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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 Peter, I just noticed that numbers comparing the TSX Composite vs the Venture Composite Indexes are striking. In the past 3 months, the Venture is up 48% compared to the broader index's 9%. And over the past 6 months, the Venture is up 30% compared to the main index's negative 7%. Do you know of an ETF or other way to invest in the Venture? More importantly, would you be inclined to make such an investment (as a smallish portion of a 60 year old's portfolio)? And if you would be more or less inclined to do so NOW, please let us know. Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by James on August 06, 2020
Q: Hi 5i,

I am Canadian and I have purchased BRK.B around few months ago around US$180. However, it doesn't move up much and seem like underperform.
Do you think BRK.B is undervalued stock and it will catch up better performance in 2020 since APPL just released an outstanding report. The reason I asked because I am thinking to sell some of them to buy APPL. However, I don't want to change back to Canadian dollar, the Canadian dollar was lowest ever during the time I purchased BRK.B. Now I am facing the currency risk and slow moving up price for BRK.B. In your opinion, should I keep it and wait for long time until it offset the currency risk, or any suggestion. Would you please kindly advise.
Read Answer Asked by ma on August 06, 2020
Q: With a 5-10 year time horizon, can you recommend any dividend stocks which have stable dividends and high yields due to current market conditions? I think that RioCan and Enbridge both fall into this category and would be interested in similar stocks that have a yield in the 8-10% range.
Read Answer Asked by Jamie on August 06, 2020
Q: Four months ago you said..........

"PNNT insiders have been large net buyers of stock over the past six months. The stock is 5X earnings, but quite small at $182M market cap. Indicated yield is 26.4%, with the last dividend paid April 1. The dividend was cut in late 2016. PNNT is a finance company, providing loans to US middle market companies. Investors are concerned about defaults in a corona world, and the stock is down 58% this year, pushing yield higher. The company has 135 investments; some are doing well (groceries) and some are shuttered. The company recently gave a shareholder update, and it is good to see insiders backing their generally positive remarks. Still, we would put this one in the extreme risk category, on size alone, as well as a possible dividend cut or elimination."

what is your current analysis and opinion of PNNT
Read Answer Asked by JACK on August 06, 2020
Q: I would appreciate your views about the benefits of specific factors. I have read a number of articles which claim that over time, dividend growing stocks do better than stocks with no dividends or stocks with overly high dividends. Similarly, there are research articles which claim that "quality" stocks outperform the indexes. Increasingly, I see articles which appear to indicate that other factors such as momentum, women-led companies, socially-responsible firms, etc. also have improved performance. The ETF industry is now offering a wide variety of funds based on these factors (with higher fees than the broad based index funds).

Which factors, if any, do you see as offering outperformance of the broader based indexes over long-term time frames? Are ETF investors better to look for low-cost broad index funds, or should they seek specific types of factor ETF funds recognizing the slight difference in fees?

Thank you for your advice and insights.
Read Answer Asked by Dale on August 06, 2020
Q: With tdoc acquiring lvgo what is the best way to possibly play this merger would it be to buy tdoc which took a big haircut today and will both continue to trade or will lvgo eventually morph into a possible new company under tdoc with the big drop in tdoc would you buy now or wait for more details and the dust to settle
Thanks Greg
Read Answer Asked by Greg on August 06, 2020
Q: Hi !
In the US consumer staples sector, which stocks do you see as strong potential growth ? And, any views on Casella Waste (cwst-q), Nu Skin Enterprise (nus-n) and National Grocer (ngvc-n) ?
Please deduct credits as you see fit.
Gratefully,
Jacques IDS
Read Answer Asked by Jacques on August 06, 2020