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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: Hello:
RE: XLE Energy Select Sector SPDR (ETF)
(This ETF does not appear in your dropdown menu).

With the price of oil dropping today to the $49 level,
my position in XLE is down 10 % since I purchased mid Nov 2016.
I also hold SPE & PXT in my TFSA; my total Energy exposure is just over 4.5% of my total holdings.
What are your thoughts on XLE with regard to having it as a core holding in the energy space ? Would you recommend a Canadian energy ETF instead (i.e. ZEO) ?
My risk tolerance is medium to high, am looking for growth.
I purchased this ETF after Nov 8th and researched the "Trump" factor.
Appreciate your input ... thanks, Steve.

Read Answer Asked by STEVEN on March 10, 2017
Q: Hello, my question is about an article I read in CMS. Bill Gross says investors need to watch only one number in 2017 to figure out what returns are going to look like across the various markets, and that’s whether the 10-year Treasury yield crosses the 2.6% mark. As of today the 10-year yield is 2.48%. "If 2.6% is broken on the upside...a secular bear bond market has begun," Gross said. "Watch the 2.6% level. Much more important than Dow 20,000. Much more important than $60-a-barrel oil. Much more important than dollar/euro parity at 1.00. It is the key to interest rate levels and perhaps stock prices in 2017."
So my questions are, what will happen if it crosses the 2.6% mark? Does this mean that the yield on bond ETFs such as XBB and VSB will increase? Does this mean that this will be good for the stoch market in general? What is a secular bear bond market?Regards, Gervais
Read Answer Asked by Gervais on March 07, 2017
Q: Hello,i'am really concerned that the media and Democrates in the states are going to try and shut Trump down, or impeach him,with all they got to throw at him, real or not.
If they are to succeed, i'am thinking the market will take a big hit.
I was thinking of liquidating up to 40% of my portfolio and ride this circus out.
What would be the best way to do this GIC,Bonds,ETF or something else
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Brad on March 06, 2017
Q: Hello 5i team,
Your article on hedging for a market downturn is quite timely; thank you.
A 5% or 10% correction is not too worrisome as it could be recovered in a relatively short period of time.
I do not foresee a "black swan" event; do you? In my opinion, the current steepness of the yield curve does not signal the eventuality of such an event.
Regards,
Antoine
Read Answer Asked by Antoine on March 01, 2017
Q: Hello,markets are looking real good,i'am thinking Trump will need some good news shortly to keep it going?It looks like the establishment is circling.
VGG as a dividend ETF has a fairly low dividend, does it only rely on capital appreciation or a special dividend at year end?
Could you recommend a ETF along the same lines that pay 4-5% dividend,or stay with VGG.
Thanks,great work Brad
Read Answer Asked by Brad on February 15, 2017
Q: FCU used to be "liked" by you some time ago (couple of years) when it was around 1.90$. It went down from there to below 0.50. Recently however the stock has been rising, gaining 40% since beginning of 2017. I wonder why, when there is so much talk about deregulation of energy industry especially oil, gas, and coal which are far safer than nuclear. Where is the demand for uraniaum and specifically FCU coming from? Is it just sentiment (markets are rising) or this rise is based on significantly improved fundamentals or is it because of positive outlook? Do you think the momentum would continue and if so is it prudent to add to a very small position here?

Thanks as always!
Read Answer Asked by Saeed on February 15, 2017
Q: Good afternoon!
In looking at your comments on Veresen (VSN), I can’t quite pin down reasoning for what seems to be a change in viewpoint here.
On Dec 12th you state: “Because JC was already rejected once, we would not view this as overly significant, and is likely already embedded in the price (after Friday's drop). The company can still grow, and there will be other projects in the future.“
On Jan 5th you state: “We remain quite comfortable with VSN for income, primarily, with some growth. Good earnings growth is expected in 2017.”
On Feb 6th the perspective differs, and you state that you are “... not very big fans of VSN”
On Feb 6th and on the 14th you also now imply that the Jordan Cove rejection is NOT built in to the price, and that the valuation is high. You also stated that revenues are expected to decline, but my brief research into the company, suggests otherwise, particularly their February guidance presentation indicating $1.4 billion of projects in the works, accretive on a per-share basis, quite a bit of growth for a company of less than $4.5 billion in market cap. In a recent Globe and Mail article (published on Stockhouse, also) the following spoke to valuation based on EBITDA: “According to Bloomberg, the stock is trading at an enterprise value-to-earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) multiple of 10.5 times the 2017 consensus estimate. This is below the five-year historical average of 13.2 times and below its 10-year historical average of 11.1 times.”

Could you elaborate on what gave you this apparent change of heart, especially in conjunction with your comments about the ‘pro-pipeline’ Trump viewpoint?
Looking forward to your thoughts.
Thanks
Paul
Read Answer Asked by Paul on February 15, 2017
Q: Sometime in 2013 I was looking at certain energy stocks charts like Pembina and Vermillion and thinking: "I wish I was that guy who bought it when it was 30-40% lower", because at that price, I'd not only be up a lot, but I would have a 6%+ dividend at price I paid. Now, I find myself is a situation to buy those stocks around those prices I was dreaming for, but yet, I struggle to pull the trigger: I heard Zechner, McCreath, Berman, etc that there is no reason to be bullish from here, that the rally is not justified. But then, if we wait that "things are awesome again", won't stock prices be back to ATH? Also, in the past, during pre-rally periods (2011 and 2013), were people also unsure/unconvinced it was the time to buy?
Read Answer Asked by Matt on February 14, 2017