National Bank of Canada (NA.TO)

(Top Pick Nov 4/15, Up 12.36%) They did a new issue after doing an acquisition. It was a buying opportunity. He has been happy with it.

It one of 4 he owns. You can buy any of them if you have a long time horizon. It does what it does best, not going into other countries. His favourite is RY-T because of wealth management in the US and BNS-T because of avoidance of the US and expansion into Latin America, which is growing nicely.

Not the biggest of the big 5 banks, and therefore is not the best. As long as the dividends stays solid, you should be fine. He feels investors are going to continue to come towards dividends, which they have been doing for several years now.

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS-T) or National Bank (NA-T)? Bank of Nova Scotia has been his favourite bank.

Just reported. They beat expectations and improved their balance sheet. The market Sold it off because it didn’t beat by a material amount like the other Canadian banks. This is the cheapest Canadian bank. They took a big reserve against potential energy loan losses recently, so he thinks the worst is over. If they can show more consistency in earnings, it should get a similar multiple to the other banks, which could take you to $55-$60. If the banks get a good multiple, then the whole group goes higher. Dividend yield of 4.72%.

Earnings per share growth has put it at the top of the list.

(Market Call Minute.) Feels there are better opportunities in other Canadian banks.

He likes it. It is his first or second pick of the Canadian banks. It is cheaper and has a higher dividend yield. They did a great job of strengthening the balance sheet.

(Market Call Minute.) Banks are cheap here, and this one is building a nice franchise. It is not going to hurt to own this.

On a 3-5 year timeframe, buy it now or wait for a pullback? On that timeframe, you could do it now or wait for a little market pullback. This, surprisingly, has a pretty high percentage of energy loans. It is them trying to diversify out of Québec. If you are negative on oil, you can wait for that little pullback.

Royal Bank (RY-T) or National Bank (NA-T)? This has the problem of Alberta business. It was a very popular bank with the intermediate and small oil companies. They did a fantastic job and were very popular. With the trouble the oil industry had, this came back to bite them. However, he sees that environment improving. He would buy both giving diversification of having a big bank with good dividends, and one that has better growth prospects.

(A Top Pick Nov 4/15. Up 6.05%.) Dividend yield of 5%. Has recently added to this position, because it is a great way to participate in the fact that the oil patch is not all going bankrupt. 5% dividend yield.

(Market Call Minute) Their ROE is not quite what he would like.

(A Top Pick July 21/15. Up 2.16%.) Wrote down some assets, and were affected by oil/gas write-downs as well, so it hasn’t been the strongest year for them. Still trading at 8 or 9 times earnings. Their last quarter was very good.

In the banking sector, he prefers this one right now. There was a little bit more risk associated with their Western portfolio, but they seem to have come through that all right. The valuation is way more attractive than the rest of the banking group. Dividend yield of 5%.