Royal Bank (RY.TO)

(A Top Pick Aug 25/14. Down 2.76%.) Statistically Cdn bank stocks are cheap because of Short selling out of the US. This bank is well ensconced in the US and is going to be beneficial. Credit card and wealth management businesses offer some pretty good opportunities. (See Top Picks.)

This looks good. The banks have kind of been languishing for a while. Concerns he had 9-12 months ago was that the banks had been played out and there would be more stress. We haven’t seen that yet and maybe it is still coming, but he thinks the banks have underperformed a little with the market, and they are fine.

He likes it. They are Canada’s dominant bank. They made some missteps in the US a few years ago but those have been corrected. The markets are worried about them being included as one of the strategic globally systemically important banks and what more stringent capital requirements will be put upon them. It will affect all of the banks.

See his top picks. We are in a period of seasonal strength for banks until December. October is the end of the fiscal year for the banks. We saw a fairly nice bottom pattern recently. We have already seen outperformance against the market. All of the big 5 should do well right up until reporting season. These things are subject to selling on news.

They are all out of favour right now. They were hit during the NA-T equity issue. He thinks they can grow out of their common equity problem and won`t have to raise equity.

Yields more than 4%. You can hold Canadian banks and get 6-8% appreciation plus dividends. They are awfully well run. There is big M & A activity in the oil patch with big fees attached. The commercial business banking business is highly profitable. 10.5 times next year’s earnings.

The dividend score seems okay on all the banks. He is concerned with regulatory issues based on recent NA-T news. He worries if there will be a trend amongst other banks to raise equity. He hopes the NA-T issue is a onetime thing. The one issue with Canadian banks is that he is looking for a capital increase in the next year of perhaps 5%. With all the banks the dividends are all safe. The problem is the lack of earnings momentum. He expects it to be flat for the next little while.

There are 2 periods of seasonal strength for Canadian banks. The best one is from around the end of August right through until at least the end of November, sometimes they can extend through to the end of the year. Looks to be very attractive on any kind of weakness over the next 2-3 weeks. (See Top Picks.)

The best bank in Canada. They have the least exposure to energy right now. They are notorious for cutting costs and keeping costs low.

Three-year outlook? He could recommend this in the $73-$74 range. All of the banks are off about 9%-10% this year, and have been the weight pulling down the financial services index. Dividend yield of 4.3%.

Trading at around 10X forward earnings. Has an amazing Canadian retail franchise and an amazing Canadian wealth management franchise. Its wealth management franchise in the US is bigger than it is in Canada now. Has an exceptionally strong capital markets franchise. The new CEO really gets technology. Thinks the banks are going to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of technology. It’s a threat for them, but also a huge opportunity to bring down their cost structure. Dividend yield of 4.29%.

Canadian Banks are levered to the Canadian economy, which is levered to the energy sector. The uptrend was broken and you are now in a consolidation pattern. It had a lower high and is very much in danger of putting in a lower low.

She likes the sector. She thinks Canadian banks are undervalued. We are seeing a pick up in the Canadian economy in terms of employment numbers. It is trading below its historical level. 4.3% dividend. As earnings grow they will increase their dividend.

Has been the “go to” name for a long, long time in the Canadian banking sector. If you are looking for income, this is a great time to buy it. If you are trying to time and trade it, and you have extra cash and looking for yield, this is about as good a place as you can go to get it. (See Top Picks.)

The banking sector is an oligopoly in Canada, and is doing very well overall. Lately performance has been somewhat lacklustre because of the concern of the overall general Canadian economy, partly oil prices and partly because we are seeing a near technical recession. There is some concern about the near term growth and near term loan losses, but if you look beyond 12-18 months, all these names should be accumulated.