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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: Warren Buffet is credited for investing in companies he understands. I have to be honest, I don’t understand what many of the Information Technology companies actually do, or how strong their business models are. What advice would you have with respect to understanding IT companies? Do you have a suggestion for an easy-to-understand IT company with strong earnings, growth, etc? Are CSU and KXS your top recommendations? Thanks in advance!
Read Answer Asked by Jonathan on January 19, 2017
Q: As a follow up to my previous question on Harte Gold I am trying to put a value on the resource. They are already mining on a very small scale and have all the inputs in terms of grade and costs. They have a custom milling arrangement in place to expand the ore body. That said is there a calculation i.e. Net Present Value that can be done to arrive at a potential share value if they define 2 Million ozs, 2.5 Million ozs, 3 Million ozs and so on. Can this be done and if so what would be the formula. Thank You.
Read Answer Asked by roland on January 19, 2017
Q: WANTED TO BUY THESE ETF'S NOW. DO YOU THINK THEY ARE GOOD TO BUY
NOw? WOULD YOU RECOMMEND JUST GOOD COMPANIES INSTEAD.
THANKYOU.
PAULINE
Read Answer Asked by Pauline on January 19, 2017
Q: Algonquing Power (AQN) is considered a renewable energy company, but it has sizable natural gas operations through its Liberty Utilities division. Natural gas is obviously not a renewable resource. How does AQN get grouped into the renewable energy sector? Is this justified?
Speaking of which, what is your favourite company in the renewable energy space? BEP.un or another one? Thanks in advance.
Read Answer Asked by Jonathan on January 19, 2017
Q: I previously had brought together several accounts into one and am doing some analysis to figure where I'm at from a portfolio approach. I am looking at the sectors of Financial, Consumer, Materials, Technology, Energy, Gold, Health Care, Utilities, Real Estate, Telecommunications and Industrials. Is that the right list and what kinds of percentages (of total portfolio) are recommended for each one?
Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Maria on January 19, 2017
Q: Shipping companies seem to be on a tear today. They've been in the dumps for years and supply has been cut, is it finally time for a rebound as commodities may finally get a re-run and the inflation trade plays out? I've been looking at a few US listings SBLK, GNK, DSX as examples - wondering if you had an opinion on the sector and any recommendations? thanks
Read Answer Asked by petra on January 19, 2017
Q: If Canadian interest rates remain the same (or even go down) this year, while US interest rates rise, what effect would this have on Canadian companies/stocks in the telecom (T), insurance (SLF), bank (BNS), and utility (BEP.un) sectors? Thanks in advance!
Read Answer Asked by Jonathan on January 19, 2017
Q: Hi 5i,
Suppose the US moves into more significant inflation and begins to battle the strength of its own dollar. So rates ‘normalize’ but inflation goes ‘above target.’ I am thinking about how to adjust one’s portfolio for that environment. I guess gold and real return bonds (and TIPS) may be obvious inclusions but I am wondering about equities in general and what kind of equities, if any, can actually do well in an ‘above target’ inflation environment. How would you increase/decrease sector weightings? Could you identify a stock or two in some specific sectors that you think would be good to own in that picture? Is this topic something you’d consider blogging about at some point? Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Lance on January 19, 2017
Q: I am curious about the yield on HEP. It is around 9% currently. I understand how selling calls can generate nice yields (and the trade off can be in price appreciation) but I am wondering how one would try and understand the consistency of this yield moving forward? Put another way, what kind of yield can one reasonably expect over the course of say 2 to 5 years? And do you have information regarding the avg. yield in previous years? Thank-you for your help.
Read Answer Asked by Alex on January 19, 2017
Q: 10:47 AM 1/18/2017
Hello Peter:
My 43 year old son has a very large position in DHX Media DHX.B - it is 18% of combined portfolios and 48% of his Cash portfolio. He currently has a 5% gain at today's price, and obviously should have sold some when it was over $8 but prospects looked very bright then and it seemed that keeping it was the thing to do.

Now there is little news and it seems not much interest in this company, and just a 1% dividend, so it is drifting but looking at the one year graph it seems that it might get over $7.50 in the next few months but maybe this is just wishful thinking.

We want to reduce the position to about 5-6% of the combined portfolios but want your opinion as to whether to wait for a better price in the year ahead or just go ahead now and sell about 2/3 of the position. Or Maybe just sell the whole position as there are better choices available.

The proceeds would be invested in three or four of these for a very long hold : ENB, ALA, RY, SLF, BIP.UN, SIS, PBH, ABT. Could you please rank these in descending order of desirability for growth and growing dividends?

Thank you......... Paul K
Read Answer Asked by Paul on January 19, 2017