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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: With the demise of HCG there is plenty of blame to share. I am disappointed with 5I continuing to maintain its rating of B+ right to the end. You extensive experience in the field did nothing for your subscribers. As with most other advisory services your tune only changed when it was far too late to make a difference. I can add DH to the comments. It was only my own common sense and intuition that protected me in both cases. I hope 5I does some soul searching and simply does not write this one off as another miss.
Read Answer Asked by Terry on April 27, 2017
Q: Hi,
I would like to buy some preferred shares as I don't have any Preferred's in any of my accounts but with so many different descriptions out there I'm not sure what I should be looking for. For instance I would like to have a high yield ( > 4.5% ) and a guaranteed return of capital on a set date if held until that date (if there is such a thing out there). I see many new offerings come out through TD & Scotia iTrade but these are usually closed very quickly.

For instance this one came out this morning:
"TD Direct Investing would like to inform you that the following New Issue has just been announced.

Element Fleet Management Corp. - 5.75% 5 Year Rate Reset Preferred Shares, Series I

Short Description: Offering of Cumulative, 5-Year Rate Reset Preferred Shares, Series I via Bought Deal
Price: $25.00 CDN per share.
Settlement: On or about May 5, 2017."

This sounded good but by the time I tried finding out more about the offering it was closed already.

So, is there some guidance you can give on what "buzz words" to look for when a new issue comes out so I can put my "expression of interest" in before the offering is closed?
I guess what I would really like to know are the following:
1) Are 5-Year Rate Reset Preferred shares the best option for capital preservation?
2) Is it best to try and buy Preferred shares on a new offering or to look in the open market?
3) Is there a Preferred share Class that guarantees your original capital outlay?
4) Any other guidance you can offer in looking for the best: time / place / kind when looking for Preferred's?
5) And finally, once I find a suitable Preferred offering - which account type would you recommend best to hold in for tax purposes (i.e.- reg. vs non-reg.)
Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Alan on April 27, 2017
Q: An interesting Globe article on Sunday entitled “This investor purchases ‘small, obscure, ugly and scary’ stocks” lead me to David Desjardins personal site where he talks about his “Net cash value” investing approach and more specifically his recent research report on Western Resources or WRX which he deems to be trading below it’s NCAV.

What are 5i’s thoughts on Western Resources? Anything you have on the company would be appreciated, thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Craig on April 27, 2017
Q: Which one of these 4 companies would you buy today
for growth and long term hold? (disregarding sector)
In which order would you rank them?
Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Uli on April 27, 2017
Q: Please give your updated (and substantive) opinion on Seagate. Your previous commentaries, although recent, were written before the gap down in STX price today. What are the company’s prospects? Is it strong enough to compete against Western Digital and others? Is STX at today’s lower price a good buy? Is dividend safe? Does STX have the wherewithal to make acquisitionists in a flash memory maker. I am looking more for your insight—your instincts based on facts. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Adam on April 27, 2017
Q: Can you confirm that ZUB is the better from a performance analysis standpoint. My take is that as both are priced (?) in CAN $, ZBK will reflect changes in the US/CAN $ relationship which are separate from the underlying bank performances while ZUB because it is hedged will be a more accurate measure of the underlying assets behaviour. Is this correct?
Read Answer Asked by Mike on April 27, 2017