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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: I was thinking that there would be some negative news regarding oil and gas loan losses and also consumer loans. With this as a backdrop I was wondering if you think the banks will see another sell off next week during their earnings release ? I see no real catalyst to drive them higher. Would appreciate you thoughts. Thinking about the last quarter and the money that could have been made by selling and coming back after the hit the banks took.
Read Answer Asked by STEVE on May 19, 2016
Q: What is your opinion? I'm thinking of creating a "synthetic annuity" by investing some U.S. money in a U.S. covered call etf, namely SPXX. It provides a generous dividend (about 7%) and seems as secure as a regular annuity since it invests in the S&P 500 stocks. I know the share price may decline along with the market, and the dividend may fluctuate. Therefore the income isn't as fixed as a regular annuity. However, I also retain some principle and don't give it all to an insurance company. Generally speaking, what do you think of such a "synthetic annuity?"
Read Answer Asked by Jerry on May 19, 2016
Q: You have dropped coverage of Trimac due to the proposal to take it private. However, do you have any idea whether the proposed price of $6.25 reflects fair value of the stock, considering that transportation is at a low point in the cycle ? Do you have any other transportation or trucking stocks you would recommend ?
Read Answer Asked by Don on May 19, 2016
Q: I am a retired, conservative, dividend-income investor with a pension, CPP, and mostly dividend stocks (AD, AQN, ALA, BCE, BNS, CPG, CGX, ECI, FTS, PBH, RY, TRP, WCP, WSP, WEF, ZLB, XIT, Sentry Cdn Inc, RBC Equity Inc, Sentry REIT, Annuities, Fisgard Capital).

I have a roughly 10% weighting in energy. I hold CPG in my Cash account and have a potential capital loss available. Listening to the CEO yesterday, it looks like the dividend will remain small for the foreseeable future.

Two options = sell and replace with a better dividend player, capturing the Loss. Or, continue to hold CPG as this seems to be one of the "go to" names as oil recovers. While I would like more steady income, it is possible if I switch energy names that the new holding would then cut its dividend.

Under consideration are BNE, VET, FRU, SU, CNQ, ZEO, XRE. Are there others that should be on the list? I don't want a small cap and I'd prefer an oil name.

I have tried my usual filtering with P/BV < 2.0, P/CF < 6.0, Div > 3.0% and Beta < 2.5 (not sure if you want to consider beta in this exercise because you want the bounce) and don't get anything that makes sense.

It is normally all about total return, but steady income is more important.

Help and thanks in advance...Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on May 19, 2016
Q: Hi Peter and Team,

I own TMA in a margin account and would like your advice as to what to do: should I wait for the $6.25 price when (and if) it goes private, or should I sell into the market at the current price (it closed today at $6.16)? Having used the proceeds of Contrans CSS (when they were bought out) to buy Trimac, I'd rather not replace TMA with another transportation stock. If I do sell now, can you recommend a few suitable replacements in the Industrial sector?
As always, thanks for your valued advice.
Read Answer Asked by Jerry on May 19, 2016
Q: Hello Team,
Can you help clarify for me what seems to be a contradiction. Markets are supposed to have priced in the possibility of a US rate increase sometime this year. Yet, when the Fed minutes released today (May 18) indicate that may indeed be the case, markets react with volatility (i.e., gold down, oil down, US dollar up, financial stocks up, etc.).
My question is, if the market has priced in a rate increase, why is there so much volatility when there is the hint it might actually happen?
Thank you, Michael
Read Answer Asked by Michael on May 19, 2016
Q: Swift Energy is a name I purchased on the OTC market (www.swiftenergy.com). It went through a bankruptcy proceeding and equity holders came away with equity and warrants. I can't find where the equity and warrants are trading now. Can you assist? Thanks in advance.
Read Answer Asked by CAMERON on May 18, 2016
Q: Silver stocks. I checked performance one month, three months, 6 months and one year on fr,mag,paa and sso. Fr came out number one,mag number two paa number three and then sso.
Silver stocks don't seem to have the volatility on the downside that gold shares do. Would you prefer silver shares to gold and silver vs. gold. I own all four and have been selling my gold shares and reinvesting funds into the 4 silver companies mentioned. It is working out in my favour. Are there any other Silver companies I should own ? Do you agree with my strategy. Silver looks better than Gold ?
Read Answer Asked by bob on May 18, 2016
Q: Hello Team,
In one of Peter's recent articles he indicated that sector selection was more important than the choice of specific stocks within the sector.
Could you advise which sectors you suggest would have the greatest momentum over the next year or two.
And, if you want to throw in a couple of sector gems I won't complain.
As always, really appreciate your help.
Read Answer Asked by ralph on May 18, 2016
Q: Acknowledging that you have rd-x as a top pick yesterday, which one of the following would you buy today for growth and reasonable risk: rd-x, bto, ric.
Secondarily, with the same criteria, which would you choose between rrx and cj
Thanks very much for the great service!
Read Answer Asked by daniel on May 18, 2016