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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: Comment on today's drop: Canaccord Genuity analyst Derek Dley said he’s “become more cautious” on the outlook for the retail division of Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. (CTC.A-T) given the “unfavourable movement” of the exchange rate and “continued” weakness in Alberta.

Ahead of the release of its third-quarter results on Nov. 12, Mr. Dley downgraded his rating for the stock to “hold” from “buy.”

“We are forecasting 1.0 per cent, 0.0 per cent and 4.0 per cent same-store sales growth at CTR, Mark’s and FGL Sports, respectively,” he said. We continue to expect Forzani sales to benefit from an increase in digital advertising spending, as recent digital spend test periods have generated double digit sales growth. Our forecast of flat [year-over-year] sales growth at Mark’s, which is considerably lower than the banner’s trailing 12 month average of 4.0 per cent, is founded on continued oil price-related economic weakness in Alberta, which we expect to negatively impact higher margin industrial wear. We note 17 per cent of Mark’s locations are situated within the province of Alberta.”
Read Answer Asked by Kurt W on November 09, 2015
Q: Hello Peter, after 20 years of mediocre-to-poor investing results (despite being an incredibly smart guy ;-)), I've concluded I'm just either a horrible, or a very unlucky, stock picker. With only 5 or so years til retirement, and with no RSP or TFSA room available, I've decided to build out a non-registered account with, eventually, around 10 companies. I know large-caps aren't your focus, but I'm looking for 'blue-chip' companies, preferably mostly dividend payers, and I'm prepared to sacrifice significant growth for a 'reasonable' assurance of capital preservation. I've started with ENB and TELUS (choices I trust you'd agree with, though you may want to run and sell these now). Can you please suggest a further five companies for this account to acquire over the next several months? (I was considering Cdn Tire for one? Your thoughts appreciated.) Finally, if you could add two similar choices from the US, that would be great.
Read Answer Asked by James on October 12, 2015
Q: Been doing some research on Canadian Tire (CTC.A) and along with growing earnings per share, a share buyback in full swing, and a history of regular dividend increases, it also seems to have a controlling shareholder, in Martha Billes with 61% of the voting shares.

Just from some reading, it looks like Ms Billes is getting on in age, doesn't have any children (that I read about, anyway) and her history with the rest of her family is at times contentious.

Do you think Ms. Billes has an exit strategy in place regarding her controlling interest in Canadian Tire and what do you think those options are?

Thanks, again.

John
Read Answer Asked by john on September 07, 2015