Investment Q&A

Q: I am writing to request clarification in your answer to Ray's question earlier today. My understanding is that you recommended selling GSY and replacing it with ATD. Did I understand this correctly? My understanding from your recent reports and Q&As is that you felt that GSY remained a very good pick. Can you please clarify.

Also, thank you so much for your service. You have received a number of questions recently about the market turbulence associated with GSY and your insights have been quite calming. It has been very useful to better understand the details about the (likely short sellers) report on Seeking Alpha.

Q: Could I have your view on the 3rd quarter results for this company? To me the results don't look to bad considering how bad things are in the patch. Tnx

Q: Hi,
I wish to help fight climate change via investing in low-carbon companies - (renewable energy sources, EVs, batteries, materials from recycled sources, straw bale construction, vegan foods, etc) and also stop investing in fossil fuels, animal agriculture, etc as much as possible. Could you easily adjust your portfolios to make this possible? Are there ETFs that I could invest in as an alternative? I currently use both your income and balanced portfolios.
Thanks,
Helen

Q: Good Day How do you rate First National for a dividend payer as compared to the big 5 Canadian banks? Can we expect some growth in the stock price over the next 3 years? If so how much? Thanks

Q: Would appreciate your view of EXFO as an investment. Thanks!

Q: Total Return ETFs... Do you have an opinion on this type of vehicle? I am setting aside monies for a niece with special needs> I do not expect to use the funds for many years - it is for her years as an adult. I do not want dividend income.

Q: If you we’re looking to buy 5 US stocks with strong growth prospects for. 5 year hold what names would you consider?

Q: My weightings in each of the listed companies is less than 2.5%. I wish to eliminate some and build up others to the 2.5% level. What are the strongest candidates to keep and what are the weakest candidates to get rid of. As always, I appreciate your responses. RAM

Q: I would like to buy NFI, but have to sell something else to do it. After looking at all of my holdings, I think it should be CSU, or OTEX. I have other tech holdings, but want to hold on to those. I am about about even with the two tech stocks so there is no tax gain/loss. I realize it is changing sectors, but I like the dividend. Do you think there would be more growth in the future by replacing one of the above tech stocks with NFI? Thanks.

Q: Why have bank rate-reset preferred come off so much in the past two months after holding up well with rising rates prior to October? I hold HPR which is off about 15% since the beginning of October and holds mostly bank rate-reset preferred which I would have thought would hold up much better in the current environment.

Q: God Morning
I would appreciate your thoughts on the 3rd qtr results of NWC. They look exceptionally good at first glance but income includes a $17million insurance settlement partly for business interruption. When that is reversed out and the comparative periods adjusted, how does the quarter look to you and what do you think of the company going forward?
Many thanks for your insight.
Ian

Q: What are your thoughts on ABT? Is this a stock that I can buy and hold? Thanks!

Q: Looking for a reit with more that a 5% yield and a chance of dividend growth with some capital appreciation . What's your best idea??

Q: Cipher, is hosting an investor webcast today, I am hoping you can report and summarize this event. The question for me regarding this co. is are they growing and I am looking for proof of traction not only in revs but also profits.

Q: From a technical perspective is it time to sell GSY. It seems to have broken resistance to the downside, the next stop could be 10% lower. Your thoughts?

Q: Charge as many credits as you see fit...at least 4...got lots. Annually, I follow the O'Shaughnessy system and go through the tedious process of ranking over 90 stocks into deciles. I am screening for stocks that are good value, less volatile and have a good + growing dividend. For value, I use P/E, P/B, P/CF, P/S. For volatility, I use Beta. For dividends, this year I have added 5 year growth % into the process. The resultant summary number is the cumulative of the 7 metrics, with roughly 60% value, 15% volatility and 25% dividend weighting. I then marry this up with a technical screening, using charts with a 200 mda, looking for a rising vs rangebound vs declining chart.

Question 1 = your thoughts on my screening system? I thought of adding in other metrics, but I wanted to keep it relatively simple. Factors such as payout % and ROE can always be a looked at in the next phase. Should I drop any of the metrics if they are redundant?

Most of the stocks screened as expected. However, 3 stocks didn't screen well at all and I am trying to figure out why. It may be that my population of stocks is skewed to value stocks, so if any of the other 3 stocks had growth or REIT characteristics, then they might be seen as outliers.

Question 2 = CSH's fundamentals screened horribly = 10th decile. Could it be that REITs may screen out differently, due to their very nature?

Question 3 =Both PBH and WSP screened poorly = 8th decile. Could it be their fundamental metrics exhibit more growth characteristics?

Question 4 = Reading past 5iR questions on these 3 stocks leads me to believe you are still strongly in favor of all 3. Please confirm.

Thanks...Steve

Q: Could you please recommend 1 or 2 growth stock for a new born’s RESP account. We would consider to hold or add to these stocks over next 10 to 12 years. The initial investment this year is about $ 2500.

Thanks very much !!

Q: Hi, I have some capital losses from sale of shares earlier on this year. Looking to book some gains, by selling partial position in certain holdings which have appreciated considerably from my cost, but presently trading 10-25% off their highs for the year. Q1:Should I liquidate at current prices (before year end) or wait until market sentiment improves and valuations are better ? Q2: Either way (2018 or later), in order of preference, which ones will you let go first ? These stocks and weightings as follows : CSU (12%), SYZ (6.5%), BYD.un(5.3%), SHOP (5.2%), CGI(4%), KXS (3.3%) and CCL.b (4.5%). Thanks

Q: Considering debt, growth and yield which one would you pick between these two companies and why? Appreciate your comments.

Thanks.

Q: With the recent volatility, several companies on my watchlist have seen their multiples fall to more reasonable levels compared to the last 2-3 years. In the current climate, I find low debt, strong management and overall quality to be more important than ever.

Considering these criteria, RCH, ADW.A and SJ are starting to stand out. The main issue I have is, growth might not be as high/steady as it was in previous years, so in the end they might not be that much of a bargain; maybe they are just more fairly valued, not "mispriced".

What would be your take on this? Is a 15-16 forward P\E for 8-10 % EPS growth and overall quality a reasonable price to pay? Or is this a case by case basis? What are the main points of reference, aside from industry, competition, company history, etc.?

I understand there are many other factors, but still, am trying to get my head around valuation. Thank you!