Investment Q&A

Q: Which would you buy today: CSU or ESL?

I currently own both, with my CSU holdings 2X the size of my ESL holdings. I also own OTC and GIB.A, both slightly less than ESL holdings. I am leaning towards CSU or ESL, but you could sway me to add to OTC or GIB.A.

Which one would you buy today for a TFSA? Or should I wait another month or two for the volatility to settle down?

Paul J.

Q: Any idea what the average % of Black Pool trades is to the average total daily trades on the TSX?

I have info for the U.S. markets and know how to identify them but not yet for the the CDN. markets.

I assume the rules are the same for this side of the boarder as they are south of the boarder. That being that the "big boys/girls" do not have to publish their trades until: after it is complete, at the end of the day or at the start of the next day.

This often explains why there are often price spikes with volume but they did not actually happen when retail investors think they did!

Q: I currently own 100 shares which is less than 1 percent position. So with such a small position I am inclined to sell now rather than wait and receive less than 50shares of the new company. Does that makes sense and what is the value of a bin share based on the deal-currently it is fluctuating quite a bit and I not sure what I should accept as the sell price.
Thanks

Q: good morning, i don't understand what my book value will be for the new suncor shares that will be coming into my portfolio (converted from cos). Do I take the loss on the difference on the COS shares from my original purchase price, and get the new suncor shares at what they are trading at now? ~$20/sh? thx

Q: I hold EEP in my RRIF and have watched it drift lower these days from 40.00 to 17.00 U.S. in the past year. The dividend is now over 13%, is this sustainable? I also hold ENF and their shares are much in the same boat dropping from 40 to 26 dollars. Do you have any recommendations here for the future. Thank You

Q: It is possible the response to Ed about his proposed investment in a gold trust may have missed a part of his question.
While it is true that a declining U.S. dollar is "good" for the price of gold in nominal terms, it does in fact at mitigate any gains a CDN investor might enjoy from a gold investment assuming he is converting back to CDN dollars when he cashes out. I think that is what Ed was getting at. Gold investments from a CDN dollar point of view kind of have a built-in hedge associated with them because of the Typical inverse relationship between U.S. dollar and gold price. Of course the hedge works both ways and can mitigate losses when gold goes down. In any event, the negative correlation is not a perfect one so "real" gains can still be made in a gold investment even in CDN$.
I realize 5i knows all this but it is something that can sometimes be overlooked in discussions re commodity prices.

Q: Hi Peter & Team!
Can you name some company stocks/investment vehicles that would do well due to the constant demand for internet bandwidth/data/streaming. These investments could be either on the TSX/Nasdaq/NYSE. Thanks.
denzil

Q: May I please have your views on Pivot Technology. Thanks.

Q: I own (have for 6 yr.) the ETF XRE in my RIF; however, was thinking of buying this one for my non-registered acct: on a TTM basis P.E = 4.6, P/B = .75, ROE a healthy 21% and the P.O. Ratio 55% - the only negative I can see is debt is over 4x equity. I was thinking of adding this one as a small position of 1500 shares - what do you think??

Q: your thoughts

Q: My earlier question on ala.pr.u was not answered. Can you please advise?
I am resending the question:

ala.pr.u is a rate reset preferred share in US denomination. The rate will reset in 2017 at 3.58% plus the 5 year US Government bond.
While the steep decline of the Canadian Preferred rate reset shares is understandable because of declining Canadian interest rates, the decline of ala.pr.u from $25 a year ago to $17.30 today is puzzling.
Can you please provide some insight as to why this US dollar preferred share has lost 40% of its value if the reset rate will depend on the 5 year US Government bond which is 1.46% today vs .57% for the respective Canadian rate??
Thanks

Q: In each of the past 4 years, this stock has risen very substantially in the first 3 or 4 months of the year, to a high between $12 and $14. Currently its price is close to last year's low, (though not quite as low as the $7 price in January 2014). Debt ratios seem consistent with prior years and revenue seems to be increasing. In 2016, won't this stock benefit hugely from the low Cdn dollar ? (Poloz presumably would expect so) Do you expect that in 2016, this stock will perform in a similar manner to previous years and will rise substantially ? What are your thoughts and rationale ?

Q: COULD I HAVE YOUR VIEWS ON SPECTRA 7 PLEASE. THEIR PRESENTATION IN DECEMBER AT THE CIX INVESTOR DAY WAS VERY IMPRESSIVE. THANK YOU

Q: I am looking for 5 examples of long term buy and hold CDN equities that with dividends reinvested along with regular dividend growth will act as compound interest vehicles over time.

These will be held in a TFSA by a millennial friend of mine and have a 25 to 30 year run to her retirement.

Thanks in advance,
Greg.

Q: hello team 5i: could you please tell me how my 2400 shares of cos will convert to suncor? thanks Larry

Q: Is it good time to initiate position in the agriculture sector? which of these ETFs would you recommend (COW, MOO or SOIL)?
Thanks

Q: What is your current thinking on Urbana Corp? The discount to NAV seems to have increased substantially (although I wonder how accurately NAV can be determined on the private holdings).
Do you have any opinion regarding the investment in the Bombay exchange? Thanks,

Q: Good Afternoon
Would you consider the new PPL minimum rate reset selling at $1.00+ below issue a good TSA income investment, or are there previous utility issues selling at greater discounts without as favourable a reset more appropriate?
Thanks to all

Q: Hi Team, Any thoughts on why, in the last month(Dec 19 to Jan 19), BTO has declined about 35% while the sector has gone down by less than 5%. Is it more than just the Burkima Faso effects? Ed

Q: Today, the gold price was flat, but junior gold miners were down almost 5% and gold explorers were down almost 8%. Do you know why such a steep drop?