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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: Hello. Seen Peter on BNN today. CMH I have held for some time and every so often it will have an 8 or 9% drop. It seems thinly traded. What is your opinion of it? Also, SWKS (U.S.) was a market performer and over the last while has fallen considerably. It acquired another company. Would this be the reason for such a downward trade over the last while? What is your opinion on this. Hate to mention CXR again, but I am still holding AVO which CXR seems to be going the same route as AVO. There is always a reason why stocks are going down, but in the case of these two and a few others, they seem to have quite a considerable drop. Is it just the market takes a hate to these companies or is there something extra we don't know about them? I know I am asking the right people for this type of advice. Dennis
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on October 14, 2015
Q: Dear 5i
I currently don't have any financial stocks in my portfolio and feel that now be a good time to do so .
I'm considering efn , sbny and the much larger bns . If I was to invest in one or two in this sector would it be one or two of the above or something different ? Assume a 3-5 year time frame .
Thank you
Bill C.
Read Answer Asked by Bill on October 14, 2015
Q: These questions are in regard to Peter’s comment today about maintaining a balanced (sector weighted) portfolio: 1. If one was starting fresh with a $1m equity portfolio, how many names would you choose if building a portfolio from the Summary List? Regardless of sector (next question), would they all be equal weight by name?
2. I see that you have applied 14 sectors to your summary names – 4 more than the TSX/S&P breakdowns (Services, Industrial Goods, Financial Services and Consumer Goods seem to be adjuncts to the usual 10). In determining sector weighting of the portfolio, would you choose names so that all 14 sectors were of equal weight (i.e. 7% each)? If so, how far would you let a sector run before re-balancing?
3. If one decided to follow your Balanced Portfolio, would you buy all 27 of your current names? Would they be all equal weight or at the current weights in your portfolio?
4. What would be the highest percentage for a single name to run before re-balancing?

I realize sector/stock weighting cannot be made into a science, but I’m just trying to get a toehold conceptually. Thanks a lot.
Read Answer Asked by David on October 14, 2015
Q: Just wondering if your position on CPX changed since May 20. How would you rate the stock today (buy/hold/sell)? CPX is now less than 2% in my portfolio and I am approx 20% down on this stock. I like the dividend but the stock chart worries me - it's been steady downhill YTD. I know that the last quarter was bad due to facility outage, but the stock price is likely to go down even more due to tax loss sale, it seems like an ideal candidate... Do you consider the dividend safe? If yes, I have no problem holding it for a few years. If not, should I take a loss and switch to a better name (???) in the same sector?
Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Michael on October 14, 2015
Q: Hi Guys,
Any recent update on VLE? it's been awhile since a question has been asked. I see Scott Lamacraft is still the largest shareholder.
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Chris on October 14, 2015
Q: Good afternoon:
I would appreciate your recommendation with respect to Trevali in light of the recent news release and the upsurge in volume. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Peter on October 14, 2015
Q: Regarding the proposed merger, would you advise holding or selling this stock? I'm up 28%.
Read Answer Asked by Graeme on October 14, 2015
Q: I agree that it is a great business but I would appreciate more details on the valuation metrics you look at to evaluate the company. You mention that it is cheap but I see it at 24 times LTM earnings of 6.57 per share. I find that to be on the high end of it's historical range. Maybe I am missing something here ? Is there a better metric to look at ? Thank you!!
Read Answer Asked by Mario on October 14, 2015
Q: What is your current opinion on CXI? I am down quite a bit on this one and it seems to be drifting lower.
Read Answer Asked by Raymond on October 14, 2015
Q: Hello, I have owned Boston Pizza for about 2 years and while I like the dividend the stock is down about 15%. If you were going to stay in the same sector, would you stick with Boston Pizza or switch those funds to A and W? Thanks for continued great service. Bill
Read Answer Asked by Bill on October 14, 2015
Q: Hi Peter and team,

Of the following stocks that I currently own: GXI,CSU,AVO,WSP,IPL and XSR; how would you evaluate their status as to long term holds given the fact that GXI,AVO, and XSR are down approximately 33% - 46% ? What replacements would you otherwise choose?

Much thanks,
Dean

Read Answer Asked by Dean on October 14, 2015
Q: Hi 5i,
In the tech portion of my portfolio I have:
Apple 3%, Google 3%, Enghouse 1.5%, Cognizant 1.25%, Open Text 1.25%, and Qualcomm 1%.
Would any of the above be a sell in your opinion?
I am considering adding about a 1.5% position in either Kinaxis (kxs) or Tucowsn(tc). For a 2 to 3 year hold, would you recommend one over the other?
And if neither of these stocks are to your liking could you recommend 1 or 2 others to consider.
Thanks for all that you do.
Read Answer Asked by Brian on October 14, 2015
Q: I was hoping to get your thoughts on Venator's position on CSU:

http://www.venator.ca/uploads/FEB_2015__Final_.pdf

"I just don't like paying for acquisitions that haven't happened yet, and when you pay more than 20x earnings for an otherwise no growth company that is exactly what you are doing. This is why we own Open Text but not Constellation Software. If Open Text doesn't make an acquisition for the next two years it might drop about 10%, putting its valuation on par with Oracle (to name another low growth consolidator); the same scenario played out with the aforementioned Constellation Software would send that stock down over 30%."

CSU's share and earnings growth is largely based on its excellent ability to acquire businesses and less so on on its organic growth. If CSU is unable to acquire companies at the same pace (the larger it gets, the bigger the acquisition required to make an impact), would this not cause a material negative affect on its valuation?
Read Answer Asked by Arneh on October 14, 2015
Q: With the price drop I see the yield is in excess of 8%. Any news that would be of concern here.

Many thanks

Paul
Read Answer Asked by paul on October 14, 2015
Q: What is your opinion on the IPO of Hydro One closing on November 02-2015 the yield look decent at 4.20%?
Read Answer Asked by OSCAR on October 14, 2015
Q: For your readers:

https://www.bloomburton.com/research/CXRX20151012.pdf

Research report dated Oct. 12 from Bloom Burton (investment bank specializing in Healthcare in the US) regarding CXR. Please note that valuation is in USD in the report. A $78USD target price would imply ~$100CAD.

It appears there is a massive disconnect between CXR's current share price and its earning potential. The selling is become almost ridiculous at this point. Thoughts?
Read Answer Asked by Arneh on October 14, 2015