Norman LevineBB&T Corp.BBTPAST TOP PICKFeb 03, 2016

He owns BBT-N. The company is involved in a merger with Suntrust. It is a franchised bank on the east coast where there is good economic and demographic growth. Even during the financial crisis, they managed affairs well. The US banks have been stuttering as the yield curve has become flat. He would still be a buyer here.

(Past Top Pick Oct. 20, 2017, Up3%) A U.S. east coast bank with a lot of retail like TD. It will benefit from higher interest rates. They reported a good quarter. Low-risk.

One of the biggest regional bank on the East Coast of the U.S. Has both commercial and retail customers. Big beneficiary of rising interest rate. He prefers the US banks vs Canadian banks on a valuation and risk basis. (Analysts' price target $57.96)

A consumer bank making money both in spread and on loan growth. It will benefit from US tax law changes.

This is most like a TD Bank (TD-T) in that it is an east coast regional from Florida up through New England. Very cheap relative to its US peers. It would look a little expensive on Canadian standards, trading at 13X earnings instead of 11X earnings, and a 2.8% yield instead of 4%, but would be a bigger beneficiary on higher rates. Very retail. If we get the Fed going again in December, and 1 or 2 times next year, they’ll have decent earnings growth, and there are still lots of targets of smaller regional banks for them to buy. (Analysts’ price target is $49.)

Under the Obama government, the banks preferred were the regionals because of the regulatory glare, which was much more negative, on the money centred banks.

We are seeing less regulatory glare under the Trump administration. This means we could see a lot more upside in US banks, so a little bit of money has been taken from here in the last little while. Excellent balance sheet. The payout ratio is about 50% of what it was before the global financial crisis. Thinks there is a lot of upside here.

The entire US banking sector is looking pretty good or breaking out. BBT-N is attempting to break the long term wall. If it gets above $43 for a number of days you probably have a good chance of seeing pretty good upside. So far it is developing positively. Keep a mental stop loss at about $42. If it stays below that for a couple of days then sell it.

(A Top Pick May 4/15. Up 12.92%.) Very active in the Florida/Northeast corridor. There is more upside. They don’t have a lot of investment banking business so the regulatory is clear and regulators are not going to be there.