Investment Q&A

Q: I am holding 5% in XSP. VUN AND ZQQ ETF. I am planning to increase to 10% in each. Plus I hold FTEC and SKYY ETF 2% each. Planning to increase to 5%. DO you think there is overlap and is any ETF holding is to high. If it is too high what percentage do you think is appropriate.

Thanks for the great service
Hector

Q: Following up on a recent question regarding allocating the appropriate amount of monies to each stock, the amount depending on the size, safety, etc of that security. Would you agree with the current split (full, partial, small):

Full = AD (should be partial), AQN, BCE, BNS, FTS, RY, TRP.
Partial = CGX (could be full?), CSH, NFI, PGH (could be full?), TCL, WSP (could be full?).
Small = WCP.

Thanks...Steve

Q: Search for Yield
I am looking for sustainable REIT yield - willing to accept some risk, cognizant that interest rates may continue to appreciate. Currently. have the following higher yield stocks: BX, FSZ, FTS, BEP-U, BIP-U, and T. There are no REITS. Would you advise to invest in REITs at this stage, given that many are near year lows? Criteria: Leaders, niche-players [data cetres, gaming]. To give you an idea of my Watchlist, for Canada: BPY-U, SRU-U, CRT-U, AP-U, IIP-U. For US: VICI, WPC, AMT, DLR, EQIX, HASI. Pls advise your top 3-5 list with rationale.

Q: Hello 5i Team, I am having trouble understanding the recent behaviour of preferred shares in general. I would sooner not repeat the loss I took several years ago, and until recently had thought my current set-up was “safer”. However, I am now in danger of heading underwater on all but BCE in the following list. Do you see any “red flags” in these holdings going forward that might signal Sell?
BCE.PR.H (Ser AH)
BPO.PR.N (3.782% CUM 6.5 YRRY)
FFH.PR.G (3.318% CUM 5 YR RT RST)
BEP.PR.K (5% CUM MIN RT RST)

I note that CPD has also been moving down more or less in concert with my individual holdings.

Would appreciate your thoughts/insight here.

Thanks,

Q: Hi Team,
Just wondering if you have any thoughts on the investment quality of CWS, an ETF created by Eddy Elfenbein of Crossing Wall Street. I see it is only around $14M US in size and about two years old. It’s meant to be a mid-cap growth fund with low turnover (5 trades once per year) and has a 0.68% MER. Thank you, Michael

Q: I track my asset allocation in detail...retired, lots of time and interest to do so. I break out ETFs and my few mutual funds by sector. A few of my stocks are split into a pair of sectors. As an example, TRP is sometimes referred to as a Utility, but seems to track the Energy sector...so I split it 50-50. Ditto for CSH...I split it 50-50 between REITs and Healthcare.

Both NFI and TCL are listed on the Company Profile as being in the Consumer sector, but I have seen them both in the Industrial sector as well. Using my TRP and CSH examples above (to be consistent in my tracking methodology), where should NFI and TCL be allocated...solely to one sector or 50-50?

Thanks,
Steve

Q: Hi Peter and Staff
Any reason to worry here - drop off from it’s peak has been profound and continuous?
Thanks for all you do
Dennis

Q: Would you recommend QQQ at this level for a long term hold ?

Q: The size of the Ontario Debt and ongoing deficit are staggeringly huge and will weigh on the economy for decades. And the resource economy out West is severely damaged. Are these not dominant macro factors that will limit Canadian equity returns for many many years to come? If I had a blank slate of where to invest should I not take one look at the Canadian economic picture and just take a pass, 5% position at most? Tens of billions of capital investment dollars have left Canada for good reason, should not we small investors do likewise? Would value your opinion. Thanks.

Q: ZCL reported it's 9 month results a couple of weeks back and I am having trouble reconciling the drop in cash on hand. At the end of 2017 they had approx 25.5 million in cash and equivalents and as of end Sept 2018 they have debt of 3.8 million and no cash. So the cash level from end year 2017 plus debt plus the net income generated through the first nine months of 9.6 million equals 38.9 million. Yes they have spent 24.6 million on dividends and another 3.6 million on share buybacks for a total of 28.2 million leaving approx 10.7 million difference. Back out the debt of 3.8 million and the cash flow used for investing of 2.8 million and there should be 4.1 million of cash left on the balance sheet. I deliberately left out changes in non cash working capital because...wait for it...they are non cash. I am not an accountant and don't play one on TV so I could use your help. What am I missing? Thanks

kd

Q: What is your opinion about investing in Vet for the dividend? Should the investment be in my RSP or MARGIN account?

Q: Hi - are you aware of any fixed income oriented newsletters that you would feel confident enough to recommend? Thanks.

Q: What's happening w/SHOP in pre-market?? 10% down. Same w/SQ..11% down.
Thx!

Q: What would be the five most over punished stocks that had modest to good results for the last couple of months. I am not concerned about sector and probably more interested in mid to large cap size.

Q: Hi Peter, when do TD & BNS report and what are your expectations ?
Based upon the recent muted responses to good 1/4s and the very negative responses to misses is there any value in exiting here and freeing capital for the best overall market values once this 1/4 is over ? Both banks have held in well so far but its tough to picture that either one will have a short term move up substantially from here. Thanks, Paul

Q: Seems like these active managers have been so out of favour that they now represent reasonable value. Some of the comments/questions recently have me thinking, I'm not so sure that the DIY investing model is for everyone. (No one could answer that better than 5i!) Since you have been on both sides of the investment industry do you believe that these firms will find their footing or do you think they are doomed?
Are these numbers correct?
AGF.B Yield 6.2% Payout Ratio 33% Debt 400M Market Cap 430M
CIX Yield 3.6% Payout Ratio 59% Debt 2.5B Market Cap 5B
GS Yield 9.14% Payout Ratio 81% Debt 50M Market Cap 350M

Would you please rate them based on total expected return(dividends and appreciation) over 3-5 years?

Thanks!

Q: Is there an update to forward 1 year p/e ratio on these companies? Thanks

Q: MFT, What is the risk for this ETF?

Q: Sorry, yet another question on Premium Brands. In your response to Jim today you noted that 5I would consider the management of PBH to be good. In their 2019 Outlook they indicate they are expecting close to $10 per share of adjusted EBITA. Also they expect revenue of $3.7billion. Both seem impressive numbers, if they can be relied on, and the latter is especially so given the current market cap is appx. $2.4billion.

Analysts have reduced their earnings estimates for next year from $5.54 to $4.53 giving a forward PE of 16 which is below the 5 year low PE of 23.

Debt seems on the high side at 1.26 times equity and management have noted they are paying higher interest rates because of the current debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio. However interest coverage seems reasonable at 4.3 and if the EBITDA comes in as they expect there might be some interest rate relief.

In light of this what reasons would you advance for not investing at todays price?
Mike

Q: What are your thoughts on NEO at the current price, having dropped after missing one quarter even though they have been beating estimates in prior quarters?