Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP-BIT)

(A Top Pick Dec 16/16, Up 22%) He works with a really strong credit team. He came to the conclusion last year that the banks were in good shape in Europe. European banks are now fully to over capitalized and can now grow loan demand.

(Top Pick Dec 16/16, Up 3%) It is one of the gems of the banking world in Europe. People assume the prospects and capital are weak, but they are not. He expects the high dividend yield to grow. It should see a slight boost to growth and loans. Non-performing loans are starting to go down.

Italian banks have been the most hated sector in Europe, if not globally. Thinks we are almost at the end of this whole capital issue. This one will benefit from the steepening yield curve. They have the strongest capital position of any Italian bank. He is pretty sure this is going to have to be nationalized one way or another. Once that happens, it gets that problem behind it. They have 350 basis points of excess capital, even ready for Basil IV. A very sustainable dividend yield of 5.8%. (Analysts’ price target is €2.61.)