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Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 12 Oct 2017 13:49
by Descartes
beachcomber wrote: 12 Oct 2017 13:39 My understanding is that a quarter position equals 25% of your portfolio. Not certain whether it relates only to one's stock/etf holdings - or your entire investment portfolio. Cheers.
Yikes. Not my understanding.
This has come up before and the conclusion was that it is somewhat subjective:
http://www.financialwisdomforum.org/for ... p?t=105909
http://www.financialwisdomforum.org/for ... p?t=110797

For me, a full position is 3 - 3 1/2 % of the portfolio.

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 12 Oct 2017 13:56
by AltaRed
beachcomber wrote: 12 Oct 2017 13:39 My understanding is that a quarter position equals 25% of your portfolio. Not certain whether it relates only to one's stock/etf holdings - or your entire investment portfolio. Cheers.
:lol: It is commonly used as percentage of a holding. But it is somewhat meaningless without context.

Crockd, I might say that a full position for a holding varies from 3-4% of my entire investment portfolio, or maybe my equity* portfolio only. So half a position would be 50% of those numbers. I tend to say 'partial' position which means I am buying into a full position with 2 or more separate purchases.

I normally buy a 'full' position all at one time since if I've done my homework, I should simply buy it outright. But sometimes I may hedge my bets by purchasing some, and then adding to it later if I am not as certain as I might be. I may regret it later if the valuation takes off never to fall back, or I may minimize buyer's remorse by averaging down to buy the rest of the position at a lower price. I've had a few examples of both situations.

* about the same for me either way since I am about 85+% equity.

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 12 Oct 2017 15:40
by deaddog
AltaRed wrote: 12 Oct 2017 13:56
beachcomber wrote: 12 Oct 2017 13:39 My understanding is that a quarter position equals 25% of your portfolio. Not certain whether it relates only to one's stock/etf holdings - or your entire investment portfolio. Cheers.
:lol: It is commonly used as percentage of a holding. But it is somewhat meaningless without context.

Crockd, I might say that a full position for a holding varies from 3-4% of my entire investment portfolio, or maybe my equity* portfolio only. So half a position would be 50% of those numbers. I tend to say 'partial' position which means I am buying into a full position with 2 or more separate purchases.

I normally buy a 'full' position all at one time since if I've done my homework, I should simply buy it outright. But sometimes I may hedge my bets by purchasing some, and then adding to it later if I am not as certain as I might be. I may regret it later if the valuation takes off never to fall back, or I may minimize buyer's remorse by averaging down to buy the rest of the position at a lower price. I've had a few examples of both situations.

* about the same for me either way since I am about 85+% equity.
The best way to describe position size would be as a total percentage of the portfolio.

A small percentage of a portfolio is really insignificant.

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 12 Oct 2017 16:19
by DenisD
deaddog wrote: 12 Oct 2017 15:40A small percentage of a portfolio is really insignificant
But a lot of small percentages of a portfolio are really significant. :wink:

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 13 Oct 2017 09:01
by jay
Bought a small position in Remark Holdings (NYSE:Mark) just under $3 yesterday. They won a new AI contract recently and the stock has been dropping since. Among other things, their AI KanKan platform can be a game changer for social media and they also own part of Sharecare.com. Can be an easy double from here as it is trading at a 50% discount to NAV but will take lots of patience.

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 13 Oct 2017 10:52
by AltaRed
Jay, you seem to be becoming (or now are) a hardened 'deep value' investor. Am curious about your success rate in the last 2-5 years, i.e. gainers vs losers? I admit to fishing sometimes for 52 week lows on blue chips but that has mixed results as well.

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 13 Oct 2017 11:45
by westcoastfella
As I mentioned in the sell thread, I was contemplating buying a US financials ETF, and did so the other day with Vanguard (VFH) using the proceeds of from MFC. I only hold a single traditional financial in my USD RRSP, and rather than try to decide between them all, I'll simplify my life and buy the index instead. Intended to be long term hold.

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 13 Oct 2017 14:33
by AltaRed
As reported in the Sell thread, used the proceeds from selling REF.UN to increase my holdings of XEF to boost my International allocation. Europe and Asia seem to be out of their 'funk' with a positive 2017, so time to increase my exposure.

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 13 Oct 2017 14:51
by jay
AltaRed wrote: 13 Oct 2017 10:52 Jay, you seem to be becoming (or now are) a hardened 'deep value' investor. Am curious about your success rate in the last 2-5 years, i.e. gainers vs losers? I admit to fishing sometimes for 52 week lows on blue chips but that has mixed results as well.
Hey @Alta, not sure if I can call myself a deep value investor. For the most part, I have been building a Canadian dividend portfolio during the last 2-3 years and when I started I found it hard to buy into the highs after a 6-7 year run, so I was patient and very selective in buying only those trading near their 52 wk lows. Luckily enough, there was always something to buy and the market gave me two major opportunities in the last 2-3 years. Even today, TSE:ENB, TSE:BCE and TSE:H look cheap from that perspective (but not so much fundamentally).

