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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: TD Waterhouse Action Notes Summary Report dated July 7 2017 about "Questions regarding the sustainability of CRH's reimbursement rates have contributed to a two month slide in CRH's stock."
Here's the meat of it.
" We expect a relatively benign outcome to the 2018 fee schedule, partly because of CRH's limited exposure to CMS funding. Our sensitivity analysis indicates that a 5% cut in the Medicare reimbursement fee could cost CRH ~1% in adjusted EBITDA. ....
CRH has limited exposure to MEDICARE- We expect CRH's operating performance to be largely insulated from CMS for two reasons. First, Medicare only represents 10 to 15 % of CRH's revenues. Second, CRH's dominant payers (the private insurers) employ different reimbursement protocols from Medicare. We estimate that commercial payers reimburse the 00810 code at 3X-4X the rate of government payers.
TD Investment Conclusion
We are maintaining our buy rating but reducing our target price to $10.50 (was $12).
Our rating is based on three considerations: 1) leadership in a defensive, growing segment of the U.S. healthcare services market: 2) high margin cash flow streams and: 3) expansion opportunities within CRH's core anesthesiology market.
Hope this soothes a bit!
Read Answer Asked by Clarence on July 15, 2017
Q: I know that you suggest Sun Life for a Canadian life insurance company, but how would it stack up against the potential of other life insurance companies in the US? Brian Acker recently recommended Met Life saying it was much cheaper than Sun Life. How would you compare Sun Life to US companies? Overall what Life Insurance companies would you invest in regardless of Canada or US?
Read Answer Asked by Kel on July 14, 2017
Q: Within the last month I took a half position in CSH.UN, and a quarter position in DR (both in my RRSP). I am down about 6% on both. If you were to add to one of these positions today, which one would you choose, and why? Or just wait as they have negative momentum.

Paul
Read Answer Asked by Paul on July 14, 2017
Q: I invest for dividends, dividend growth and some growth in stock price. I am currently holding ala but am thinking of switching enb or enf. Would you make this switch and if so which Enbridge holding ? I have a diversified portfolio.

Thank you and thanks for providing this great service
Read Answer Asked by James on July 14, 2017
Q: Hi there

Any ideas for the big drop in CRH Medical today.

Much thanks

Stuart
Read Answer Asked by Stuart on July 14, 2017
Q: CRH is getting hit hard this morning. Why ? Is it our Short Sellor again ? RAK
Read Answer Asked by bob on July 14, 2017
Q: I am recently out of university and have gotten a full time job with a defined benefits pension plan. I have 25-30 years before I am going to retire and want to start developing my first portfolio. I have lots of room in my TFSA and RRSP. I have a moderate risk tolerance given the pension plan.

I currently have $50K to invest. I would like to build a portfolio with a mix of some of your balanced and growth model portfolio stocks.

A few questions for you:
1) How many stocks would you recommend be a good starting point for me? Or would you suggest that ETFs would be a better approach for me given the amount of money I have to invest initially? From reading the forums I get a sense that I need to ensure a certain amount of portfolio diversity.
2) If I were to invest today, what stocks would you recommend from your BE and growth portfolio for the long term (20+ years in my situation).

Feel free to dock as many credits as you feel appropriate.

Thanks so much for your service. I have learned a lot since becoming a member and look forward to being a member for a very long time.
Read Answer Asked by Justin on July 14, 2017
Q: Can you give your thoughts on CDZ in light of the following Globe commentary (similar to other blurbs I've seen in the Globe):

"And another thing: The way some dividend ETFs weight their individual constituents is a bit nuts. Take the iShares S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index ETF (CDZ). Choosing stocks that have raised their dividends regularly, as this ETF does, is a great strategy, but assigning the largest weightings to stocks with the highest yields is a problem. Why? Because a high yield is often a sign of a struggling company whose dividend is unsustainable.

Case in point: At the end of April, CDZ’s largest holding was Aimia (AIM), which at the time yielded 8.8 per cent. But the loyalty plan operator’s shares collapsed in May after Air Canada said it would be parting ways with Aeroplan, and Aimia recently suspended all dividends. CDZ’s top holding now? Corus Entertainment (CJR.B), another struggling company that yields about 8.7 per cent and hasn’t raised its dividend since January, 2015."

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investor-education/im-still-waiting-for-the-perfect-dividend-etf/article35453106/

Would you recommend a switch to a different ETF for broad-based Cdn exposure in an RRSP? What alternatives do you like that are not over-exposed to financials/materials?
Read Answer Asked by Chris on July 14, 2017