Investment Q&A

Q: with the now huge spread between WTI and WCS, who would be advised to buy Canadian oil stocks and why. Are not Canadian oil companies only receiving the WCS price for all Canadian production. How bad is this!!

Q: Hi Ryan As a long term holder of VET the stock has a hard time generating a growth return.
I understand the huge discount on Can oil as part of the reason ,what I cant understand why the market gives no credit for VET,s foreign holdings not subject to the WCS discount.
My thinking is to exit and sit on cash till this political crap settles out.
Kind Regards
Stan

Q: I need help to clean up and high grade my energy stocks. I have the following in the energy sector: ENB, IPL, PPL, SCL, SGY, TOU and WCP (all were acquired between 2011 and 2014), and I would like to reduce the number of positions. I have not added to the energy sector since Q3 2014.

Energy makes up 8% of my entire portfolio (DCPP, mutual funds, and a stock portfolio managed by me – the 7 stocks referred to above). I have been very patient, but my patience is running out with some of these stocks. Some days I feel like selling the losers and investing in another sector, other days I feel like averaging down on some of the losers (it’s been 4 years since I added to the sector).

I am up 50% on PPL, so plan to keep it. Breakeven on IPL and ENB. Down 33% on WCP, and down >50% on SCL, SGY and TOU. Not including dividends.

I am considering adding VET as it seems to be better quality (recommended by 5i and others), but I don’t want to have too much overlap with the other stocks, nor do I want to increase the number of stocks in my portfolio.

Assuming that I keep the same overall energy weighting, how would you high grade this portfolio. I am open to other energy companies, the only criteria is that it pays a dividend.

Thanks,

Paul

Q: Do you feel VET is a good candidate for tax loss selling at the end of September and repurchase 30 days later (end of October)? I understand Mr. Trump's Iranian oil sanctions come into force in November which may pressure oil prices upwards. Mr. Trump seems to be leaning on the Saudi's to increase production but commentators seem think they don't have enough spare capacity to help him out. I would try to swing my activity to keep the monthly dividend. Do your sources indicate the Record Date for September?
Thanks,
Jim

Q: I currently hold Interpipe and was thinking of switching to Vermillion Energy.
They both pay a good dividend. Looking ahead would you make this move.
Thanks, Mary

Q: Hi 5i
Vermilion looks very interesting at 40. Would you recommend it as a long term hold for my RSP? Are there any reasons to wait?
Thanks for your great service.

Q: With the problems in Canada getting our oil to markets and large producers selling off assets do you think that an investor would be okay in holding companies like Parex and Vermilion where for the most part they are able to get product to world markets? I currently only hold these 2 companies (along with ENB and IPL) for energy exposure. Would you consider this appropriate or would you add 1 other company to this mix? Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Q: I have a 3.77 % position in YGR. Thinking of adding a further 2% in the sector. I’m mainly a dividend investor with some growth. I’ve been looking at VET because of its dividend and exposure outside Canada. Con looks a bit expensive. Canadian oil trades at a large discount so Canadian oil stocks do not benefit as much from rising oil prices.What do you think. Maybe there are better opportunities that you can offer. Your best suggestion would be greatly appreciated. This would be in a cash account.

Q: I have been holding WCP (-35%) (4% of Corp Port. and 2% of total holdings) and SGY (-40%) (6% of Corp Port. and 3% of total holdings) since 2015.
These are in an unregistered corporate account so a capital loss can be carried forward. I am going to either sell both holdings outright and purchase VET.
Or trim each of WCP and SGY by half and use the proceeds to purchase a smaller position in VET and end up with all three holdings.
The negatives I see with the first option would be increased concentration risk (2 holdings for 1) and I would expect that WCP and SGY would outperform VET if the price of oil continues to increase long term. Your thoughts please?

Q: Hi 5i,
Is there any news, etc. to justify the down moves on these two former market favourites? Has the market lost confidence in the management? Has the Canadian O&G sector gone out of favour as managers move to global co's? I would appreciate any comments/insight on these question & stocks. Thank you.

Q: These oil stocks look to be at lows. Would you recommend a buy. I have virtually no oil stocks at present and am looking for an entry. Do you recommend others?

Q: So Druckenmiller and Soros are putting more bets on oil. I'm not an oil expert, but I do understand the operational leverage that can be created. I also understand there are specific Canadian specific variables to profitability with the pipelines and oil sands etc. If I were to bet with these two, could you give me a list of Canadian oil Companies to bet on? Could you also comment on any possible reason they see oil as attractive?

Much Thanks,

Wayne

Q: hi Ryan I have vet fo a long time and enjoyed the div .
However I am getting frustrated with the huge swings in such a short time I hold 1250shrs and in the last month they drpped 10m$.
Takes a lot of div to get that back cnq my other holding is not much better.
My thinking is to sell both and sit on the cash and wait till this sector shows that it is investable ..
Your thoughts on my rant.
Kind regards
Stan

Q: Hello, I would like your veiw on the energy sector. Is this in your opinion a sector that is on a slow but steady decline with no real chance of a substantial comeback?
I keep watching the protests with the environmentalists and think that between technology and renewable resources it may not do as well as investors think. Are energy producers changing to renewables fast enough?
I have wcp and vet at about 7% of my portfolio, would you add reduce or just stay in the sector as is?
Thanks

Q: hi
Purely on a stock by stock basis, based on the short term possible performance of the stock, if you had to sell some of these stocks, which would (first 5) you sell and in what order? ( I like all of them but I want to reduce my leverage ) Do not consider them as a portfolio as I have other stocks in registered accounts. Reducing across all of them would not be efficient for the size of my account.
thank you
Francois

Q: Which OIL companies are your favorites buy?
Obliged and Greatful to 5i.

Q: I have a question about CGI, which I've held since 2013, so I've done very well with them, but they don't have a dividend policy, so I'm feeling that the capital gain that I have is being lazy and not working for me without any divvy income to offset. If I was going to sell half, what would you suggest would be a good 3 to 5 year replacement to consider? I tend to favour medium to large caps, and mostly dividend payers. I also have Open Text and Syzlogist as other tech holdings, in a fairly diversified portfolio that includes international and US etf's. I currently do not have any resource/energy (I was thinking Vermillion) or consumer (I was thinking Loblaws or Metro, Dollarama looks expensive still)holdings.

thank you,

Q: Which of these two companies would you suggest if Im looking for a two year hold without too much volatility. I like the bigger dividend of ARX but TOU seems more stable? Or is there a better choice?

Q: I would like to purchase some dividend paying stocks for a non-registered account. What would be your top five recommendations for dividend paying stocks (minimum 3.5 % payout) that are also likely to have some capital appreciation over the next 3 years. Please do not include pipeline or financial stocks as I all ready have these two areas well covered. Also, are your recommendations good buys at this time.

Thanks

Q: please comment on Vermillion's results...would like to add to my position, like it for the sector, dividend and less reliance on WTI pricing. thanks.