Investment Q&A

Q: Could you please provide US names similar to wsp and stn, or other companies to benefit from infrastructure expansion in the US? Many thanks, great service!

Rob

Q: Hi 5i Team,
Can you please comment on Rogers Sugar's earnings release today? There are so many adjustments to their numbers that I find it difficult to gauge how good a quarter it was. I hold this stock primarily for income. Can you please comment on the safety/ability to grow the dividend, and free cash flow trend over the past few quarters?
Many thanks,
Brian

Q: Good evening,

Multi-part question.

Had just finished reading ‘The Little Book of common sense Investing’, decide to make the switch, and am beginning to plan my transition to CPD, ZAG, VFV, XEF, VCN, VEE, and XRE, when I come across the new Vanguard products, of which VBAL to me seems the most interesting.

I see the pros of this ETF as being straightforward and dropping from 7 commission fees (re-balancing myself), vs just one trade a year to add money (portfolio currently around $26,000).

Cons: no preferreds or real estate. Less control (e.g they decide the asset allocations).

Do you have an opinion on this ETF?

Not sure the yield on VBAL but am guessing 2.5-3% maybe? Any idea?

Also, If I go ahead with VBAL would you give it some time to settle down (trading looks a little erratic), or is that volatility purely a product of price changes of its holdings already?

Thanks!

Q: I see the sector is down the last few days, but MET has seemed to drop more in share value than SLF, & AIG,. Do you know of any reason for this and are you still positive in regards to MET. I am aware you don't follow the US market that closely. Also, if you are allowed, the report date of SPE.TO, CEU.TO, & WCP.TO. Thanks

Q: Hello 5i Team,

little bit of a two for one here though all three of these companies in my portfolio are in the same battered sector. Obviously the Canadian natural gas producers are hurting right now due to weak prices, an oversupply, and a lack of pipeline to deliver especially in Alberta but Peyto itself has really bled out over the last 6 months. The dividend is nice but of course was cut and I'm feeling uncertain as to whether it will continue to be sustainable and even if the loss in stock value is very much offsetting it. Do you see any upside here? The strong downward trend momentum is rather discouraging.

Cenovus and Trican are two others that I recently acquired at the higher end of the scale relative to the last month. Since then they've been steadily sliding especially Cenovus and I presume this is due to rising bond yields, higher interest rates, and a lack of sentiment towards the energy sector. Could you please give me your thoughts on them over the short and long term please? Thanks a bunch! Your guidance is very much appreciated.

Q: ALY and KAT, two unrelated stocks, seem to be plunging. Has the story changed for them both, or is at least one worth holding on to? Any thoughts on their balance sheets? Thanks for your advice.

Q: Is it time to revisit Ten Peaks? What do you think of as an investment today? It looks good from a technical standpoint and pays an o.k. dividend.

Q: Cheers. First of all thanks for recent Avo encouragement. Worked out very well.

What are the consequences to Gud if companies like Amazon get into the pharmaceutical business in a big way? Also there is lots of talk by governments and insurance companies of signing contracts with drug providers where drug costs are lowered by 35-40%. Quebec signed such a contract awhile ago and recent reports suggest the other provinces are also in the process of doing so. I believe this is the area where Jonathan Goodman and his team have their expertise and previous success. I have a 3 year invested interest in Gud and wondering how these events are affecting Guds future potential and even its present share price decline?
Would like to hear your valued thots on this.
Thanks
Terry

Q: We're now $1900 underwater on 800 shares of KEY. Any hope for the future? Sell, hold buy? These are troubled times ! Many thanks - Ted

Q: together these 5 stocks make up 10% of my portfolio. not a terribly large weighting but enough that i have felt the recent decline. I understand the correlation between interest rates and these companies that are viewed as bond proxies. Since Jan 1 2018 BCE is down 5.5%, BEP is down 7%, BIP is down 8%, TRP down over 9%, ENB down over 10% (all return % are excluding dividends). ENB is now yielding over 6% if their Q1 2018 dividend is extrapolated for the FY 2018. my question is at what point does one consider the decline overdone and step into one or a few of these? a 6% yield on ENB is looking attractive to me but do you think there is still more downside risk in these names?

Q: ILMN gave non GAAP projections of about 13% earnings growth for 2018. About $4.55 from $4.00. This seems somewhat meagre. Do you know if they are generally cautious with their numbers historically? I like their business but do not know quite how to take this information of seemingly slower growth. Are the hedging expectations overly?

Q: Hello team,

Do you think the sell off on these fine dividend payers is done? I want to buy some blue chip dividend payers (I have none) but I wonder if the impact of future rate hikes is already/completely priced in for these types of stocks. What do you recommend: wait a bit longer or just buy now? I am afraid of buying now and watch them go much lower than their current price. At what price(or multiple) each of these would be a pounding-the-table buy? Would you please order them in terms of your preference for a very long-term hold.

Thank you very much indeed!

Q: Given the dump the market has taken the last few days, I would like your opinion on to the underlying reasons behind it and which companies, specifically from the growth portfolio, you feel are the best buys because of it.

Thank you in advance,

Brad

Q: I would like to combine JPM with two new other US positions in a US$ portfolio to achieve a good mix in the financial sector. Wondering what your thoughts are about adding an investment company like SCHB or AMTD or is there another entity that you suggest?....and also an insurance company that you would suggest that would benefit from rising US interest rates? (I currently hold SLF in a Cdn$ portfolio.)....Thanks

Q: What is your current view on this company and it's future prospects. I've held it since 09/15 and traken some profit on the runup in 2016. But the last 12 months It has been on a sever down trend to the previous lows.

Q: Hi:
I'm currently underweight in bonds, and all my current bond holdings are in Canadian dollars. I am considering the iShares TIP. Could you please give my your opinion on this ETF? Thanks

Q: Good day 5i team. Has the Short interest in these companies declined at all? I am even on both and no rush to sell, however ... Shorts tend to also have a long time horizon

Q: What do you make of the latest report? Are they on the right track? I am underwater on my (modest) holdings. I sold half for a capital loss in Dec and so I feel content to hold the balance for the rest of the year, in which case I would possibly take the balance of the loss I have. The remaining impact on my overall portfolio is minimal. The real question is do I increase my holdings by about 30% to average down in anticipation of a positive return. It would bring my overall weighting to about 2.5%.
Thanks

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan, and Team,

Darren Sissons, in a recent BNN "Top Picks" segment wrote an interesting few paragraphs in which he attempted to debunk some common 'opinions': "Telcos, pipelines, consumer staples and consumer discretionary are now inferior investments. (NOT TRUE, in his opinion) For fresh capital, the yields in these sectors are now actually becoming increasingly attractive. The broader issue is these segments have been over-owned since the global financial crisis and the recent underperformance is skewing their longer-term performance. For fresh capital, these segments offer an attractive risk-adjusted total return looking forward, in addition to protection against market corrections.

If you agree with his thesis, what stocks (in particular, from ones that you cover) in telcos, pipelines, consumer staples, and consumer discretionary would be most attractive at this time?

Thanks for your valued insight.

Q: It seems XIT "Don't get no respect" from analysts, yet it has performed well over the past few years and smooths out the volatility in the sector. Oddly, XIT seems to do just as well as ZQQ. Where does 5i stand on this ETF?