Investment Q&A

Q: Hello 5i Team,

I am searching for a healthcare ETF, and see that you normally suggest XLV, and sometimes ZUH. However, what is your opinion of FXH? It has performed better than XLV over the last 5 years, but has a higher (0.66%) expense ratio (which may be worth it).

What are the major differences between XLV, FXH, and ZUH, and if you were to choose one for a medium risk investor with a long term (3+ years) hold which one would it be?

Paul J

Q: Happy New Year Peter and Staff.. I have basket of utilities but did not own Valener yet....seems to look like what you would hope for ......no drop in value though it did not rise as much as many in the sector in 2015. The recent drop in oil has reminded me that if I am getting a healthy dividend with tax credit, and I get my acb back some day I did alright. Having said all that ,what is your outlook for share value future growth and dividend maintenance/growth on VNR

Q: NLN seems to be breaking above a trading range that has existed since the spring. Technically the stock looks fine to buy but have fundamentals changed sufficently that you are more comfortable with it?

Don

Q: Can I have your opinion on this ETF for the US portion of my portfolio. The returns seem to have been quite decent and wandering if the low volatility would protect my portfolio on the downside.

Thanks for the great work and have a happy new year.

Q: can you tell me if this a good investment for the next 2 years

Thanks for your help

Q: Whitecap in your modelportfolio is not rated and there's no report yet, but I'm wondering whether to go ahead and sell Baytex and replace it with Whitecap. Would WCP be the better holding for a recovery in oil prices, as well as for the long term?
Thank you!

Q: Hi Peter/Team,

What's your opinion on putting new money in DH at this time.

Thanks,
Jim

Q: A year ago you responded to my question regarding Mawer Funds. You said they were among the best of the managers available. I purchased Maw 102, 104, 108 and 130. I am happy to say they have all done extremely well. I am thinking of buying more of maw 108. What will be the impact on the fund if the Canadian dollar appreciates in value. Could you explain how exactly the fund is Canadian dollar hedged. Thanks for your help.

Ray

Q: Hi Peter and team

Today, Jan 2, Rob asked for information sources re: preferred stock. I would recommend prefinfo.com published by Hymas Investments It lists all Canadian preferreds by ticker symbol with dividend information, redemption dates, retraction dates (if applicable),type(perpetual, retractable , etc) and misc info such as whether the dividend is cumulative or not. Also in the comments, there is sometimes information on the rating. I hope this helps. Note the symbol is a place holder as your format requires a symbol.

Ross

Q: I am looking at investing money in health care , would you recommend ETF to do that and if so what US and Canadian ones. If not can you recommend two stocks (US and CDN) . I do not have any health care exposure and would like to allocate 5% of my portfolio to either stocks or the ETF.s, thank you and Happy New Year.

Q: Peter
The following are a mix of “fixed” income ETFs listed in the Nat Post's article on Robo-investors from last November sorted by decreasing yield. I am trying to shore up the fixed income portion of my portfolio and unsure of the rationale and safety of these ETFs.

Just how safe are these instruments? If there was a meltdown, could their values collapse accordingly?

At the lower end, isn't just worthwhile to buy a GIC, it looks as if they net bigger returns than the lower return ETFs?

What distribution of these ETF's would you recommend for a retiree portfolio?

ETF Ticker Institution MER% Yield% Net Distribution %

ZHY BMO Corporate Bond 0.55 5.77 5.22
XHY I shares US Bond .66 5.46 4.8
PBD Purpose Total Bond .45 4.47 4.02
CBO I shares 1-5 Yr Corp Bond 0.27 4.1 3.83
XCB I shares Corp Bond .44 3.38 2.94
XBB I shares Univers Bond .33 3.16 2.83
XSB I shares Shrt Term Bd .27 2.91 2.64
VAB Vanguard Ca Bond 0.12 2.71 2.59
VBU Vanguard Us Ag Bond 0.2 2.6 2.4
XRB I shares Real return 0.39 2.4 2.01
VSB Vanguard Shrt Trm Bond 0.1 2.2 2.1
HFR Horizon Float Rate 0.4 2.17 1.77
PSA Purpose High Savings 0.12 1.34 1.22

1 year GIC 1.9%

Regards

Q: Hello.

What would be the impact to Russel Metals if they experienced a decrease in demand for their Energy Products sector? Do you think management would 'adjust' well? Do you see this as a real risk?

Looking at their annual reports & their 3 main segments from 2005 to 2014, revenue has declined from Metals Service and Steel Distributions, while revenue from Energy Products has increased steadily from 23% of revenue in 2005 to 46% in 2014 (Q1-Q3).

Regards, David

Q: Good Morning
I have a self-directed investment account separate from our registered RIF, LIF and TFSA accounts and would like to one day take over management of the registered accounts. I'm wondering whether there would be much difference than the account I have. Do you know of any resource that would help me with the transition and management of the accounts such as annual payout minimums, taxes, etc.? I have not found the banks that helpful.
Thanks for all you do.
Thanks

Q: Given the importance of cyber security this new etf just launched in the us seems like a good place to invest instead of trying to find the right stock. They have 20 stocks in the portfolio including Cisco fire eye Symantec palo networks fortinet. No track record but would you consider it a good bet on cyber security. I am thinking this would be a good place for a percent of my US portfolio.

Q: STN has averaged 17% for last 10 yrs (source: G&M). Total 10 yr. is ~410% - nearly all of this was made in a parabolic move of ~1 ½ yrs starting in mid-2012. Since Sept it has dropped like a rock. Do you suspect it will continue falling this year? (I am interested in growth stocks). Thanks.

Q: I am a dividend investor and use David Stanley's Beat the TSX system which I review each year at this time. TRP is now in the top dividend stocks of the TSX 60. Do you have any concerns about the company going forward in the short term over a year or two?

Q: Just a basic, general question. Do you think currency exchange intl would be a better investment than avigilon (avo), over about a three year time frame, thanks?

Q: Yesterday there was an article in the National Post authored by Peter entitled Five New Things an Investor should try. In the article owning gold bullion was discussed as a hedge. I have several questions:
-Could silver bullion be substituted even though it is somewhat more volatile? If so could you also use a royalty streamer such as SLW be utilized?
-Instead of hedging with gold bullion could one use a streamer such as Franco Nevada?
- Finally do you believe gold has established bottom or do you believe that there is still sufficient risk to wait until a recovery is more certain? I've been waiting to buy for a number of months now as the price fluctuates between $1150 and $1240/oz.
Thanks
Mike
Thanks.
Mike

Q: I am looking to reduce exposure to the utility sector. Could you rank the following BEP.UN BIP.UN AQN CU EMA NPI BLX. Thanks.

Q: Hi there,

I have been following this stock for a bit but am struggling to figure out what is unique about their offering versus all the other payment processors out there. Can you provide some insight. Revenues are certainly growing but this seems to be a crowded field these days - what is their competitive advantage that would interest a long term investor?

Thanks and Happy New Year