Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO)

Best Canadian bank? The one that came out with the best earnings in the last quarter was CIBC (CM-T) and they were the only ones that did a share buyback. However, if you are looking at banks, there is much better value if you look at US banks.

If the stock splits, should you buy before or after? Generally you buy before the split. One thing she would caution you on is that this is a bank that generally trades at a discount to the other banks because of some history of missteps. Stock had a good run recently and she is not crazy about buying at this time.

Earnings per share were up 9% year-over-year. Bumped their dividend. Expect there will be a stock split pretty soon. The only thing holding them back from this right now is that Aeroplan might come back to bite them a bit.

This stock is clearly in an upward trend. Also, outperforming the market and is currently trading above its 20 day moving average. Historically, this stock has done very well from the end of February right through until the end of April.

(Top Pick Feb 6/13, Up 19.16 Total Return) One of the best balance sheets. Continue to hold but not adding additional positions.

He has a core position in the banks TD, BMO, and BNS, but all the banks are okay. CM has been moving up after making some falls into ‘07/’08 and have now played their cards properly. He owns in some portfolios. Splits are a natural progression once you get near the $100 mark.

Likes this for its dividend. One of the metrics that may not match up to some of the other banks is that dividend growth may not be as strong. If you believe in the US economic recovery, you are probably looking at something like a Toronto Dominion (TD-T).

Likes Canadian banks. To him, you buy your favourite and hold it for the rest of your life. He prefers others to this. This has never attracted him as he doesn’t think it gives the type of investments he is looking for. (See Top Picks.)

Prefers Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS-T) because of their international diversification and their tight, tight credit and the Royal Bank (RY-T), which seems to be firing on all cylinders. This is an area where he is going to continue to hold his bank stocks. Would have no hesitation in buying this bank.

There is a bit of a trend for the banks in Canada, where they are starting to miss their numbers. Could possibly be a stock split as a couple of the other banks have done that and they are in the price range.

Preferred Share M? This is one of those straight perpetuals. Bank issues are in an interesting situation here. Preferred shares, as they stand right now, with the exception of 3 of this banks issues (not this one) no longer qualify as tier 1 capital for the bank. Over the next 10 years that capital start to amortize which means that the likelihood of these getting called in 10 years is much more likely. For a retiree, this is definitely a Hold.

Has been paring his exposure on the banks down in the last few years. His preferences are Toronto Dominion (TD-T) and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS-T). Feels that Cdn banks have run quite far here. If you have participated in that run, this would be a good time to reduce your exposure. Canadian housing market is the biggest single risk to Cdn banks, specifically on mortgages. Housing market here does not seem to want to go down, even after all the inputs that the Federal Finance Minister and CMHC have made.

Right now banks are a very good place to be. They have dividend growth, stock splits might happen, buyback potential, high dividends and US Shorts have to buy positions back. He likes this one a lot. ROE’s are amongst the highest. Capital ratios are amongst the highest. PE is amongst the lowest. Dividend is amongst the highest.

(A Top Pick Jan 29/13. Up 10.65%.) Capable of some modest multiple expansion from here. Can see healthy single digit earnings growth over the next 3 years. With the yield, it gives you double-digit returns.

Historically higher yield, but her preference was to play RY-T. Capital markets are more volatile.