However, I always keep some ammo on the side, esp. in the TFSA account, for some trading and this is where I trade in and out of cheap Canadian names (I monitor a list of 300 names in Google sheets) - ones that are close to their 52 week lows. Note that I only pick ones where the odds are in my favour (very easy to backtest assuming one's holding period is 1 year) but if I get a good spike of 10% or so, I usually exit. I was able to find cheap names like RBA, TFII, GS, ITP, DR, EIF, WPM and so far they have all delivered. I never calculated my actual success rate but I think it is close to 70%-80%.

Having said that, the above mentioned buy (Remark Holdings) was trending on Stocktwits at some point and I took note of it. Did some basic research and it looked like a value play but in the end, it was more lottery than value. I just sold half of it at $3.5 (missed the opening high this morning at $4.4).

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 16 Oct 2017 12:57
by ockham
From the proceeds of my sale of IMO, I added to an existing position in MolsonCoors (TPX.B) and an existing position in VCN. TPX.B has pulled back about 25% from an earlier high. VCN, well, I couldn't think of anything else productive to do.

These three trades (sell IMO, buy VCN, buy TPX.B) represent the sum total of my activity for 2017 except for (i) rolling over strips and GICs as they've matured, (ii) buying VXC in the family's TFSAs in January and (iii) such forced buying and selling as my rules-based HOTPOT portfolio has required. Pretty boring. It's how I like it.

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 16 Oct 2017 13:37
by Wallace
CROCKD wrote: 12 Oct 2017 13:27 On the theory that there are no dumb questions, what does a trade of a quarter or half position mean? :?
For me, it just means a quarter or half of what I would ideally like to buy.
Apart from personal real estate (house and cottage) I invest in 13-15 stocks at any one time and the rest, about 15% right now is cash. So a full position for me is about 1/13 of the stock portfolio. Like scomac I usually buy it all at once. If I'm going to be wrong - and I have been many times - I'm going to be wrong with confidence. ISTM that if you have a "knack" for the stock market, you have to trust your instincts and research.

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 16 Oct 2017 16:51
by lacrosse905
I am looking at PKI Parkland Fuels.....missed out on this a few years ago when it was in the 22/23 dollar range and it has now come off its' highs of
over $30. Good dividend over 4%...does anyone have a comment on this, they have made a few aquisitions and these should start to pay off, it seems to go up in the winter months.

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 16 Oct 2017 17:15
by scomac
lacrosse905 wrote: 16 Oct 2017 16:51 I am looking at PKI Parkland Fuels.....missed out on this a few years ago when it was in the 22/23 dollar range and it has now come off its' highs of
over $30. Good dividend over 4%...does anyone have a comment on this, they have made a few aquisitions and these should start to pay off, it seems to go up in the winter months.
I've owned it for a long time from the low teens. It's a reliable income stock in the energy space that isn't tied to the commodity price. Their business used to be more about wholesale and delivery whereas the acquisitions have broadly expanded its retail footprint through gas bars and convenience stores via Pioneer Petroleum. Some similarities to Couche-tarde and they have worked with them on a recent joint deal.

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 16 Oct 2017 17:21
by deaddog
lacrosse905 wrote: 16 Oct 2017 16:51 I am looking at PKI Parkland Fuels.....missed out on this a few years ago when it was in the 22/23 dollar range and it has now come off its' highs of
over $30. Good dividend over 4%...does anyone have a comment on this, they have made a few aquisitions and these should start to pay off, it seems to go up in the winter months.
Bought this in 2009, out and back in in 2011;
Right now it is getting close to my stop but I would not be afraid to buy now and have a capital protection exit under $24.00

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 16 Oct 2017 17:43
by AltaRed
scomac wrote: 16 Oct 2017 17:15 I've owned it for a long time from the low teens. It's a reliable income stock in the energy space that isn't tied to the commodity price. Their business used to be more about wholesale and delivery whereas the acquisitions have broadly expanded its retail footprint through gas bars and convenience stores via Pioneer Petroleum. Some similarities to Couche-tarde and they have worked with them on a recent joint deal.
I don't own PKI, but the valuation metric comparison with ATD.B is interesting. PKI has a nosebleed P/E compared to ATD.B but a more reasonable P/B compared to ATD.B. The difference in dividend policy is also extraordinary. Have not done the work to understand why that is the case other than PKI has likely had a more aggressive acquisition on a relative basis than ATD/B in the last year or two, or goodwill is being handled differently. All speculation on my part.

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 16 Oct 2017 22:18
by brad911
ATD.B & PKI are two stocks I've actually been looking at this week....

So far neither has a significant edge over the other, but I have yet to really get into their financials and analyze margins. Generally I will buy the company with the better margins & business (qualitative factors), but the dividend growth will be a factor for the capital I have set to allocate to either of them.

