Bank of America (BAC)

(A Top Pick June 18/12. Up 67.88%.) Still likes it. A cheap stock. If you own, you’ll continue to do well. Feels it will double from here over the next 3-5 years.

This is a play on the US housing recovery. There is improving US loan growth, lower litigation risks, accretive share repurchases and the balance sheets are strengthening. Dividend yield of 0.3%.

Doesn’t see any reason not to hold as long as the slump is a market slump and doesn’t spill over into the economy. The problem with a lot of the US banks is that they are still not out of the woods by a long shot, as far as the quality of their balance sheet is concerned. ROE’s are still poor.

A relatively cheap American bank. He likes US banks right now as he feels there is opportunity for long-term growth. As the housing market and small medium industry loans recover and, most importantly, as the interest rates normalize. This wouldn’t be his 1^st choice. He prefers the higher quality such as J.P. Morgan (JPM-N), Northern Trust (NTRS-Q) and Morgan Stanley (MS-N).(See Top Picks.)

This is definitely the high torque play in the sector. Thinks there is a lot of upside as the housing market recovers. There is probably more earnings upside as well. If you can handle the volatility, he would continue to own.

(A Top Pick May 15/12. Up 90.72%.) He is continuing to buy this. Banking industry in the US is cheap. The BV of this company is $20 and he thinks at some time in the cycle it will trade at $20.

(Market Call Minute) Doubled in last year. Cheap, but litigation risk. But it could do well.

(Market Call Minute) It’s cheap. Harder to analyze so not his top pick.

Likes the banks, US financials. his favourite is JP Morgan,

Bank of America is trading around 13x earnings. feels is a good investment.

US banks are hard to analyse, he looked at 3 banks, Bank of America, JP Morgon and Goldman Sachs. Bank of America was the hardest to analyse especially because of the real estate assets. That said, because of the US recovery the opportunity to sell the "gnarly" properties is getting better day by day. Feels Goldman Sachs or JP Morgon is the better investment opportunitiy.

Had a lot of overhang from litigation issue. But more of a concern for him is understanding what is the catalyst for growth. Loan growth is anemic. Turning assets at less than 1%. If it is just a cost cutting story or people feel better about it now, that is not a reason to buy.

This is a company where people have not seen the restructuring that has gone on. Below tangible book value. Has some really good capital and really core businesses. Tailwinds from lawsuits are disappearing. Thinks dividends will be 1.5% next year. They are buying back shares. Non-performing loans are coming down.

Stock is down because, although it is growing, it is slowing. Everybody hates when they hear slowing growth. It is not going to grow its earnings 50% any more; it is back to a normal 5%-10% earnings growth. What he likes about this one and the whole US banking sector is that the housing market is improving, US consumer is improving, banks are flush with cash and they are now allowed to buy back shares. Prefers the safety of a Wells Fargo (WFC-N) or a J.P. Morgan (JPM-N) but he would have no problem adding this one as a 2^nd or 3^rd U.S. Bank.

(A Top Pick April 17/12. Up 3 2.21%.) Probably the only US bank that he would still look at buying at this point. Thinks it can go over $30. Their profit quadrupled. They are taking care of business in terms of lawsuits. Just laid off a lot of workers.

Likes the US banking space. This one in particular has a lot of leverage to recovery in the housing market through their mortgage portfolio. Has a very, very small dividend but has potential for increasing dividends over the next couple of years.