Stock price when the opinion was issued
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%.
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.
Her core US bank holding. Share price has gone up, but earnings have been growing. Company sees consumer doing OK in a pretty strong economy. Increasing loan provisions slightly. Net interest margin coming off a bit with interest rates being cut, but JPM sees that pivoting next year.
Very high ROE of 16%, very high operating efficiency. Very strong balance sheet. CEO prefers liquid cash on the balance sheet instead of bonds, which allowed them to buy First Republic. She's increased her weighting.