David Burrows JP Morgan Chase & Co JPM-N TOP PICK Feb 27, 2023

High quality. Globalization is starting to move in a different direction, so this option provides a more domestic focus.

Will benefit from the strong US economy and interest rates.

Buy the leader. Strongest on the way up, most resilient on the way down. Best bank in the world. Global financials represent the most clearly defined leadership theme in the market right now.

Among the banks, they've done the best with their digital strategy, close to MS. They stay abreast of what's happening in fintech and adapt that for their customers/users.

A new purchase (June) for the portfolio. Global scale. Quite possibly the best bank in the world. Its smaller wealth management business is a focus for growth. Increasingly, scale matters in banking; secular shift away from regional banks. 

Abundant organic growth opportunities, so it pays out a modest 25% of earnings in dividends. Outperforms the Canadian big 6, a rare feat. Robust earnings and dividend growth, compounding ~13% over the last decade. Yield is 1.99%.

All the US financials have done pretty well, which is a good reflection on the potential of the economy. Her core US bank stock. Great long-term hold. For new $$, wait for a pullback; on down days, you can start to average in. Very well run, lots of excess capital. Plans to grow US presence.

Is the biggest and best of the money centre banks, but trades at 2.2x book value vs. Citi's 0.7-0.8x book. Citi was punished but is under a new CEO. Citi is less exposed to international markets and that volatility. Numbers are showing positive. He likes both. But JPM is fully valued though continues to do good things. The other is a little riskier, but more potential upside.

Just reported a clean top and bottom line beat. Loan loss provisions were lower than expected. Net interest income came in light. All businesses performed well, including commercial/investment banking beat handily while wealth management was in line. They raised full-year net interest income forecast by $1 billion. The CEO did cite risks from tariffs. 

Best bank in the world. Raised dividend twice last year. They win everywhere. 

Could buy a dividend stock that's down, but there's no indication that that's a precondition for success. This one's at fresh all-time highs, and that's what good companies do over time. "Buy high, sell higher" is a better mantra than "buy low, sell high".