Investment Q&A

Q: Hello Peter;
I need your help rebalancing my portfolio. Using your suggested Sector weightings, I am far too high in Financials (25% v 10%) and too low in Resources (5% v 10%), Industrials ( 10% v 20%) and Utilities (0% v 5%).

In Financials, I own Bank of America (BAC); Wells Fargo (WFC); First Service (FSV); Home Capital (HCG); Brookfield Asset Man (BAM); Currency Exchange (CXI); and VISA (V).

In Resources, I own Keyera (KEY) and Inter Pipe (IPL).

In Industrials, I own Boyd (BYD.UN); CCL Ind (CCL.B); and Exco Tech (XTC).

I own no Utilities.

I am OK with my holdings and percentages in all other Sectors which are mostly mid-caps from your balanced portfolio. In your deliberations, please assume equal $ amounts in each position. Also assume a 3-5 year hold and that I am fine with moderate risk.

It looks as if I need to sell 3 Financials and with the proceeds, buy 2 Resource, 2 Industrials and 1 Utility!

I look forward to your thoughts and recommendations.

Michael

Q: What do you think of the company. A good sector but has been selling off recently.

TIA

Q: Great advise from 5I !
Just wondered about your thoughts on Slate REIT.
Thanks Bob

Q: Hello- I'm thinking about adding EQI, CRH and DBO. Good ideads or bad ideas? Thanks

Q: Good day, with some PE ratios getting above normal levels would it be a good time to take some money out of US index funds. I have these for diversification as I am slowly acquiring 5I model portfolio and growth portfolio. It is 8% in my one account and 4% of my wife and I's total portfolio.

Q: Hello,

Wondering if you can comment on content below from Neptune's earnings release today? Do you see upside from here? It was apparently up 3.6% after hours in US market though at first glance it's hard to see the positive. I have a small position having bought just over $2 and wonder if it is a buy, sell or hold and why?

Neptune Technologies reports Q4 net loss of $10.68 mln vs loss of $1.33 mln in prior year, revs $4.02 mln vs $3.67 mln in prior year (1.40 +0.04)
Q4 adjusted gross margin was 26% vs 20% in prior year. "In line with Neptune's decision to slow production down to address product handling characteristics, consolidated sales for the first quarter ending May 31, 2015 are expected to come in at approximately $2.0 million, while the gross margin will remain under pressure. However, with the positive momentum we are seeing at the plant and a robust sales pipeline we expect sales for the second quarter ending August 31, 2015 to be materially higher."

Q: Hi,
I
l looking for your thoughts on MEG Energy short and long term.
Thanks.

Q: Could you recommend a currency hedged broad market index that covers the Japanese market?

Larry

Q: I currently own both Canaccord and Fiera with a significant loss on CF and not much to show for FSZ during the past year. I originally invested in these because I was looking for something different from the traditional banks and wealth management and deal making in a growth environment seemed ideal. Do you still see value in these because Element is of interest and I am wondering if a switch out of one or both is in order.

My concerns with EFN are two fold. First, there has been much discussion about them buying a big part of GE's leasing business. I am assuming that this is reflected in the price. So, if that deal does not go through, would you expect a sharp price decline.

Second, they are quite exposed to interest rates changes. You have discussed this previously as it pertains to EFN and you noted that interest rate increases could negatively affect the stock. Do you make your recommendation to buy this based on your belief that rates are not going up or that they have the administrative where with all to weather that storm?

Thanks for your insight.

Paul F.

Q: I am looking at adding to my energy exposure and considering buying either TOG (hold 1.6 percent)or VET (hold 3.6 percent). Do you have a preference at current prices. Thanked.

Q: Hi, there has been a decent amount of insider buying reported after recent quarterly earnings release, in past few days. The next quarter is already 2 months in and besides the dividend increase, outlook provided by management was quite positive in the recent MD&A. Do you think, it could be a signal of strong performance by the company/stock price ahead of us? I also noticed in the quarterly report that company had almost 2/3rd of its revenue coming from US operations. What are your comments on this trend? CEO also made a note that they are looking for acquisitions in Canada and US. Thanks

Q: This stock has grown steadily for me and is my only exposure to life sciences. I like it, it seems well managed with a huge history of successful acquisitions and the probable Pall merger looks quite good, though large to digest, expensive and increasing debt quite a lot. But DHR has suddenly turned complex. Should I exchange some DHR for NetScout? Should I continue to hold both the life science and industrial companies post split? Or should I take my profit and look to get back into some part of ex-DHR/Pall later, when there's better visibility on how all this played out?

Q: Good morning...I am thinking of investing in mutual funds offshore in $US (ie no tax issues to be concerned with)...I have not invested in individual Global stocks(including US)rather focused on Canada. I am now deciding to invest a portion into some form of Global fund or country specifc (Japan)...Do you have any fund you could recommend and any countries you would recommed in addtion to Global...3 to 4 year time frame...growth in mind...also two or three global stocks you would own if you could with no tax issues to be concerend with..

Thanks

Matt

Q: Hello Peter:
I am starting to look after my Mum's investments. Her guy at Odlum Brown has some of her money in this mutual fund, Frank Bissett Canadian Equity. The MER on it is 2.62%, add that to the 2% OB is charging her to manage her account and to me that's beyond ridiculous. It's heavily weighted to financials(40%) and energy(25%). Can you give me an the name of a Canadian ETF that would be equivalent or perhaps better? Thanks for all your great advice.

Q: Balanced portfolio and revenu from pension: What would be the best approach if one would want a balanced portfolio considering the revenu from a fixed pension revenu. As an example, if one would need a yearly revenu of 75K$ and receives a 50k$ from pension, you would have 66% in fixed income from pension, would the 33% remaining in a portfolio be invested in all stocks growth or value. How much would the portfolio be balanced with growth and value stocks considering the revenu from the pension. In essence, is the revenu from pension considered like bonds because it is fixed income. Thanks
John

Q: I bought FN for income and modest growth. I read they have the highest PE ratio of 17.91, comparable to other special industry financials. With the recent results, (losing market share)what is their chance of revenue growth this year. Thank you for providing such a valuable forum. Greatly appreciated.

Q: Thanks to your advice I am now convinced of the power of diversification with respect to investing. I am 54 years old and have no defined pension plan. I would like to diversify my investing via your portfolios. All money is in non registered accounts and TFSA.
With these facts in mind what percentage of my investment portfolio should be in your income, model, growth portfolios and a accompaning canadian blue chip portfolio. From your previous answers I have found that you recommend that your portfolios be backed up with canadian blue chip stocks.
I have been gradually cashing out my RRSP's and putting the money into my nonregistered accounts and TFSA with the goal to have them cashed out by age 65.
I look forward to hearing your percentages as this will be most helpful going forward.

Q: SAFT has a nice yield coupled with a 5 year dividend growth streak. Could you please give me your thoughts on the company going forward.

Q: What are your thoughts on Pilgrim's Pride? The valuation is decent, the divvy is tempting, but I am having some difficulty wrapping my head around the cyclicality issues as well as the risk factors especially avian flu. Your thoughts are appreciated.

Q: My broker mentioned this to me today as another client asked him to purchase some. Looks to me like a closed end fund trading on the TSX. Thinly traded. Returns look interesting but I'm trying to get away from mutual fund fees by owning stocks directly. Do you have any comments on the name?