Investment Q&A

Q: Good morning,
Please comment on results and outlook. It would appear they are on track to survive. Does the Blackberry Radar offering compete with Descartes (DSG)? I hold 2%.

Q: Just comparing NPI to other electric utilities in Canada during the past year this one wins hands down. Can you please explain the recent outperformance and future prospects. It still has an attractive yield of 5%. NPI generates power from renewable sources but then so does BEP.UN as opposed to a coal based utility such as TA. perhaps NPI would be a nice addition to the income portfolio.
Thanks for your great service,
Steve

Q: Can I please get your assessment of NPI. In particular, debt levels; earnings growth; and safety and growth of dividend. Looking at a 3 year hold.

Carl

Q: Could you give your valued opinion on their fourth quarter and year end earnings, please?
Thank-you very much!

Q: The Dalsin & Greene(D & G)gong show reminds me of the wild,wild West in Vacouver,B.C. in the 1970s &1980s where promoters,lousy brokers & the Vancouver Stock Ex run amok & kingpins like Peter Brown of Canarim & Friedman(Inco fame)ruled.I had a " promoter friend" who conned me & the public including a lawyer,& was later found guilty & subsequently barred from holding office in a public co for 15 years.Every time,he travelled overseas,the stock price dropped. D& L was vacationing in Europe when they "sold" their shares into a firm of M.Decter.This started the freefall of PHM.Then they let go of management to the man.of Sleep Country.-washed their hands like Pontinus Pilate.After discovery of the Hollywood @ LND,they retired.PHM stockchase shows 15 comments & only one is a buy.The general theme is the above action of D & L.Are they trust worthy?.This is a former darling that is being avoided by most.I lost 80%$.In fact their partner in the new co.told BNN that he had sold his shares @ a Loss.Maybe there should be a class action against D & L

Q: I am interested in A CEf/ETF in the US health care sector and came across HHL.UN. It seems to be doing quite well with a high yield, but I am concerned that the payout over 2015 is 100 % ROC. I wrote the company and got this reply (HHL.UN only started in 2014): The distributions last year were all return of capital. This was in part due to the way the initial costs of the Fund are amortized over the first several years (ie. Certain of the initial IPO costs that were actually taken at the time of the IPO are for tax purposes considered expenses over subsequent years, although the actual cash cost has already occurred.)

I do not want to invest in a company that basically send me my money back. Your opinion please? Thank you!

Q: What do you think the end game is for Constellation Software? Will it just keep acquiring more and more companies, or will it eventually be acquired itself?

Q: Would you give me your assessment of this company please, and what other company would you favor over this one. Thank you.

Q: Hi Peter, any idea about trend of oil stockings, such as sgy? thanks

Q: I last wrote to you about OZM.us on October 1 2014. After reviewing your input, I held on to my shares. Unfortunately, OZM is down another 60% since that date. I would be thankful for your comment on OZM’s prospects. I cannot use the tax loss. Nevertheless is it better to sell and move on? OZM.us looks like great value. But then many companies do, just before heading into bankruptcy.

Q: Toro Oil & Gas Ltd has risen 6.00% since February 29, 2016 and is uptrending. However, it decreased 3.28% or $0.01 on March 29, hitting $0.295 and is currently sitting at $0.300. What is your assessment of this stock? Is this a buying opportunity or is there too much inherent risk?

Q: Is this a good entry point for Element Financial? Tx

Q: Is Cara a reasonable price today after buying St Hubert. Market seems to like the deal. Used to own Cara years ago. It went private and now back public. On another note there does not seem to have been much merger and acquisitions between companies. With the strong US dollar what companies in Canada would be attractive to a US company since they could buy at a 20 percent discount?

Q: I use 2 online brokers and subscribe to a couple of premium data providers (capitalcube.com and GuruFocus.com) . In addition I use well known commonly used sites, including for example: FinViz.com, stockcharts.com, Yahoo and Google Finance.

I often find differences in ratios as reported by the different sites. I am referring here to significant (meaningful) discrepancies , not to non-material data. The two bank-owned online brokers also have differing ratios between each other.

Do the various providers not use the same or similar data providing services (e.g. Factset, Bloomberg , Thompson-Reuters).
How would a retail investor know which ratios one can rely on? As one example (out of dozens) : OZM.us is shown as having dividend yield of ~24% at RBC Direct Investing; it is 8% at GuruFocus. The actual yield is very different : as a shareholder,even after I gross up the dividend for withholding tax, I find actual yield based on cash received is less than 4%.

I use different sources to confirm the reliability of data I am using. But when there are wide differences, one is forced to go to the (very) long form financials filed with regulators. The latter is a cumbersome process for someone who is a DIY investor.

Would you care to give suggestions of the more reliable sites one can use reasonably safely?
Adam

Q: Hey folks. I'm looking to buy AFAM, but the 1 year chart looks lousy and the stock peaked about a year ago. Can you tell me the reason for the steady fall? Any insider trading going on? What is the short interest? Finally, what do you think of the company's financials and prospects? Thanks for all your help.

Q: You mentioned in a response to another member that you were waiting to hear the conference call in relation to the guidance. Could you give us what you took from their guidance and conference call? Thank you.

Q: Good morning,

Any idea as to what's going on with Probe? Thin trading but stock moving this week.

Many thanks, Michael

Q: Hi Peter

I have never seen WFP on the most Active traded list like it is today. Plus the stock is up. Any idea why this might be - perhaps an offer on it pending.

Thanks

Q: Given PHM's most recent news release regarding guidance and the decision to close Logimedix - would you advise taking any action?

I own a considerable number of shares with a cost base in the 60 cent range and would like to know if you advise selling or continuing to hold.

Q: I read the PHM guidance thoroughly and, based on over 30 years of entrepreneurial experience, I came away with the feeling they are executing as they should considering the challenges they have acknowledged. When a business experiences a decline in sales, it is not always negative. Trading dollars is negative but trimming unprofitable products saves cost of sales including staff, product cost, etc. and those funds can be used to grow the more profitable side of the business. Unlike many failing business models, PHM has cash and limited debt. Usually a failing business cannot resurrect itself due to debt burden realized from declining revenues. PHM went from $40M to $32M in what will most likely be their worst quarter. Recalibrating with a more defined product line and costs under control are exactly what any business consultant would tell them to do. Now they can profit from their sales which they say will rise throughout 2016 and be in a position to add incremental acquisitions from their cash flow. Finally, the management team has the experience to see the shortfalls of the company and deal with them head on. I support their plan and remember they are heavily invested at $1.47, The senior management owns over ten percent of the company.
This stock has been the victim of rumour, the publicly suggested sale of the company and negative comments for months. They are still standing and today they turned a corner. If they can execute as they have to date, I can see this company growing significantly over the next two years. Today, someone has bought well over eight million shares from fed-up sellers. I am one of them. Do you see any eventual positive success from this viewpoint?
Thanks.