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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: From some recent comments I suspect I have too high a percentage in oil and gas shares (15% directly in oil and gas companies and 8% in services, including pipelines, of which 5% is TransCanada (TRP)), I was contemplating making a shift to other sectors. I was thinking of purchasing some Enghouse (ESL) or CGI Group (GIB.A) for my TFSA account replacing some oil stock. I noticed that last summer you strongly preferred ESL over GIB.A due to better management and no debt despite some poorer metrics i.e. price to cash flow, PE ratio, etc. You have included this name in your model Balanced portfolio with an A- valuation thus is a very strong recommendation. Does your opinion still remain the same at present? Also, I have noted that recently there have been price reductions in some tech stocks, which you have partially explained by sector rotation. If this is an issue should I wait for drops to completely occur or purchase now. If now and your opinion is still very high on ESL, I will plan to purchase some Enghouse shares. CGI Group (GIB.A) shares constituting approximately 0.5% of my family’s stocks (9 different accounts) were purchased two years ago for my TFSA account. Would you also recommend selling my GIB.A and consolidating in ESL. Thank you very much.
Read Answer Asked by ED on March 10, 2016
Q: On Feb 26 Tamara submitted a concern about the doom and gloomers and her positive approach to investing in spite of their opinions. We too remain invested: 50% in farm land and 50% in stocks (of this 75% is in blue chip dividend stocks and 25% in higher risk stocks that we are transitioning out of and adding to the blue chip category as we near retirement age). Your guidance on sector allocation has been invaluable.
Of concern to me is this:
1. on a scale of 1-10 where do you rate the potential for a world wide currency collapse. I have read it is not if but when.
2. I cannot get my head around what this would look like. For the average person what would be the impact to daily living. It seems in Canada we remain fairly "sheltered " from physical harm.
3. I have read it is advisable to hold gold for safety in economic uncertainty. So gold stocks or the commodity - actual physical gold? How would one use it to buy what we need daily? That is another thing I can't get my head around. It just seems impractical. How does one buy gold?
4. Which is the better option in this uncertain economic climate: to be fully invested, to hold cash, to hold gold, to hold a combination of these and in what ratio.

We remain positive in the future and fully invested but are we on the right track? Is there something we and other readers should be doing to weather what the world economic factors may send our way. Your comments would be appreciated.
Lou
Read Answer Asked by Louise on March 10, 2016
Q: What can you tell about it's recent acquisition? It looks like it is trying to expand it's geograhic footprint - Ontario - perhaps open some branches at some point? How are they paying for this acquisition? I already own all five Canadian banks in my RIF and Non-registered accounts, and have for many years - added to positions in early 2009; however, I was thinking of buying this bank for the upside when oil slowly makes it's way back up again & the AB economy picks up.
Comments please & thank you ... JP
Read Answer Asked by James on March 10, 2016
Q: GGG seems to be on the cusp of radical new products.Your last comment on the stock in response to a question in 2014 was not positive.Has anything changed with the company concerning products,markets,cash on hand,debt,& prospects for the future?Would it be good for long term investors or should we run?
Thanks ,as always, for your valuable information
Dave
Read Answer Asked by Dave on March 10, 2016
Q: What is your opinion of the Q4 earnings report, and how does it compare to that of MRE?
Read Answer Asked by Jim on March 10, 2016
Q: Dear Sirs,

Could you please comment on the holdings og BGI.un, specifically as it pertains to their ownership of MLP's in the U.S. and if this is the case , the percentage of the fund devoted to this asset class.

Best regards,
Brads
Read Answer Asked by Brad on March 10, 2016
Q: Hello, I just read your updated report on NAL. What percentage of their revenue comes from the oil sector ? Considering they are reducing their workforce, would it be difficult for them to grow again when the market turns ? What oil price do they need to get their business going again (rough estimate if possible) ? thank you, just looking for general comments.
Read Answer Asked by Pierre on March 10, 2016
Q: Hello, I have this left over from the days of having a broker/advisor. This fund has a management fee of 1.6% and an MER of 1.84%. It appears to be a "fund of funds" and and the information presents that it is to emphasize income wiht some potential for capital appreciation. The returns have been (starting in 2011) 4.8%, 4.3%, 2.9%, 6.9% and .1%. Seems the return/performance has been lacklustre at best and would it not be better for me to put some of the monies in a bond etf and the rest in either a stock etf or individual equities? Recommendations for the bond etf? You thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you. Bill
Read Answer Asked by Bill on March 10, 2016
Q: After languishing in the 55 cent range for months, the stock price has recently increased. On March 9th it seems to have gone up to 71 cents, (18% rise) on double the normal trading volume. I can't see any specific news. Any ideas ? Is this a sector rally ?
Read Answer Asked by Don on March 10, 2016
Q: Good morning

Can you provide an updated investment opinion on this company. It has been performing very well for a technical perspective llately.Do the potential rewards outweigh the risks at this time?

Keep the beard Ryan!
Read Answer Asked by Thomas on March 10, 2016
Q: Goodmorning. What r ur thoughts on this company as a long term hold for a tfsa for a conservative investor?
Read Answer Asked by Marcel on March 10, 2016
Q: Good Afternoon
The price of AFN.DB.B has slumped of late. How would you view a 2-3% position in a RRIF?

Thanks Team
Read Answer Asked by Warren on March 10, 2016
Q: Hi 5i, there's been a close to 4% rise in today's share price. Any reasons for this bump up?
Read Answer Asked by Eugene on March 10, 2016
Q: Hello 5i Research Team,
In the investment world, as in life, one has to have an objective. Before starting to invest a few years back, I followed the advice of Yogi Berra who is known to have said: « If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll find yourself somewhere else ».
My first task was therefore to determine a specific objective, a specific compound annual return target ; that was and still is my prime reference.
Later on, I identified Jason Donville’s DKAM Portfolio as another benchmark ; a few years later, I became a member of 5i Research and the Balanced Equity portfolio became yet another benchmark. Both use different stock filtering methodologies that are quite complementary ; after all, that’s what makes a market.
For your info, since its inception date in mid-March 2013 to the end of February 2016, the 5i BE portfolio returned 86.1% (or 23% pa) ; for the same period DKAM returned 67.5% (or 19% pa)...and I handily beat my personal objective.
Congratulations and Thank you,
Antoine

Read Answer Asked by Antoine on March 10, 2016
Q: Hello to everyone at 5i

With acknowledgment to the variations in the businesses in each of KXS, CSU and GOOGL, is there a clear winner amongst these 3 for a long term hold?

Thanks very much
Read Answer Asked by Brad on March 10, 2016