National Bank of Canada (NA-T)

Probably warrants a fresh look in the wake of its merger with CWB, a fantastic and very synergistic deal. Makes it a scale player nationally with lots of cross-selling opportunities. Capital markets business is excellent. Reports mid-week next week. Small business in Cambodia has been tricky, but not enough to move the needle. Continue to own comfortably.

No qualms buying. Coast-to-coast Canadian bank, with modest international exposure. CWB acquisition brings both revenue and cost synergies. Good capital markets and pretty good wealth management. Overexposure to the dynamically growing Quebec has been to its advantage. Pullback is a pretty good entry point.

Both have a very large domestic presence, which helps them in this environment. Both had very good numbers last quarter and are very good businesses. As expected, all banks increased credit provisions.

RY will benefit more from its large capital markets business. Volatility helps capital markets a lot; perhaps you won't get the M&A, but a lot of trading goes on with equity, debt, and other derivatives. It's global. Expectation in US of deregulation in financial services; if so, RY will benefit a lot more than NA.

NA is smaller and more focused in Quebec, though the CWB acquisition is changing that.

It had always traded at a discount to the big 5 banks but has started to trade in line. However he feels that it will go back to its historic range. He will continue to hold but not add.

Likes it in general. Great platform and franchise. If economy is heading for a contraction (for whatever reason), this name doesn't have the geographic exposure of the other 5 banks. Mainly in Quebec; very small US and international footprint. Extremely good job of growing, so he wouldn't bet against management. It's a macro call.

Disclosure: his dealer custody is with NA. 

In his opinion, the only quality banks in Canada are RY and NA. Best run for decades. He's not a huge bull on the Canadian banks, but this is one of the two names he'd buy.

If only he could roll back the time machine on his portfolio.... The bank that grew up and took a well-deserved seat at the big boys' table. Exceptional bank, packs a big punch in capital markets. Standout results. Purchase of CWB is a hand-in-glove fit, strategically sound, likely accretive. Lots of blue sky ahead, no qualms adding.

Overall, banks should be correcting a little more than they are now. He sees some growth risks in Canada specifically. A bank like this, that's mostly exposed to the Canadian consumer and market, will have a bit of a correction if our economy is weaker.

Likes the name, but he'd wait for more of a drop before putting in new $$, perhaps another $10 lower.

Leader in Canadian banking stocks. Good capital decision making. Strong balance sheet. Recent share price weakness could be a good time to buy. Domestic banks are more exposed to weakness in Canadian economy. Does not own shares right now. 

Doesn't own, but has no problems with this name in a portfolio.

Can't go wrong buying this one. One of his favourites in the space, along with BMO.

Handily outperformed most of the other Big 6 for more than a decade. Boost in trading multiple well deserved. No quarrels investing with a 2-year timeframe. Yield's between 3-4%. 

As a group, he'd be more cautious. But this one has done a good job over the years and that will probably continue. Somewhat isolated from some of the concerns surrounding the new US administration. Not the cheapest, but will have a higher ROE than peers. You can hold or even accumulate.

If you're in a bull market, you want to own the strongest stocks you can find. He prefers "good, getting better", some kind of positive change that could add to the valuation, and where other people agree with him. He owns RY, CM, and NA; firing on all cylinders.