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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: I have a 7% position in MFC. Normally this security would benefit from rising rates. My thoughts on this has changed. Borrowing short term and lending long term doesn’t look that attractive to me at this time as the yield curve is flattering. I’m an income oriented investor are there better opportunities elsewhere.. I’m down about 5%. What are your thoughts on my thesis? Should I sell and move on, reduce my position or hang on? I also have a smal positio in FLI.
Read Answer Asked by Roy on July 09, 2018
Q: This is a followup question for my question from last week about payout ratios.

I understand your reasons for using cash flow over earnings to calculate payour ratios. Thanks for clarifying. But when I use your posted numbers to calculate it for ENB, I get:

Payout ratio = Dividend / cash flow
= Dividend / (Price / Price to cash flow)
=2.684 / (46.69/9.7)
= 56%

But, in the question I asked previously, you stated 37% was the payou ratio for ENB. It was correct for BCE, however (3.02/(54.57/6.5)=36%). I guess I am not calculating it correctly.

How do you calculate your payour ratios based on cash flow?

Also, since it is such an important number that others don’t use (based on cash flow) could you include it in your company profile?

Thanks again,

Fed

Read Answer Asked by Federico on July 09, 2018
Q: Hi Peter/Ryan,

My daughter is 11 years old and currently in her RESP account I have invested $40,000 in CBO,XBB,CDZ,CPD,XHY (equal amounts).
I am considering selling the current holdings and investing equal amount into below
1) ZQQ OR QQC.F
2) XIU OR XIC
3) VFV OR XUS
4) Balanced:  GC, SIS, PBH, NFI, CSU
5) Growth: PHO, KXS, GSY, ECN, PEO
Please let me know your thoughts about the above strategy.

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Ninad on July 09, 2018
Q: A few years ago my former broker recommended stochta.com which shows free technical charts and more. For charts of Canadian companies add .c to the symbol. I hope this is useful to some members. Thanks for the great service, Frank
Read Answer Asked by Frank on July 09, 2018
Q: What are your BEST 5 ideas for a TSFA account. Thanks Valter.
Read Answer Asked by Valter on July 09, 2018
Q: I wish to add more fixed income to both my Can $ and US$ portfolios. Reviewing recent Q & A has given me information for Canadian options. Can you suggest US$ Etf's for US and/or international exposure. Thanks for your help and continuing good advice. Doug
Read Answer Asked by Doug on July 06, 2018
Q: With reference to Sheldon's question on Recognia and MACD crossovers, a free resource for positive and negative crossovers can be found here:
http://stockcharts.com/def/servlet/SC.scan
Read Answer Asked by Randy on July 06, 2018
Q: On June 27, in response to Kolbi's question on the marijuana industry, 5i said, "If you are not smoking now you are not likely to become a pothead in October."

Respectfully, I wish to offer an alternative view. I'm 69, and haven't smoked pot since the 70s as I don't want to deal with people in drug culture. However I'm looking forward to buying some pot among the scores of varieties that will be available. I think it will enhance other enjoyments. I was talking to my girlfriend about smoking dope and I felt like I was 20 again. If this is how I'm thinking, I'm willing to bet that many of my generation, as well as those younger and older, will also take advantage of a marijuana industry that is legal, open, and staffed by knowledgeable people.

So yeah, I'm totally looking forward to becoming a pothead in October.
Read Answer Asked by Jerry on July 06, 2018
Q: I'm thinking the sell off of these two stocks is overdone due primarily to all the uncertainty around trade and tariffs.
For a longer term hold (3-5 years) would consider this to be a good time to step in (perhaps a half position) or should I wait for these matters to be clarified/resolved?
Thanks, Rick
Read Answer Asked by Richard on July 06, 2018
Q: I notice that DBX is declining today while most tech companies are doing well. I’m wondering what the reason is for the relative weakness and if that’s a bad sign. What’s the valuation like after the drop?

Also, in a recent answer you referred to BOX and DBX as the two best in their sector. Did you mean “cloud computing” as a sector? Perhaps you could name a few of their rivals to give me a better idea of what you meant. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Brian on July 06, 2018
Q: Healthcare is approximately 10% of our portfolio. Medical Facilities is the largest investment which we have held for a long time. JNJ and HCP we have added more recently. NVS and AZN we inherited. We want to simplify our portfolio and plan to sell NVS and AZN and add to JNJ. Wonder what your opinion is of DR and HCP specifically and also AZN which I didn't see mentioned in your question section.
Thank you, Marie
Read Answer Asked by J on July 06, 2018
Q: I am currently light in Healthcare & Materials. Companies that I currently hold are COV, CSH.UN, GUD, CCL.B, MX & WEF. Can you suggest three stocks in each sector that I could add?

Thanks, Dave
Read Answer Asked by Dave on July 06, 2018