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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: Although Mullen share prices are weak currently and the PE ratio is about 34 it seems that the Mullen Group (MTL) is optimistic about its own future with recent acquisitions and substantial stock purchases by the president and a director in Mid-May. It seems that the company has diversified to some degree away from the oil and gas sector although still quite dependent on performance of the sector.
I value very much your opinion of the future for this company over both the short term (1 year or so) and long term (5+ years) as represented by its stock price and dividend growth.
Thank you very much, Ed
Read Answer Asked by ED on June 13, 2017
Q: Tenneco (TEN.us)
Would you please update your mid-2016 opinion on Tenneco. Is it worth holding given the challenges faced by auto part makers and auto manufacturers. (GM for example has the lowest P/E in the S&P 500, I think--- not sure). I am a value-growth investor who also looks for dividend growth. Does TEN.us have good prospects? Is the company growing and are the fundamentals good?

Incidentally a member last year in a question on Tenneco referred to “the 5i-Scratch-Test”. What is that please?
Read Answer Asked by Adam on June 13, 2017
Q: LaSalle Hotel Properties (LHO
Please evaluate LHO’s prospects for the next few years. Is LHO a dividend growth company. Is it well managed; does it have good fundamentals.

Do you believe it might be more interest-sensitive than its peers?

I have enough Canadian REITs which I have held for 4 or 5 years. I have been generally disappointed.Nevertheless, if you still recommend a Canadian company in lieu of LHO.us, I would welcome your opinion and your reasoning.
Read Answer Asked by Adam on June 13, 2017
Q: My tech sector consists mainly of these three stocks which I knew was too heavily weighted - but I did not want to jump off the bandwagon.. Today that weighting is about 17% of my portfolio - going down. What percent weighting would you advise now? And would you advise reducing all three across the board by the same percent or treat each differently? Or maybe dump one?
Read Answer Asked by Arthur on June 13, 2017
Q: Hi 5i,
Just a comment on Nino’s question and your answer about the choice between paying up for a REIT ETF like ZRE/XRE versus holding 8-12 individual REITs. My choice has been the latter and I have been happy with it. Your answer suggested that rebalancing 12 holdings annually would cost $120 at $10 a pop. My experience has been that the reality is much less than that. Because the REITs tend to move as a group more than their individual movements relative to the group, in holding 8-12 decent quality REITs I haven’t had to do more than 2 or 3 rebalancing transactions in any given year. Except for a couple of extraordinary years my REITs have really been low maintenance holdings. Cheers!
Read Answer Asked by Lance on June 13, 2017
Q: VSB looks to include both government and corporate bonds. Is owning VSB the equivalent to owning CBO and CLF? Looking to reduce number of holdings and the MER on VSB is attractive. Is there something similar that includes corporate and govt short term bonds that you like better? Thank you for all that you do!
Read Answer Asked by Pamela on June 13, 2017
Q: At the beginning of the year I had to liquidate 30% of a taxable portfolio. I managed to sell stocks that minimized my income taxes, however, as a result I sold all of my Financials, Materials, Utilities and Energy stocks. I now have 10% to add back and will be contributing another 20% sometime later this year. I do not think I will be needing these funds anytime in the next 5+ years. I am looking at taking half positions in PKI; GSY; BEP.UN and AEM. Your comments about my stock selections would be appreciated.
Read Answer Asked by stephen on June 13, 2017
Q: Hi Peter &Ryan
I am currently sitting on about 30% cash as I just had a pref called on the US side .
Would you sit on cash right now or jump back into the market and if so could I have some names of Can. domiciled companies that trade in US $.
The balance of my porfoilo is reasonably balanced so I could add to any sector.
I am looking for div stocks and capital preservation over growth.
Kind Regards
Stan

Read Answer Asked by Stan on June 13, 2017
Q: I currently have, in ETFs, 20% in U.S. (VTI) and 10% in international (5% in VEF and 5% in VEE). I'm thinking that long term my U.S. and Int'l should be equal weight as one never knows what countries will perform the best. What are your thoughts on this and recommendations? Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Pamela on June 13, 2017
Q: Greetings, I've always had a bit of a difficult time understanding bond ETF's or more specifically how they may be expected to react to economic events. Some observers interpreted recent comments from the BOC as perhaps indicating they may not be as opposed to a rate hike as they have been for the last 7 years. If rates were hiked even a little in Canada, I assume bond ETF's would react somehow. Does it depend on the nature of the holdings? Or is the underlying reason for the rate hike more important? Could a bond ETF ever respond neutrally (or even positively)? I think I understand how an individual bond reacts, and how if I held it to maturity it really wouldn't matter, but I am thinking specifically of ETF's like VAB and CLF. I would really appreciate your thoughts,
Thanks

Read Answer Asked by Stephen R. on June 13, 2017
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