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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: Hi,

My portfolio is light on fixed income and it's not a sector that gets me excited to educate myself about it...What is the best way to get exposure to fixed income at a decent yield? Any ETFs or mutuals you can recommend? Or should I buck up and educate myself and buy some Bonds?

Cam.
Read Answer Asked by Cameron on November 30, 2018
Q: TD online broker does not allow me to buy some securities electronically. I can place the order over the phone and get the online price. I can however sell my existing positions electronically. Example of securities concerned are Versa Bank, GMP Capital, and about a dozen others. I called broker and was told this restriction was placed on the shares by the company. Never heard of such a thing, have you? I can trade these securities through my other on line broker ie. RBC
Any idea what is going on?
Read Answer Asked by Kenneth on November 30, 2018
Q: Good morning 5i team
My question relates to concerns raised about DOL's relationship with Dollar City.
The following appeared on a well-known security trading web site: "On October 31, 2018, Spruce Point Capital Management published a report .... that highlighted ..... purportedly "questionable accounting and governance practices that cast doubt on management and the underlying health of the business". Specifically, <among other points mentioned> the report asserted that "management appears to use aggressive FX hedges and an off-balance-sheet relationship with a Central American retail affiliate to boost margins in a non-transparent way."

Separately, DOL's 2018 Annual Information Form says on Page 8 that as part of their South American biz development strategy, "Under the terms of the Dollar City Agreement .... products are sold to Dollar City at cost, except for a small handling fee charged on shipments that transit through Dollarama’s facilities."

How should one reconcile this apparent conflicting information? How might margins be "boosted in a non-transparent way?" as the short-seller alleges? Or should the words "purportedly" or "appears to" scream out "BEWARE" in this report?

Finally, what does 5i think of investing in DOL in today's economic environment?

Thank you for your comments.
Edward
Read Answer Asked by Edward on November 30, 2018
Q: The US President ‘may’ have broken laws and the Mueller Report will or could shed light on how big my perceived concerns could be.

If the President did break laws what will be the effect on the stock market. Or what effect will occur on the stock market if the President did not break any laws.
Clayton
Read Answer Asked by Clayton on November 29, 2018
Q: Other than being a small company which reports in US dollars, what is you opinion about the business and financials of Destiny Media? They just reported fiscal 2018 results and on the investor call from the Management's comments, they expect a big uptick in revenue growth in the current fiscal year as a result of investments made to upgrade their technology.
Read Answer Asked by Charles on November 29, 2018
Q: I am down 25% on this Robotics and Automation ETF. After learning more about ETF's I feel it is small, and wish I would not have purchased it. What are your thoughts for a 5 year hold?
Read Answer Asked by Thomas on November 29, 2018
Q: tax question - I want to move a stock with a capital loss from a non-registered account to TFSA. I know I need to wait 30 days after selling the stock to buy it back in the TFSA. What about FIRST buying the stock in the TFSA, then afterwards (say the next day) selling the stock in the non-registered account and utilizing the capital loss. Is that process OK?
Read Answer Asked by David on November 29, 2018
Q: Mid seventies and only investing in RIFs.

I bought 100 shares of LVS at US$79.93 in June primarily because of the good dividend and it is now off 31%.

There was some good news a few days ago about money flowing back into the casinos in Macao again, but do you see any hope of regaining the lost 31% in the short term, or would I be better off to sell and put the money to work somewhere else?
Read Answer Asked by John on November 29, 2018
Q: First year of my subscription. I am single, rent, retired and am 66 years old. Besides CPP and OAS (fully clawed back) have a DB pension which covers my daily living needs so I treat it as my bond portfolio. Have a non-registered account from the proceeds of my house sale and collapsing my RRSP. Account objective is dividend/growth and not to lose money.
Looking at my Oil & Gas holdings I have HSE and XEG, the latter underwater by 20%.
Other energy-related holdings are ALA, BEP.un, ENB, FTS, H, IPL, SPB, and RNW all of which are underwater from -2 to -53% in this market.
I have owned a TFSA since 2009 and made full contributions every year mostly from savings from pension income. It holds AQN and IPL in the energy related sector.
Thinking of switching XEG for OIL or ZEO today in non-reg and booking the tax loss against previous 2015 capital gains. Is it a reasonable switch and are there any tax implications; i.e. trx not subject to 30 day rule?
Bill
Read Answer Asked by William Ross on November 29, 2018
Q: Hi, I have a pile of different rate reset preferred shares that have done nothing but lose value, and I am considering ditching some of them and buying bank stocks. Of the choices between the big five Canadian banks which ones would you favour the most, I am looking for steady dividend payers that could go up in value. .........thanks Joseph.
Read Answer Asked by Joseph on November 29, 2018
Q: Can a case for Crius be made based on a thesis of increased demand and prices for North-American based energy, driven by high growth of the overall US economy? New steel mills (announced this week) and manufacturing in general consume large amounts of energy. Is it reasonable to assume that if prices of gas/electricity start to rise, that fixed priced supply contracts would become more popular?
Read Answer Asked by Rick on November 29, 2018
Q: wondering which companies have the largest runway for growth out of these? I have a very very long time horizon
Read Answer Asked by mary on November 29, 2018