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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: SJ stock continues to go sideways despite what appears to be positive news. CN has been announcing a series of planned capital improvements over the past month or two. Yesterday, they outlined plans for Ontario, including the installation of 380,000 new railway ties. New housing starts are up and I believe SJ has operations in both the US and Canada so tariff fears shouldn't be that strong.

I am wondering why this and other such announcements would not be reflected in the share price of SJ as it is a major supplier of ties (I am assuming that 380k is a lot of ties, maybe it isn't). When CN released the last results they mentioned increased spending and the new CEO seems to have ramped things up as well, so it this old news and already reflected in SJs price?

Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on July 12, 2018
Q: I have a friend, age 27, who wants to start investing. What books, magazines, websites, podcasts would you recommend for a beginner? She has 15K in her TFSA and would like to know where to park it for now. There is no plan to withdraw the money in the near future.
Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Teresa on July 12, 2018
Q: Greetings to Team 5i:

If I am reading the data correctly these ETFs trade on fairly thin volume? It looks like it would not be unusual for them to trade 5k, 30k, and 20k shares respectively on any given day. I am new to direct/on-line investing and trying to figure out the best strategy to buy ETFs (or any equity) like these if the quantity you want to purchase approaches maybe 1/4 or 1/5 of the total shares typically traded in a day. Obviously I'd prefer not to get into a situation of an order getting filled over two days or only partially filled since the returns are meager enough without incurring two commissions or something. Is there a concern here, or a strategy that should be followed as to the type of order entered? Thanks as always for your guidance because I truly do continue to learn something new every day with 5i.
Read Answer Asked by Stephen R. on July 12, 2018
Q: With interest rate hikes seemingly imminent and tariffs not going away for a while, which 3 categories of the 10 following in the Canadian market make the most sense for new money today, especially for immediate short term 1-2 years gratification?
Materials, Consumer Cyclical. Financial Services (includes real estate), Communication Services, Energy, Industrials, Technology, Consumer Defensive Non cyclical, Healthcare, Utilities
Read Answer Asked by John on July 12, 2018
Q: Unsure that this was sent a few mins.ago.Your best 8-10 stocks to buy today,Are there any table pounding buys here?.Thanks for u usual great services & views.
Read Answer Asked by Peter on July 12, 2018
Q: I currently do not have any exposure to commodities in my portfolio. I am looking to add some gold and silver stocks or ETFs. Can you recommend 3 or 4 companies or ETFs in this category and provide your reason for those recommendations.

thanks, appreciate your insight
Read Answer Asked by Paula on July 11, 2018
Q: Dear Mr. Hodson and Mr. Modesto,

I'm helping a friend construct a portfolio worth $375,900. She is a single mother who is planning to retire in a few years. All her children have grown up and no longer require financial support.

Besides CPP and OAS, she also has some other income from other source and wish to supplement her spending with dividend income from the portfolio. She's asked me to help her to contruct a moderate growth portfolio. She said a yearly dividend income of $10000 will be sufficient.

Now, her trading accounts have:
BCE- 73%, SLF- 12%, BMO - 11%, Cash - 4%

Here are my questions. Please deduct as many credit as you wish from my question credits.

Her new portfolio will generate a yearly dividend income of $12954 (yield 3.44%) from $375,900.

Financial -22% - keep the BMO(11%), SLF(12%)
Utitility -16% - AQN, BEP.UN, H, KWH.UN
Energy -10% - ENB, WCP, PKI or TRP
Consumer -16% - PBH, ATD.B, DOL, TSGI
Industrial -11% - NFI, WSP, TCL.A
Health - 4% - CSH.UN, GUD
Technology - 12%- CSU, ARKW, Please suggest: Nasdaq index?
Telecomm - 6% - BCE
Cash - 3%

My questions are:
1) For a moderate growth portfolio, is the sector allocation appropriate?
2) Do I need to further diversify BMO and SLF?
3) In each sector, do you have any suggestions for the right stocks? Feel free to add or delete.
4) Please let me know which stocks you would recommend to add first?
5) For a person close to retirement age and no experience investing in US, is it necessary for her to invest abroad? What's your opinion?
6) All the above proposed stocks, which growth stocks should go into the TFSA? What are your top 5 picks among the growth stocks above?

Thanks as always
Esther
Read Answer Asked by Esther on July 11, 2018
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