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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: Are there any stocks that will benefit from the coronavirus scare?
Read Answer Asked by dan on January 27, 2020
Q: I seek your comments (substance only please) on VIAC and CMCSA. If I am incorrect on the following conclusions I made on VIAC, please yell at me:
- Debt is high and is not well covered
- YET the dividend looks supportable given cash flow
- Shares trade well below fundamental value (traditional definitions of value) by some 30% to 40%
- Business model is not the strongest but company has plans to replace cord-cutters with streaming services
- Future growth seems limited.... only 6% growth is expected by analysts (but earnings grew by 101% this past years)

Is VIAC a value trap? All I wanted for Christmas was a Bloomberg terminal. I didn’t get one. Still , when researching a stock I give much weight to BUSINESS model and risks thereto, AND to metrics like PEG, FCF , ROCI (not to book value which is meaningless except in certain sectors).

If not VIAC , based on the metrics I pay more attention to (above) , do you believe CMCSA is a better buy? I bought a half position in CMCSA after I read through the earnings release . CMCSA reported January 23 and fell sharply after the earnings release. CMCSA fell even more (more than S&P) the day after Friday January 24. I see that CMCSA is one of the top 30 holdings of hedge funds ---for what that is worth. Notwithstanding the negative momentum , is CMCSA a company one would be reasonably fine to add to instead of buying VIAC?
Read Answer Asked by Adam on January 27, 2020
Q: Peter recommended CAE on BNN partly because of a large backlog of work which includes upcoming training on Boeing's 737MAX. I don't believe that Boeing has been completely forthcoming about the issues regarding this plane but we do know that there is a design problem which created a structural deficiency, and that they tried to overcome this with a computerized fix. That fix didn't work and the plane will have been out of service for at least 15 months. Evidence that has been made public is not comforting.
My question is; how much of CAE's backlog is related to the 737MAX? What effect would further delays or cancellation have on the financial results of CAE?
As always, thanks for your insight.
Ian
Read Answer Asked by Ian on January 27, 2020
Q: I am thinking about buying FSZ. Can you please shed some light on its current and future estimated P/E, debt level, return on investment, and other fundamentals? Can you please explain why you think the stock is currently cheap? What are the chances of dividend cut over the next couple of years in the case of weaker overall market?
Read Answer Asked by Mahdi on January 27, 2020
Q: I was planning to sell DFS but stopped when the stock price fell almost 10% after earnings release. Were the results THAT bad? The company stated its expenses were significantly higher than budgeted. There is insufficient information in the release or the call transcript for me to determine if the high expenditure is INVESTING in the business ---or just very poor management .

What is wrong with this idiot management... To wit: the company claimed expenses will be high due to tech. But the need for financial institutions to spend on technology is not new--- that’s been known for decades!

Earnings grew by 22% last year but are forecast not to grow at all next year.... does this sound correct or is the company setting a low bar for itself? Shares are now some 45% below fair value , it seems (?)

Can management be trusted after the incredibly poor budgeting and even worse marketing ? To quote Warren Buffet, “...be aware idiots will one day run the company you invest in” ( Source is the book “Snowball”). My efforts to escape dumb managements the world over have proven to be as futile as attempts to escape gravity.
Notwithstanding my above-noted frustrations, do you think its fine as a continuing hold based on:
PEG ; ROE ; ROCI and other measures like FCF etc

Read Answer Asked by Adam on January 27, 2020
Q: Hi, I am looking to deploy some US dollars I have in cash. My thinking is to focus on US tech - in particular the software, internet and semiconductor industries. Could you recommend names in each industry you feel would be a good choice, considering solid companies with growth prospects that could be held longer term?
Thank you for all your hard work!
Dawn
Read Answer Asked by Dawn on January 27, 2020
Q: Recent reports on PBH suggest that while there is progress on the Asian Swine flu epidemic it is going to take some years to recover from - and pork prices in the local stores are still prohibitive. At the same time PBH has supposedly invested in several productive moves which should come into play in the first half of this year. Yet share price progress is modest, the shares are well priced and share price expectations do not encourage the idea that significant progress is anticipated. What is your take on these issues and do you know and have an opinion on the "meaningful moves" that this company has made? Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Mike on January 27, 2020
Q: More and more I’m seeing news such as the recent European Central Bank announcement their investment decisions will be guided by concerns around climate change. Following this theme, I’m interested in a ground floor (albeit risky) position for my TFSA, where tax-free growth is my only consideration. Could you discuss the relative merits of these 2 companies.
Read Answer Asked by Warren on January 27, 2020
Q: Hi everyone,
Since BEP, BIP are based in Bermuda and declare foreign income, is there any witholding tax in a RRSP on the income received from their stocks or preferred shares? You mentioned this link before: https://bep.brookfield.com/stock-and-distribution/tax-information , but it does not mention RRSP specifically. Same question for TFSA …

Will it change with the creation of BEP & BIP canadian corp.?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Denise on January 27, 2020
Q: There is a 1st death in Beijing. Do you think we should remain fully invested or is it time to start taking some risk off the table? During Ebola, I remained invested, but this time, the market hasn't stopped going up for a while and expectations are high. If you are not worried, what would be a new development with the coronovirus that does change fundamentals for the market?
Read Answer Asked by Matt on January 27, 2020
Q: Hi Peter (I think)!
If one ignored the past history of BLDP how would you feel about the company? I am assuming new management has taken over the company since the last flame-out. Does management have a reasonable share position? I assume they have $130 million in cash because they issued shares and the people who purchased the shares are now positive. Do you feel the analyst's projections about profitably are reasonable or are they too optimistic? You note management has missed projections in 4 of 8 quarters. Is the glass half full or have empty?
Thanks,
Jim
Read Answer Asked by James on January 27, 2020
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