Investment Q&A

Q: I hold both BNS and NA (each about 4.5% of my portfolio). With yesterday's news on NA, would you recommend reducing NA in favour of BNS or another Canadian bank, if so, which one?
Thanks,

Q: In a previous question, someone asked what drillers would best respond to an oil rebound, you mentioned Precision Drilling PD and High Arctic HWO. What about Trinidad?

thanks,
jb

Q: Hi, this morning at one point one bid @ 18.28 for 8000, one ask @ 18.32 for 8000. Is this BMO making a market for the shares based on the companies inside the ETF?

Thanks

Q: Good Morning Peter, Ryan, and Team,
I noticed after looking through the Ink Insider Report for WSP that there are two very deep pocketed 10% + holders of the shares:
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board- 17,524,815 shares held
Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec- 15,699,525 shares held
Total shares outstanding look to be 90 million. It appears that both pension funds take their quarterly dividends in shares as opposed to cash which dilutes the other shareholders over the long term. On one hand WSP will likely never fail due to the deep pocketed backstop of the two pension plans but on the other hand the CPP Investment Board received 148,810 shares in July in lieu of cash. I guess WSP can grow faster if it is able to redeploy the cash that it would have had to pay out to CPP (and the Caisse). I would like your take on this issue. Thank you for your sage insights. DL

Q: I asked a question on Wednesday but did not get a response.

Could I have your advise on buying some growth as well as relatively safe US stocks to take advantage of this weak market.

Thanks a lot. I leant a lot from 5i and also other members' comments

Q: How is IT impacted by AYA's New Jersey news? Agreed that the real prize for AYA is the rest of the USA and they are lobbying California. I like IT because they are in regulated markets in Europe (UK, Sweden, Spain). Does IT plan to expand into the USA too? Could you please briefly compare IT and AYA from a business and investment perspective. Do you think that AYA may buy IT once it brings debt down? Based on forward P/E IT looks very interesting and insiders have been buying in the $11 range.

Q: Greetings all! CODI looks pretty good at a PE of 4 and yield of over 8%. Is there any reason you can see for the low valuation?

Q: Can I get your current thoughts on SVC and your thoughts on their future potential/growth opportunities.

Q: Hello Peter,
I bought this stock at near all time high and thus down quite substantially while holding for a fairly long period now with nothing to show for it.
Your downgrade reflects the risk even if the growth is attractive. For a new investor in the stock the rating is appropriate. But for an existing shareholder here is the dilemma. If I sell, I have the tax loss (which I cannot use now maybe sometime in future) as the only positive. On the other hand, given the steep fall, there could be a nice rebound and therefore an above average return from this point on. What would you suggest? Would I be making the classical mistake of being in love with my loser if I held on? Or should I switch to one of KXS, PEO, QHR, TC in the growth portfolio?

Q: Hi, Peter
In my question to which oil&gas service company would profit the most from a revival of this industry, you mentioned 4 drillers. So the question is are driller the most prone from all service companies to profit first or there could be other type of service companies that would also participate early in the aforementioned scenario.
Thanks again
Claude

Q: Dear Peter and team:
Even though the tech sector has also corrected, it appears its gains haven't been completely wiped out.
What ETF would you recommend for one to take a position in NASDAQ. Keep in mind that the CAD is so weak! Do you see NASDAQ losing even more or holding steady in the next year or two. This is for my RRSPs. Time horizon 3 to 5 years.
If you don't recommend any ETFs, can you suggest some tech stocks?
Thanks .

Q: I am just curious if I own t0o many REITS. If I am overweight REITS (20.18%) which one should I sell?
AX.UN (4.45%) CSH.UN(6.78%)
DRG.UN (0.81%)HR.UN(2.67%)
MRG.UN (1.40%)MST.UN (3.47%)
PLZ.UN (0.60%)

Thanks

Q: you just had a fairly positive report about high liner foods.
Now the stock is down almost 10%.
What are we suppose to do?It looks like a falling knife here.
Nobody seems to be able to get a grip at things.

Q: just a comment. surge has been active in the market buying back their own shares. according to the tmx website sgy bought shares every day in sept. except one for a combined total of more than a half million shares so far. its nice to see a company support their shareholders. it seems to be helping the stock some but I realize oil needs to recover but its nice to see a company not so distressed to be able to actually buy back shares.

Q: Nobody is talking about Potash, and KRN has just been approached by Erwin Braich to effectively take a controlling share by proposing 63,000,000 new common voting shares at CDN $3.15. The stock has bounced up to around $1.00 on this news, even though it seems there is little coverage, and volume is still pretty low. In general potash has not performed well over the past few years, with over-supply and lack of demand. What's your opinion on this proposed deal (non-binding at the moment) and its impact on the stock price over the next 6-12 months?

Q: Hi Guys,

I have owned JNJ for many years and it really has not performed up to my expectations.

Would you sell JNJ today and replace it with UnitedHealth Group (UNH)for a 5 year hold. I require something to stay in the drug/healthcare area of my portfolio.

If yes, could you give me your reasons.

Thanks for the help.

Regards
John

Q: Would switching from Gildan to Dollorama be a smart thing to do. Dollorama seems to be going from strength to strength.

Q: Nice price rise for ESL today. Do you know what is behind the move?

Q: Hi, Peter
which oil and gas service companies has the most to gain in the event of a oil and gas "revival".
Thanks very much
Claude

Q: Wondering what your latest thoughts are for RSI. Dividend yield is getting higher, is their sustainable CF operations able to cover it? Did they ever cut their dividends historically b/c of low sugar prices? I treat it like a bond investment and collect the dividends b/c I can't ever see Rogers Sugar going under - the product is in every store, most restaurants and sugar is in food products - you would think it has a large market share besides Kraft sugar so what's going on? Or are people just switching to salt and coconut oil these days ...