractive buy?
Somehow, I don't see an Amazon-WFM tie up as being particularly threatening to Costco. I would appreciate you view on what the impact might be?
Robert

Q: Your thoughts on HD? Are the other similar stocks you like better and why.

Thanks for your support.

Q: I have both WMT and COST. I will cut one to buy AMZN. Which one to cut? Thanks.

Q: Thank you so much for what you do. 5i benefits people of modest means as well as the wealthy. (A rising market doesn't hurt)!

A reader mentioned grocers earlier today. We went to COSTCO yesterday and the place was packed. They don't have the distribution of the local grocery stores but in a way they don't need to as customers are willing to drive to them. COSTCO is still more of a wholeseller compared to a company like Loblaws and they don't carry all the small products but no doubt they are one reason why grocery stores are finding it difficult to stay profitable.

Q: Merry Christmas to the 5i Team! My question is about consumer discretionary stocks. It's one of the areas in my portfolio that i lack exposure in (0% to be honest). I've been looking at ATD-B for a while and feel comfortable adding at the current price level. To get some more high quality names I've looked to the US and come across the usual suspects that seem fairly highly priced/valued. I've been looking at ULTA and COST. Might not be your area of expertise but your thoughts on these 2 companies or any other specific names you think are worth owning in the Cons Disc space?

Q: Why there has been SIGNIFICANT drops of 2 above stocks recently.?Thank you.ebrahim

Q: Hi Peter and 5i team
I put some bids in on Costco 18 months ago and never got the stock. I gave up chasing it as I hate paying >25 earnings on a stock. BUT.....
Costco seems to be doing everything right. We all know their retail store is about as good as it gets. What is attracting me now is their online potential. I have been purchasing goods from them online and the process has been excellent. Their shipping costs are built into the price and so appear to the customer as "free". Of coursebthey are not but this is good marketing. Just think there is lots of room to grow there. Plus it is always easy to return things to a costco store.
They are trading at 28x earnings. Is that just too rich for the stock? AMZN afterall dies trade at 300+ x earnings. Should I hope for a pullback?
I am well diversified and have almost no retail or consumer stocks, except QSR

Thanks
John

Q: Hi Peter

One of the first books I read on investing was "One Up on Wall Street" by Peter Lynch. Of course, he advocated doing things such as going to mall and observe which stores were busy.

In that vein, I keep thinking of Costco as every time I go to one of their stores all I see is a steady stream of people going through the registers.

I don't think there is a COST question on the site and I simply just wanted your thoughts on this company. As I read through their Edgar filings, it just seems that this stock is ridiculously expensive. Is this just a great company but a lousy stock?

Thank you