Commentary: HFG

U.S. Banks: The Sun’s still shining on Mid-Caps

New York City in May means a lot of traffic, but also beautiful weather and a chance to catch up with a collection of mid-cap banks from across the U.S. in one trip. In all, we sat down with 8 executive teams, primarily from banks operating in the U.S. Sunbelt (i.e., from California to Florida), including 7 owned by the Hamilton Capital U.S. Mid-Cap Financials ETF…

U.S. Bank M&A: 8 Drivers as Described by Industry Giant, Rodgin Cohen

As financial industry specialists and readers of “Too Big to Fail” will know, Rodgin Cohen, a longtime corporate lawyer with Sullivan & Cromwell, is one of the preeminent authorities on banking and financial services M&A in the United States. So, a chance to hear his thoughts on the state of the current M&A environment, as it relates to U.S. banking, was not to be missed. The…

Global Banks Still Thriving; HBG Posts Robust 12% EPS Growth Y/Y

In Q1 2019, the holdings in the Hamilton Capital Global Bank ETF (ticker: HBG) recorded portfolio-weighted EPS growth of a robust 12% Y/Y[1], supported by excellent fundamentals of U.S. banks (~60% weight) and a diversified portfolio of global banks (~40% weight). Encouragingly, the growth was strong and broad-based across nearly all regions, including U.S., India, Singapore, Norway and Austria. With global growth forecast to remain over…

Notes from Atlanta: (Growth, M&A) Going Strong

In the almost two years since our last trip to Atlanta, a lot has changed in the banking sector (M&A) and a lot has not (strong growth). The opportunity to speak with 8 banks operating in and around Atlanta – several of which are holdings in the Hamilton Capital Global Bank ETF (HBG) and the Hamilton Capital U.S. Mid-Cap Financials ETF (USD) (HFMU.U) – provided some…

U.S. Banks: Mid-Caps vs. JPM, BAC, C & WFC – Higher EPS Growth at Deeper Valuation Discounts

At present, the actively-managed Hamilton Capital U.S. Mid-Cap Financials ETF (USD) (ticker, HFMU.U), represents superior value versus a portfolio of the largest U.S. banks, namely Bank of America, JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo. As the chart below highlights, the portfolio-weighted price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio for HFMU.U is now at a 2.5x discount to its 5 year average, which is meaningfully larger than the 0.9x discount of the four…

Notes from New York: Cards, Payments and Financial Technology Meetings

We met the management teams of over a dozen payments, cards, exchanges and other related companies in the rapidly growing financial technology sector[1] in New York. The financial technology sector (“Fin-Tech”) is expected to continue to benefit from multiple structural tailwinds including the growth of e-commerce and growing technology adoption. However, high competitive intensity, rapidly evolving consumer preferences and a wide variety of business models (including…

HBG Posts Robust 21% EPS Growth Y/Y in Q4-18

In Q4 2018, the holdings in the Hamilton Capital Global Bank ETF (ticker: HBG) recorded year-over-year portfolio-weighted EPS growth of a robust 21%[1], supported by excellent fundamentals of U.S. mid-cap banks (~45% weight) and a globally diversified portfolio of international banks (~55% weight).  The growth was strong and consistent across virtually all regions. In fact, 33 banks in HBG reported year-over-year EPS higher greater than 10%.…

Canadian Banks: Five Takeaways from BBT/STI, Accelerating U.S. Bank M&A

Last week, in our insight “U.S. Bank M&A: Implications of the Largest Deal in a Decade”, we explained why we expect U.S. bank consolidation will accelerate following the BB&T/SunTrust merger, and reasons why such activity will predominately be within the small and mid-cap banks. In this insight, we offer five takeaways for the Canadian banks – BMO, CM, RY, and TD – and their U.S. expansion…

Indian Banks Overview: Large Diverse Sector, Operating in a High Growth Market

In this insight, we provide a review of the Indian economy and banking system, highlighting the most important issues facing the sector. India is a large emerging market with a fast-growing banking sector comprised of over 35 publicly traded banks divided into two main categories: state-owned (over 20) and private banks (over 15). For many years, India has been – and is forecast to remain –…

U.S. Bank M&A: Implications from the Largest Deal in a Decade

On Thursday morning, BB&T (BBT) and SunTrust (STI), two of the largest banks in the U.S. Southeast, announced a merger of equals (“MOE”). With an aggregate deal value approaching US$66 billion, the transaction marks the largest bank M&A deal since the 2008 financial crisis and will create the 6th largest bank in the United States. In this update we provide our thoughts including the main takeaways…

Notes from India: Financials Poised to Benefit from World’s Fastest Growing Economy

We met the management teams of over a dozen Indian banks, insurers and asset managers in the financial capital of Mumbai, India in December. With real GDP growth of over 7% over the past decade, India is one of the largest emerging markets and forecast to be the fastest growing major economy in 2019. Not surprisingly, the management teams we met were very upbeat. Exposure to…

Australian Financials: Regulatory Clarity Arrives

The Hamilton Capital Australian Financials Yield ETF (HFA) was launched in December 2018, with a targeted yield of 6.5% or higher paid monthly (aided by covered calls). The Australian financials have a history of long-term outperformance versus the Canadian financials with lower volatility. In fact, the Australian banks outperformed the Canadian banks during the global financial crisis. One main reason Australian financials have consistently outperformed their…

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