Investment Q&A

Q: Hi, If you wanted to own one stock in Canada on the TSX, which company would you buy? I realize you would never recommend doing this at all, thanks. This would be owned for roughly five to ten years.

Q: Hello Peter, here's a twist on one of your readers' favourite questions.

What three Canadian stocks and three US stocks have your highest confidence level that they will be higher in two years than they are today, regardless of the size of the return. (I suppose this question combines your confidence in the companies' management, industry and macro factors, etc. but also with a view to preservation of capital.)

Q: As I write this, Friday mid afternoon, all of the markets are sharply higher. Gains seem to be pretty much across the board. I like to look at outliers that are bucking the trend. There are a few stocks that you have been optimistic about that are actually down today. Wondering if any of these are not as favoured by the market, given their performance today. Perhaps issues with recent results. Understanding that you can't read too much into one day's trading, but several of these have dropped quite a bit lately, and I'm wondering what your current feelings would be on buying these today for a long term hold in a diversified portfolio. Would you give each a rating from 1 to 10 as to how strongly you would want each of these in a portfolio? BYD, CSU, CTS, DOO, DND, ENGH, LNF, PBH, REAL, STC.

Q: Hi team, I have a couple of questions.

First, looking into an unseen future, what are the odds of DOL and ECN being acquired? And which companies would be interested in acquiring them?

Second, I am looking to buy MG but I don't have any free cash available. Would need to sell one of my tech holdings.(CSU, SHOP, KXS, LSPD) My gut tells me to sell KXS.
Would like to get a second opinion.

Thank you.

Q: did you garner any more info. with regards to the source for organic growth and the earnings discrepancy? Thx

Q: Choosing between ENGH, TOI or CSU, what will be the name to add to at the moment?

Q: you make reference of points to address in your answer about CSU earnings what might these points be? Thx

Q: Can you contrast revenue growth and free cash flow growth between these two companies and their relative valuation? Thanks.

Q: May you please comment on both of these companies earnings? Thank you kindly

Q: what does the market expect from CSU today?

Q: I'm looking to reduce the overall amount of positions. Of my tech names which would you suggest selling?

From what I can gather you prefer NVDA to AMD and would suggest one of either SHOP or LSPD. Is this accurate? Other suggestions or ideas to pair down?

Thank you very much

Q: Great article on Csu and its founder Leonard by Andrew Willis, Apr26 Globe and Mail Report on Business

Q: Can you list 3 (sleep at night) companies you would initiate a buy today for growth and why/thesis?

Q: Constellation reports in approx. 3 weeks - TD WebBroker shows an estimate of $10.13 on 4 analysts, down from 7 last year, whereas 5i (using Bloomberg?) shows $12.82 on 2 analysts, if I read and interpret correctly.

How do the analyst numbers normally work - as the date approaches more of them weigh in and the different services come closer to dovetailing the actual earnings or...? Please explain the present discrepancy with TD & 5i. Evidently TD casts its net wider in the analyst poll so would you say 5i uses analysts with a better proven track record?

Q: Does CSU maintain an economic interest in Topicus? Based on my review of the final long form prospectus for Topicus and insider reporting it looks like CSU holds voting control and a significant number of pref shares in Topicus. What I'm trying to confirm is whether I need to buy Topicus to obtain exposure to its growth or whether as a CSU holder I will already have some exposure.

Q: Roll-up companies can be amazing wealth compounders over time (CSU and BYD, for example). Do you have any tips on how to spot a good roll-up oriented company during the early stages of their development? Were there any specific catalysts or metrics you looked for when initiating coverage of CSU and BYD?

Two examples of roll-up companies I am looking into are PHA and NLH, which operate in the health care space. I know these two companies are probably too small for 5i to cover currently (but CSU and BYD were also small once-upon-a-time), but I am wondering what I should look out for when evaluating these two companies.

Q: I hold below 13 technology stocks - it is about 30% of my portfolio. My target is to reduce it to 20% If I need to sell or reduce which one would you recommend to sell and in what order. Are all 13 stocks consider as technology.

Currently - MiTK, CRM & PLTR in a loss. Rest everyone is in profit. No concern about capital gain or loss.

Nuvei Corporation Subordinate Voting Shares NVEI (1.31%)
CONSTELLATION SOFTWARE INC CSU (2.64%)
Topicus.Com Inc TOI (0.55%)
Fastly Inc. Class A FSLY (1.42%)
BlackLine Inc BL (3.49%)
Lightspeed POS Inc. Subordinate Voting Shares LSPD (5%)
Mitek Systems Inc MITK (1.52%)
Square SQ (2.42%)
Dye & Durham Limited DND (3.32%)
Salesforce CRM (2.22%)
Telos Corp TLS (1.72%)
PALANTIR TECHS INC CL-A PLTR (2.73%)
DESCARTES SYSTEMS GROUP DSG (3.57%)

ProShares Online Retail Index ETF - ONLN (3.89%) - Is this consider as technology or Consumer Cyclical.

Thanks for the great service.

Q: CSU seems to be an excellent company in terms of revenue growth through M&A, but there seems to be no organic revenue growth (even negative sometimes). Is there any concern about how sustainable their acquisition strategy is without organic growth of the companies they acquire.

Q: At one time I owned CSU (bought at $110 and sold at $600) and regretted the decision ever since. The money was needed for a real estate purchase in Toronto. I purchased SHOP at $40 and I have not sold any shares. I was considering selling 50% of my SHOP and buying CSU for a long term hold.
Many thanks for your comments.
Clayton

Q: TD WebBroker assigns a negative $1.93 capital cost of TOI shares from the spinout resulting in a potential capital gain in a cash account greater than the current value of the shares - is this possible?

According to the CSU - CFO the preferred shares, which I believe CSU holds, will be merged with our SVS shares in future at which time the SVS shares will reflect the full value of the business. When will the merger take place? Does this mean our present share value reflects only future growth and could a bump be expected on the merger? Market cap shows as either $3BB or $6BB depending on where you look and does this number therefore reflect the total value with the pfd. shares? Share volume of 40K seems pretty light for an outfit this size, agreed?