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 16 Oct 2017 22:32
by AltaRed
All things being relatively equal, I'd pick ATD.B due to having some ex-Canada exposure. I don't trust the direction of the Canadian business environment enough to buy many stocks that have all their business in Canada.

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 16 Oct 2017 23:34
by scomac
AltaRed wrote: 16 Oct 2017 17:43
scomac wrote: 16 Oct 2017 17:15 I've owned it for a long time from the low teens. It's a reliable income stock in the energy space that isn't tied to the commodity price. Their business used to be more about wholesale and delivery whereas the acquisitions have broadly expanded its retail footprint through gas bars and convenience stores via Pioneer Petroleum. Some similarities to Couche-tarde and they have worked with them on a recent joint deal.
I don't own PKI, but the valuation metric comparison with ATD.B is interesting. PKI has a nosebleed P/E compared to ATD.B but a more reasonable P/B compared to ATD.B. The difference in dividend policy is also extraordinary. Have not done the work to understand why that is the case other than PKI has likely had a more aggressive acquisition on a relative basis than ATD/B in the last year or two, or goodwill is being handled differently. All speculation on my part.
The Pioneer deal was transformative because it added over 1000 retail outlets to their business. It involved a near doubling of debt as well as significant share issuance. These sorts of deals tend to take a while to sort out that's why I don't get too excited about valuation multiples with an acquisitive company. As for the dividend policy that is reflective of this being an income trust in its previous structure.

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 16 Oct 2017 23:48
by Shakespeare
These deals take a while to digest and may or may not work - see Safeway/Sobey's. At this point it's a modest gamble, not a dividend growth stock per se. So: do you feel lucky? :|

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 17 Oct 2017 00:11
by AltaRed
Other than Suncor's Petro-Canada stations which they seem to have made a strategic decision to retain in their corporate business (and I guess Irving too), there can't be too many corporate stations left for the likes of PKI and ATD to pick up.

Added: Wait!.... Husky too!

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 17 Oct 2017 11:50
by jay
jay wrote: 27 Sep 2017 10:01 Time for some insurance against what seems like a very complacent US market. Just bought $5,000 worth of TVIX at $12/share. Last two times were very successful.
Added to TVIX at $8.85 this morning. I know hold 700 shares with an ACB of $10.85. Still betting on some volatility after a record low volatility in US markets.

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 17 Oct 2017 16:14
by jsbarnby
brad911 wrote: 16 Oct 2017 22:18 ATD.B & PKI are two stocks I've actually been looking at this week....

So far neither has a significant edge over the other, but I have yet to really get into their financials and analyze margins. Generally I will buy the company with the better margins & business (qualitative factors), but the dividend growth will be a factor for the capital I have set to allocate to either of them.
ATD is the unquestionably the better choice here IMO.

ATD Margins are superior due to owning a higher percentage of the merchandise component of the stores while PKI focuses more on low margin fuel supply agreements. Additionally, ATD's larger scale contributes to larger margins - as they scale they can put more pressure on merchandise suppliers.

PKI has a much weaker balance sheet (very high leverage/forward cash flow) with a DRIP that continues to dilute shareholders in order fund ongoing operations & the dividend.

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 17 Oct 2017 19:37
by adrian2
jsbarnby wrote: 17 Oct 2017 16:14
brad911 wrote: 16 Oct 2017 22:18 ATD.B & PKI are two stocks I've actually been looking at this week....

So far neither has a significant edge over the other, but I have yet to really get into their financials and analyze margins. Generally I will buy the company with the better margins & business (qualitative factors), but the dividend growth will be a factor for the capital I have set to allocate to either of them.
ATD is the unquestionably the better choice here IMO.

ATD Margins are superior due to owning a higher percentage of the merchandise component of the stores while PKI focuses more on low margin fuel supply agreements. Additionally, ATD's larger scale contributes to larger margins - as they scale they can put more pressure on merchandise suppliers.

PKI has a much weaker balance sheet (very high leverage/forward cash flow) with a DRIP that continues to dilute shareholders in order fund ongoing operations & the dividend.
OTOH, PKI is one of the top holdings in Mawer New Canada. That's enough for me to make it a clear choice between the two.

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 20 Oct 2017 03:16
by bolt
I'd love to short bitcoin- But i'm clueless on both how to and its custodians financial strength.....any insights?

Re: What did you Buy? What might you buy? (2017)

Posted: 20 Oct 2017 10:32
by jay
Added to my existing positions in Enbridge Income Fund Holdings Inc (TSE:ENF) at $29.37 and Enbridge (TSE:ENB) at $49.5. Not sure what the drop this morning is all about, esp. ENF, but I usually take any opportunity to add to a core holding trading at or close to 52-week lows. Both look oversold to me. I want to add to Transcanada (TSE:TRP) as well and I a surprised it is holding much better than ENB. My target price is low 50's.

In my TFSA, I caught Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc (TSE:RBA) at $34.87 for a trade, yet again. It is back to is 52-week lows. Last time it reached these lows it bounced quickly.