Investment Q&A

Q: Hi, Any comments on the recent price drop ? Should the row about the disappearance of journalist and possible consequences for SA be investors' concern ? How could this play out for Covalon in near and long term, if it's relevant at all ? Thanks

Q: ..thinking American midterm elections may be a catalyst if Dems win and dampen the economic momentum (and associated rate increases) going forward...under that scenario do you think utilities would be a good place for relative safety, yield and a possible rebound? thanks.

Q: Please comment on my perspective below. Am I wrong?

A bond matures and you get a known amount of principal back (on top of the distributions paid out along the way). As such it provides a safety component in your portfolio. The safety comes from NOT being at the mercy of the market (all you have to do is wait till it matures).

A bond ETF does not do this. The principal you put into it is eternally at the mercy of the current market price of that ETF. Even when any bond matures, the ETF just goes out and buys more bonds at current market prices. Therefore it does not return a known amount of principal as a bond would. The whole concept of "maturity" or "yield to maturity" disappears. So these ETFs are a lot more like equities than bonds. If people are following advice about the percentage to allocate between bonds and equities, in my opinion it is a mistake to treat the bond ETFs as in the bond category.

(The exception to the above being "target date bond etfs which do mature and return your principal").

Q: Hi Peter,
Jim Keohane from Hoop was on BNN Friday and was explaining his absolute return strategies he uses to run the HOOP Pension plan. He was explaining the approach for lower risk vs return vs a equity only approach. Is it better ? Are there any strong funds like this available to the average guy ?
Thanks, Paul

Q: Not sure if readers are aware, but it looks like Photon bought #650,000 of their own shares during September with their abundance of cash. Also, Mawer New Canada increased their position to over 4% of the company. Can you comment about these 2 developments?

Q: I owned ICC Labs which got a take over offer from Aurora to be paid in ACB shares. ACB price has gone crazy while ICC is still trading below the offer price. I must be missing something cos I cant figure out why everyone isn't buying ICC shares to give them up in exchange for ACB shares valued at the time of the deal. Thanks!

Q: Kinaxis is currently trading at an extremely high multiple; about 55 times forward earnings in 2019. In the current environment does this not make the stock extremely vulnerable to a significant pullback. If not, why not? Thanks.

Q: While your comments could apply to both our Canadian and US markets it is interesting that your slant appears to lean toward US markets rather than Canadian even though the bulk of your research covers Canadian based companies. Sure the US markets are still up this year but it is quite a different picture when looking at the Canadian markets. We are ' not still up' this year but down since January. Interest in the Canadian equity markets is waning for various reasons, taxes, regulatory hurdles, etc. So could you perhaps add some comments that address our markets and investment environment.in the context of our recent performance and future expectations. Thanks.

Q: Is this a good time to invest in Biotechnology?
What do think about the IBB ETF?
Thank you.

Q: i am concerned about the above 2 stocks, they are thin traders especially covalon.
in covalons case you are the only one following it, so when markets sell off a lot of investors panic and head for the exits.
with goeasy it trades a little more on a daily basis but it has just been killed lately, even though it is up on the year and their earnings announcements surprise to the upside it has gotten slaughtered,maybe again small investors are heading for the exits with their 25 shares, i am being sarcastic but i think your membership moves markets especially in these 2 . can you comment. dave

Q: On BNN this pot stock was described as being undervalued. I am not so sure; and would appreciate your perspective on EPIC. Not overly concerned about the risks but would like to know if the risk/reward is at least tilted in my favour.

Thanks.

Q: Hi, I am looking for a company that is growing at +20%, has a P/E multiple of under 20 and pays a modest dividend. Aecon fits this but do you have better suggestion? I look for a 3 year timeline.

Q: Hi, I'm new to your site and have a question about your recent increase of 2% in the company AD. When you added AD on September 21 the PE was at 55. I know that we can't judge a company by just the PE but wouldn't that mean that the company is somewhat overvalued? Thanks.

Q: What would be best buy today. How would you rank them?

Thanks,
Milan

Q: Any new information on this stock since the last question/answer? Would you consider this a buy at this time and if so what level of risk on a scale of 1 to 10? Do you feel the dividend is fairly safe and if so will the stock price will grow into 10 percent dividend. Is there an active investor involved? Lastly, do you see this stock getting some momentum in the next year or is it a long term play. Please deduct as many credits as you need to.
Thanks

Q: Hi
Do you have any comments re DIV, especially is it OK to Buy, and how sound is the Dividend?
Thanks
John

Q: The share price of LB has pulled back considerably in the past months from a high of 58...is this a buying opportunity or is the dividend suspect

Q: Thinking of selling my PWF for tax loss reasons and replacing with a similar co. POW. will CRA allow ?

Q: I am interested in acquiring a natural gas co. What would you recommend? Thanks Clare

Q: I would like your opinion on the above.