50% off Premium Yearly
Canadian Imperial Bank of CommerceCM.TOCOMMENTFeb 17, 2016Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 19, 2026. Market Open.
We're speculating what will happen. Last year, most of the Canadian area was protected from tariffs because of CUSMA. The US would be paying more for our goods through tariffs; they buy many of our goods. Banks are at the tail end of their elevated provisions and their stocks have done quite well as interest rates have declined. The Bank of Canada has signalled it may hold rates for a while, but the government has released more fiscal support and opening more trade channels, which are good. She remains bullish banks.
The chart shows a V-shaped recovery since April's tariff worries. In Canada, interest rates have been cut aggressively, so the Canadian banks have skated through. Wealth management divisions are strong. Loan loss provisions are down. NA and RY are the best, but CM and BMO are reporting much better earnings, which catches his attention.
Canadian Banks have been the massive outperformers over the last 5 years. All banks have been saying that exposure to the oil/gas sector has been minimal, but they will be taking write-downs. Household debt is at an all-time high. There are a lot of negative headwinds coming. He prefers TD (TD-T) and Royal (RY-T). If you are going to be in this sector, he would want to be in the best and the most conservative with regards to the Canadian consumer. Has shaved down some of his banking positions in the last 6 weeks. In the long-term, you are not going to really get hurt, because they are good managers of their business.