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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: I have read with interest how many of the comments during this downturn refer to selling positions now. It is very important for investors to realize and remember, that it is during these downturns that the "smart money" begins to buy, not sell; perhaps not today, but soon. A 10% correction will take the TSX to around 13150, the DOW to 15600 and the S&P to 1800 and that is when there will be bargains to be had. Don't sell during these times; re balance your equities and fixed income and get your cash back in...just a thought :)
Read Answer Asked by Gregory on October 10, 2014
Q: On Oct 6 James asked if it is a good idea to hold dividend stocks in an Rsp.
Do you agree that if a senior's OAS is clawed back then he should hold dividend stocks in a Tfsa and or a Rsp in order to reduce the clawback?
Read Answer Asked by Terry on October 10, 2014
Q: I am in the process of rebalancing my portfolio to better match my target sector allocation. I am currently underweight in both healthcare and utilities. My only holding in healthcare is the US ETF (XLV), and my only utility holding is Brookfield Renewable (BEP.UN). Can you suggest one or two other names in each of these sectors that you would recommend for new buying at this time. In the Utility space I would prefer something other than a power producer since I already hold Brookfield. Could Telus (which I don’t own) be considered similar to a utility? My goal would be moderate growth with a long (several year) time horizon but in particular I like companies that are likely to hold up better than their peers in the event of a market downturn.
Steven
Read Answer Asked by Steven on October 10, 2014
Q: With the U.S. comments on becoming self sufficient on energy the NEW supply is going to come from shale which has a huge demand on water .The Ogala Aqua for the largest in the US has been depleted down to 20 per cent this depletion took place in the last 20 years a result of growing vast amounts of subsidized corn for ethonal production .
My opinion is that the jury is still out on fracing and I am not prepared to write off Canaidian oil and gas as a major supplier to the U.S. market.
Kind regards Stan
Read Answer Asked by Stan on October 10, 2014
Q: https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://business.financialpost.com/2014/10/09/peter-foster-look-whos-demonizing-canadian-oil/&ct=ga&cd=CAEYBCoUMTM4MzI4MDkyMTIyODQ5NTU3NDUyGTlkYWUyYWQxMjY0MDFlY2M6Y2E6ZW46Q0E&usg=AFQjCNGwShKkotWE0qYczudb26li4x9bCQ

Mr. Hodson, is the movement mentioned above likely to hurt seriously the oil sands companies referred to ?
Read Answer Asked by Serge on October 10, 2014
Q: Good morning everybody at 5i .I am fully invested in the model portfolio and would like to use ETFs to invest outside of Canada.what market conditions would allow you to buy into the Russell 2000 ,S&p 500,Europe and Asia.everybody excepting the North American pullback but not so positive on Europe or Asia.thank you for your response and enjoy your Thanksgiving long weekend.
Read Answer Asked by Alan on October 10, 2014
Q: Carl Icahn shorts S & P 500. He has taken these measures to protect his stock portfolio. He says the correction is going to get worse. Do you think your 5i followers should hedge their portfolio and, if so, what products would we use? It is nice that I can get this info. from 5i. The people I know wouldn't be able to provide me with this information. Dennis
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on October 10, 2014
Q: Peter, there are a couple of errors in your graph. Since the yellow line is derived from the red and blue; it must always be between them. Hope the cockroach theory doesn't apply.
Read Answer Asked by Bill on October 10, 2014
Q: long term investor catching my breath

anything other than market conditions to be concerned about here after a very big drop?

Thanks for all you do

Gord
Read Answer Asked by Gord on October 10, 2014
Q: Block trade question of Ernie of Oct 9/14:

Available as end of day report:

http://www.financialpost.com/markets/data/market-block_trades.html
Read Answer Asked by Russ on October 10, 2014
Q: Hi Peter,

Brutal few weeks. I am down on the following stocks:
ACQ -22.04%
Ikkuma Resources -IKM 44.8%
AVO -39.76%
BAD -21.73%
BDI -36.54%
FQ -24%
QST -24.8%
TOU -19.2%
WCP 10.90

My hope is that all the above companies have good fundamentals and will recover once the sell off id done.
For the above stocks which one you suggest to add more and in what time frame?

Thank you
M
Read Answer Asked by Marios on October 10, 2014
Q: BXE - i have invested a lot in this company but can you explain the following comment from a recent BNN commentator as i have not read any details about this concern here or on any investment blogs …thx

"Very cheap. Had third party facility problems. Their own won`t be ready until spring. They can`t get their product to market. It is absolutely excellent value here. It may take into next year to rebound”.
Read Answer Asked by Bob on October 10, 2014
Q: Hi, I have 75% of the holdings in your Canadian portfolio with a few extra stocks (DHX, ACQ, AVO). This represents 45% of my portfolio. My US side is 20% mostly indexes but I'd like to switch that into ten stocks. I already own WFC, AT&T and Gilead and would like to add Met Life, GE, MacDonalds, JNJ, Coca Cola, Apple and P&G.The idea would be to just hold these for years and add to the positions as I get extra US cash. Does this line up look good or would you suggest amy alternates? I could choose one of Coca Cola and McDonalds and one of JNJ and P&G and then that would free me up with two others in other sectors that are maybe a little higher risk? What would you suggest? Thanks so much! carla
Read Answer Asked by Carla on October 10, 2014
Q: Hello;

I am wondering what your thoughts are on TA preferred shares. Most of them are well below par but offer a nice yield at these lower values. So, is there any chance they could return to par, rate re-set is in 2016 or this a value trap in light of company conditions of late?
Thanks for your opinion and great service!
Jerry
Read Answer Asked by Jerry on October 10, 2014
Q: Is there a way of telling just when that huge reversal of SYZ's fall happened? At one point very close to end of day it was showing down over 8%. Then suddenly it rocketed up to finish the day even. The weird thing is I was looking at it on my TD screen. I wasn't going to sell that low but it suddenly showed SYZ as being back up to 10.95. I sold some at that point, for this stock has gotten way too volatile for me, but when I checked it turned out I sold at the low of the day somehow.
Read Answer Asked by John on October 10, 2014
Q: Greetings
Regarding Contrans (again) is there an unusually large 'liquiity event' in place for management if the buy out from Transforce is successful? I am trying to rationalize their motivation for being so keen to see this complete. My understanding is that management shopped the company around looking for a buyer and now the threat of a dividend suspension is looming as the deal is dragging on.
Your thoughts are appreciated
Tim
Read Answer Asked by Tim on October 10, 2014
Q: Hi Peter
Rock Energy is down almost 30% since its top in August and crossed already MA 200 it looks very familiar to situation from April 2011 when Rock Energy plummeted from $6.16 to $0.86. Do you think is time to sell or there is something else going on with Rock Energy.
Thanks Andrew B.
Read Answer Asked by Andrzej on October 10, 2014