Investment Q&A

Q: Hi 5i: I want to add to my small holdings of mid-cap oil stocks when the OPEC bounce subsides. I have looked at WCP and RRX. How would you rate these - I wish to focus on light oil producers? Do you have any other suggestions - I am interested in growth not dividends? Many thanks.

Q: Re: Comment by Denis
Unilever trades under two primary symbols: UL and UN.

UL is traded on the London exchange and there are no withholding taxes. (but some minor administrative fee).
UN is also Unilever, but is traded in Amsterdam and there is Dutch witholding tax.

Hence for an RRSP or TFSA, one should always buy UL. As for a non-registered account, if the withholding tax on UN does not exceed 15% (the max foreign dividend tax credit offered by the CRA to individuals, to the best of my knowledge), it doesn't make any difference whether you purchase UL or UN.

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan, and Team, I need to top up my consumer discretionary holdings and already have close to full positions in the above stocks. Please recommend several possible purchases, or are there any of the stocks I already hold that could be overweight by a bit (excluding XTC)? Alternatively, since I don't have much US exposure, might there be a suitable ETF with decent growth? Thanks in advance.

Q: you tout yourselves as small to midcap specialists as your strengths. advice please on a couple of your favorites heading into 2017 tkx pat

Q: Hi, Can you please provide the short position in Shopify on US and CDN exchanges and if there has been a change recently. It was mentioned on another board that there seems to be a large increase in "puts" buying, last week. Thanks

Q: Hello, I currently hold BNS, CM, & SLF in my financial sector portion of my portfolio. Which would be the better addition, if either, FSZ or GWO.
Thanks

Q: Hi All at 5i!!! I have a small portfolio with the following holdings: BAD, CSU, BMO , FTS, GWO, HR.UN, WSP. I have made money on BAD and would like to swap it out for. CSU. Could I have your thoughts on this? Would you trade another stock in the portfolio instead? I am up on all of them. Cheers and thanks, Tamara

Q: I currently hold OTC and KXS but am considering switching to EBIX, for two reasons. One is that I like the EBIX model, everything is in the insurance industry, any acquisitions can be integrated into improving existing products unlike say CSU where everything remains independent. The second, is that insurance will benefit from rising rates. I figure that rates will rise significantly in the next five years as a result of a shrinking labour force, aging population, resulting in wage inflation. The only negative is that EBIX is expensive following a stellar year. What are your thoughts.

Q: with recent preferred share activity is there a reasonable possibility ECN will enter into an acqusition before year end . Any way they would issue dilutive equity to do so?

Q: EMA just sold its holdings in AQN (about 5% of AQN). I have holdings in both. Is this a positive or negative signal for either company? Do you know whether the purchaser(s) were institutional, mutual funds or retail investors?

Q: UL Unilever
company does not come up. I own UL adr and there is no withholding taxes only minor administration fees on TD webbroker.105.93 dividend, 1.50 adm fee.
just a comment.

Q: My question is a general one arising from the recent bid to take Amaya private. I want to know if a person who is making a bid for a company can trade stocks in that company while his bid, now made public, is being considered.

Q: Peter, I am having my RRSP transferred to a self directed account and will be acquiring all the stocks in your Balanced Portfolio. Having read your recent Q&A on this topic, I will start with 23 positions at 4% each. That leaves me with 8% cash. I prefer to be fully invested and think it makes sense to add 4% GUD for the Health sector and I am thinking of SH, TNC or perhaps a S&P 500 ETF for the remainder. I have a long time frame.

Thank you, Stephen

Q: Hello 5i
I have been reading a great deal of your responses that include comments implying a short term top developing in many 2016 good stocks.
Rotation out of the winners.
Year end Selling
Manger Positioning
Easy to sell winners for cash

And on the other side, 5i continues to recommend many of these names as investable today.

How is an investor to reconcile buy recommendations(at what feels like short term high) with declining stock prices and the scepter of a January pull back after the 2016 tax year passes.....and when the typical selling period begins for previous year winners?

If one is not a trader, what investor action is to be taken to ensure long term success with volatile names that appear to be in decline today?

(as a note: I may not be in some of these names without 5i.....good(a few nice gain positions-thanks) and bad(dealing with volatility)

Thanks
Dave

Q: I have a question about this press release about share repurchases from CGI Group. The CGI group is intending to repurchase Class A shares on the TSX. I'm a holder of shares of CGI on the NYSE. Can you tell me more about how this will affect my investment and are NYSE shareholder getting the short end of the stick?

Q: Hello, I know you do not recommend holding REITs in a taxable regular account. In that context, where is the best place to hold income funds such as Pizza Pizza (PZA) or Boston Pizza (BPF)? My understanding is that their distribution is in the form of a dividend portion plus a return of capital portion, is that effective from a tax perspective? Regards, Gervais

Q: A US stock question. Have you heard of this company, and if so, what do you think of it?

Q: Hello Team,
What are your thoughts on Rifco in light of the present 'Tax Loss Season' and in light of long term prospects?

Q: Hi Team, A number of analysts seem to think that the U.S. financial sector(deregulation) and infrastructure(putting people back to work) are sectors to consider when investing in the U.S. Do you agree with this and if so what would be your top 2/3 stock picks in each sector? If not, what sectors and stock picks would the team suggest.

Q: I hold NHC and am thinking that that tax loss selling has driven it down alot. Thinking of adding to average down. Whats your latest thoughts on the company