Investment Q&A

Q: Greetings guys.

Question: If you had to split a 5% position among the names above, using strength of balance sheet, dividend growth, eps growth and valuation as determining factors, which name or names would you select and what percentage would you allocate to them.

Do you think the utility / alternative energy sector is a decent place to invest in against the backdrop of a rising rate environment. Theoretically, what weighting in a portfolio would you make this sector.

Thanks.

John

Q: You said A&W. UN was Okay or all right, then why did it keep going down from the forties? I would have placed a sell on it at $37.00 regardless of its income.

Q: I am interested in Village Farms to diversify my holdings in the marijuana sector and it seems like a safer play, currently I just hold ICC for a speculative play on South America.
What are the key metrics on VFF, earnings, book value, P/E etc… and would you consider this a good entry point now that it has come off its recent high after the Emerald Health joint venture announcement?

Q: Hello,
Can I get your views & opinion of B&G Foods Inc. (NYSE:BGS)?
Thank you
Martin

Q: I know you are not allowed to own any stocks,but if you could own one stock,what would it be.

Q: Hello 5I, Am I right to assume that min rate-resets less vulnerable to future rate increases as regular ones? I am looking at ENC.pr.c, pays min 6.25 divs. redeemable at $25.00, trading at $23.45, new issue was underwritten by TD-BMO and RBC how safe is it, can they stop paying this div? I would appreciate your advise, perhaps suggesting a couple others.
Many thanks, J.A.P., Burlington

Q: TCN has been weak for the past few weeks and continues to slowly lose some ground each day. Comments? Is there anything to be concerned about?

Q: LNR.TO is reaching 52 week highs. What are your thoughts on this company? Thanks.

Q: good day to you all
would appreciate your updated opinion on Celg
thanks in advance

Q: I have been reading the recent news on Patriot One Technologies. Their technology identifies concealed weapons without the person's knowledge. If their technology is as good as it would appear to be, than PAT's revenue will explode in the coming years.

The current market valuation is more or less ¬$50,000,000, my best guess is PAT's income for the next twelve months will be in the $12,000,000 to $15,000,000. I am unable to predict how profitable the company will be, but their product sells for $10,000 plus PAT will receive some recurring revenues. I am guessing that most of the development and research costs are behind them, and that the cost of manufacturing their product will be less than $10,000. My question is, is there a method one can use in order to figure out if the current valuation is reasonable or not ?

Q: Hi there,

I am in a losing position with Cardinal on what is a small level of energy exposure in my portfolio. Do you think the dividend is safe or ripe for a cut? Also, the name has fallen considerably more than RRX, WCP etc. I understand that they have more heavy oil production which may weigh on the stock. If I wished to maintain energy exposure would you suggest switching to a different producer? If so, who? I also own Spartan.

Q: Hi 5i,

I currently have 14% of my portfolio in materials, which include MX (3.2%), CCL (4.25%), ZCL (3.47%) and AEM (2.84%).

I also have 12% of my portfolio in consumer non-disc, which include PBH (4.85%), DOL (3.47%) and ZZZ (3.2%).

For a growth oriented investor with 30 years until retirement what do you recommend as an appropriate allocation to materials and consumer non-disc? I will need to trim my holdings in each of these sectors to re-balance as I feel I am overweight so any suggestions on what should go?

Thank you as always,

Jon

Q: good day...these five stks are 5% of my portfolio of which I hold all of the balanced portfolio and six income portfolio stks...I am down on these five stks 24% cumulatively...what should I do in these circumstances as I tend to be a long term investor and am retired but do not require income from this portfolio for about two years from now...thank you for the best investing education that I have had...gene

Q: Which is the best way to calculate the annual EPS Growth Rate for a stock that has had a miss(s) over 5 years? I want to compare all stocks as per their annual EPS growth rates (actual and estimates) to find the great companies to invest in.

Here is an example of TCN's annual growth rate (no misses) over 5yrs from TD:

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 GR (%)
0.23 0.55 0.56 0.56 0.63 0.81 28.63

Here is an example of PKI's annual growth rate (with misses) over 5yrs from TD:

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 GR (%)
1.32 0.66 0.46 0.49 0.72 1.17 -2.38

Here again is PKI's annual growth rate over 3 yrs from TD, restarting the rising growth rate trend at 2015?

2015 2016 2017 2018 GR (%)
0.46 0.49 0.72 1.17 36.50

Obviously, if I use PKI's 5 yr EPS GR it would rank well down my list. However if I compare all stocks using the 5 yr EPS GR it won't penalize a company that has been intelligently growing earnings consistently? Your thoughts would be much appreciated.

Q: This is in response to johns question today about the downward trend of savaria and photon. I would also lump GUD in with these. It has seemed like a 5i favourite for a while but is basically at the same leve it was last November.
You told John that 3-4 months isn't long enough for these names, how long would you recommend as a minimum (I am ok with years of needed)?

Is there anything in their news to make you very confident that the momentum will change directions?

And, do you feel comfortable adding to these 3 at tofays levels (or is it likely just holding on for a few % over the next year and they've already used up their momentum?) (I know this is kind of asking you to crystal ball, but I'm hoping for educated insight).
Thanks!

Q: My primary investment objective is to find companies with growth potential with a secondary goal for some dividend income. I bought Innergex renewable (INE) a year ago at 14.80. This year it has been flat around 14.50. I am considering selling it and reinvesting the proceeds into Gilead (GILD). With GILD there is also the potential of some currency appreciation. Please let me have your thoughts. Is there another Company you would prefer to Gilead??

Q: At one point you were considering starting one or more ETFs based on your portfolios. Anything happening with that? Thank you.

Q: I need to add to the financial sector of my portfolio. I own 3 stocks in this sector, a full position in BNS and would like to add to SLF or ECN. I was going to add to ECN but began to wonder if ECN would be negatively impacted by rising interest rates especially with their debt being over 2x or would they simply pass on their increased expenses to their customer? Not sure how much competition they have in that space. Thank you in advance for your expertise.

Q: Hi 5I,
General question on how successful short sellers operate. Do they short the stocks daily, weekly or how do they keep the price down? If they continually short the stock, do they not end up owning a considerable % of the companies stocks in order to keep the price down? Is there a website that gives the % of the stock that is shorted? It appears that you need to be careful in the Canadian market that you are not on the opposite end of the short attacks. Are there any other Canadian stocks that are heavily shorted?
Thanks Keep up the good work.
Bob

Q: Good Morning;
I have sold a put at $15 on HCG maturing to-day. Do you think it is wiser to buy back the position to close the contract or to accept the assignment? The key consideration, of course, is whether the recent decline in HCG, in spite of Buffet's intervention, is likely to reverse any time soon (say in the next 6 months). I would appreciate your crystal ball reading here! Thanks for this excellent service you are providing.

Bob.