Investment Q&A

Q: In your answer to the question from Denis regarding how many stocks are required to own a diversified income portfolio of $125K and what weighting you would give for each stock, your answer was 20-25 stocks with an equal weighting of 5% to 4%. I have three questions:

In general, is this number of stocks also the optimum for a portfolio of $300K assuming the weighting is similar?

At what value would a portfolio be considered too small to hold individual stocks and should hold ETFs instead?

Finally, how should one calculate the optimum weighting of ETFs if they are already in a portfolio that also holds individual stocks?

Thanks so much for your excellent service and I hope that you all had a great Canada Day weekend.

Q: On the website for Brookfield Property Partners (BPY.UN) the company Brookfield Properties (BPO) is listed as being part of their property portfolio. I am considering purchase of either BPY.UN or BPO, both of which provide global diversification. However, BPY.UN also provides property portfolio diversification as well (office, retail, commercial, and multi-family). BPY.UN has not been around long so it has a very short track recored. I would appreciate any information you could provide that would help in my decision. Thank you.

Q: What is your opinion about Intrepid Mines (IAU)

Thanks Thomas

Q: Hi Peter,

I am perplexed with the behavior of NKO. It gets very good news and then in the next few days it goes even lower than the last time. I currently have a large position in anticipation of the positive developments that are happening. What risks do you foresee in the future that need to be looked into. I know you are reulctant to rate it as a buy due to past price performance, but what do you suggest now, reduce my position or hold.

Q: Hello, I see that Nordex Explosives has hired Capital Ideas to raise their company profile. Does this mean they will be promoting the stock and thus can we expect the price to increase? Thanks Dave

Q: Hi Petr:

You recommended FSZ last week on BNN. I'm having trouble interpreting its P/E ratio of 165. I presume you are using something else instead of earnings as a comparator. Could you explain?

Q: JFT Strategies Fund is buying back up to 10% of shares. What is the signifigance/investment implications of this move? Thank you.
Henry Hughes

Q: Good morning! (assuming you don't see this until Monday AM). I am interested in participating in discussions about valuing stocks, perhaps something similar to the CMS Share Clubs but online. In my ideal world, these would have a focus on Canadian Equities. I would be curious if you know of anything like this online where there is an honest exchange of information (as opposed to the seemingly usual pump or dump posts on many forums). I would be more than willing to do some homework, and submit an analytic overview if others could do the same for other stocks, or for the same stock using alternative methods, or ... ?
By the way, I really appreciate your site!
Thanks!

Q: There is much concern expressed about reits and real estate. We hold the following as a proper % of our portfolio; cwt.un;cdr.un;cuf.un;di.un;dir.un;fc;gdc;hr.un;ino.un;iip.un;mst.un;mrg.un;par.un;aar.un;rmm.un;tph.db.c;ruf.u.Would you recommend selling any or part or all of these at this time, and if so, which? Many thanks for your invaluable advice to members. Hal

Q: Your thoughts on the etf cbq. Thanks

Q: What sort of earnings multiple do you think AutoCanada pays on its acquisitions? Is a large part of its story being able to buy private dealers at a low p-e and then getting a higher p-e in the public market? Thanks.

Q: I sent you a concern about my reit position early this week , listing my 17 positions and requesting your advice/opinion. i have not received a reply, and am wondering whether or not you received it,and if you did,whether or not I will receive a reply.
Hal

Q: Hi, could you comment on Aruba, ARUN? 15.26 thanks. Helen

Q: I have only MG and BIP.UN as the industrial stocks in my portfolio. Can you recommend any other industrials paying decent dividends. What do you think of FTT?

Q: Do you have any comment on Hammond Power Solutions please (HPS-A)?

Q: Is STN still a good buy at these levels.

Thanks Carl

Q: Peter; I messed up my question yesterday - so would you add to MOS at these levels? Thanks. Rod

Q: Hi, can you please provide an opinion on Blackpearl as an investment option for capital appreciation?

Q: Hi, regarding CEF.A, recently the share price has been 5% below NAV. I recall several months ago it was pretty much at NAV. For a fund like this that basically tracks the price of gold/silver (in theory), is my thinking correct that it may be better to purchase the fund than actually purchasing the bullion? This also avoids transaction costs and delivery charges. The fund seems to be audited; do you see this as a prudent strategy when the fund is trading below NAV based on market fear?

Q: Hi Peter and team

In a recent globe article on stock analysis (June 26th page B18), Long Run Exploration (LRE) was shown as having some pretty good metrics: low price to cash flow, high growth, good recycle ratio, high reserve replacement ratio. In a subsequent investigation (reading their investor presentation) it looked like it was selling at about half of NAV. Despite this it is in a long decline. What do you think of them?

Thanks

Ross