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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: Hi there, I've been invested in TSX listed stocks for the last few years. I recently transferred over a small amount (~2%) of my portfolio into USD thinking of buying Slack. This would be my only US holding. My question is, what would be your favourite listed US stock at the current moment if I were not to buy Slack? I am an investor who mainly follows your BE Portfolio with a tilt towards growth (ie: swapped a handful of names and replaced them with GSY, SHOP, LSPD etc).

Also, the market looks like it's been running up lately. Do you think we're possibly going to dip in double digits later this year (similar to last year's dip)? I've been hearing that earnings haven't been that great so far.

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Michael on June 24, 2019
Q: In assessing my portfolio weightings, I am wondering if most companies in a given sector should largely be expected to act similarly to events or will the across the board reaction differ from sector to sector? I would expect, for example, to see most REITs drop if interest rates were to rise or most oil companies not do well if the price of oil drops.

But I wonder how "homogeneous" the tech sector is. I currently hold full positions of KXS, SHOP, GIB and CSU. To me, these are all rather different kinds of companies. For example, GIB has a lot of recurring sticky government business, SHOP is growing in the retail sector and KXS is a smaller company selling to worldwide industrial companies. In your experience, would all these stocks be likely to drop (at least to varying degrees) in a tech sell off or are investors a bit more discerning than that? The reason for my question is to help me decide if being a bit overweight in tech is as risky as being overweight in utilities might be as I would expect every company to decline by similar amounts if rates rose.

I would like to add Lightspeed to my holdings but not at the risk of increasing my risk in my overall portfolio.

Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on June 24, 2019
Q: It is possible that next year we may have a minority's govt. in Ottawa between the liberals and ndp. As there is too much govt debt and the ndp will want to increase social spending and perhaps block any pipeline expansion they will need to increase tax revenue.one way would be to increase the capital tax from 50%.We are in our early 80s and were long term investors ,have large capital gains. Does it make sense for us to sell our equities with a view to repurchase them back using the net after tax proceeds? After all eventually we or our estate will have to pay the tax.
Read Answer Asked by Terry on June 21, 2019
Q: This is a follow up question to my request for your opinion on the management of many companies. Sorry for the prior long list.

It is good to know that you need to like the management of all companies included in your model portfolios. That helps a great deal. When you remove a company from your portfolios, does that mean that you have lost confidence in the management team, among other things?

I have removed those in your portfolios from my list, as well as those with reports where I have found comments on management. The remainder are as follows:

CTC.A LNR PZA
L SAP
CVE IMO TRP VET
BTO ELD FNV LUN NGT OR PSK WPM
EIF WJA
FM TECK.B WFT
SJR.B T
AQN CU EMA FTS

US: CVS GILD UNH CAT NVDA INTC

Could you please comment on their management teams, as to whether they are excellent, good, acceptable, or questionable?

Thank you,

Fed
Read Answer Asked by Federico on June 21, 2019
Q: This is a follow-up questions about determining whether a company is considered growth vs income. Can I interpret what you said as being:

If the sales and EPS do not increase much, or stays the same, over many years, and the company offers a reasonable dividend then it is considered income.

On the other hand, if the sales and EPS increase steadily over several years, then it is considered growth, whether or not it offers any dividend.

And if the sales and EPS fluctuate year to year, it may be cyclical, which is a separate category.

If it does not fit into any of the above, then it is a company of that should not be considered investing in.
Read Answer Asked by Federico on June 19, 2019
Q: Hi All at 5i! I was reading an article in the post which made reference to Canadian debt. Not just the debt held by individuals, but also , the debt held by corporations. In a down turn, it has been predicted that this could be a large problem for the corporations and the lenders. Are there corporations that we should stay clear of as investors, which are heavily debt laden, to the point of being a major concern? Cheers, Tamara
Read Answer Asked by Tamara on June 14, 2019
Q: My Question is on General market conditions from Technical point of view

Its seems looking at the technical charts for $INDU (DOW index) it has formed a TRIPLE TOPs with divergence in RSI and MACD with lower lows at each tops and $INDU now breaking off 200MA and from todays action its seems $INDU may run down to 20,000 or even 18,000 unless it jumps back above its 200MA
5i expert comment on this please
Read Answer Asked by Francis on May 30, 2019