After much speculation in recent years about its appetite for additional U.S. bank M&A, TD offered ~US$13.4 bln in cash to buy First Horizon Corporation (FHN)[1], a Tennessee-based regional bank, in late February, almost 15 years since its last “large” U.S. bank acquisition – Commerce Bancorp. In our view, the acquisition offers many strategic benefits given FHN: (i) is an optimal size, adding material scale with…
Insights: Canada
Canadian Banks: BMO’s High Risk, High(er) Reward Acquisition of BoW
Bank of Montreal recently announced the acquisition of BNP Paribas’ U.S. retail banking subsidiary, Bank of the West (BoW) for ~C$20 bln – the largest acquisition in Canadian banking history. The transaction is very different from prior acquisitions made by the Canadian banks and is further complicated by the fact that BoW is not publicly traded (wholly owned by BNP), so most Canadian investors have limited…
Financial Post Opinion: Canadian bank dividends are poised to rise — a lot
The Financial Post published our comment on why we believe Canadian bank dividends, in our view, are poised to rise meaningfully over the next few quarters. Click here to read the full article in the Financial Post.
BNN Bloomberg: Canadian bank dividends could rise 25 per cent over the next four quarters
Rob Wessel was on BNN Bloomberg today to discuss our expectations for Canadian bank dividend increases and the performance of our Hamilton Enhanced Canadian Bank ETF (HCAL), which ended its first year as the top performing Canadian bank ETF. Please click here to watch the interview.
Financial Post Opinion: Canada’s big banks are stronger than ever, and should be allowed to raise dividends
The Financial Post published our comment on why we believe OSFI should allow dividend increases now as there are no policy reasons to support the ongoing moratorium. Click here to read the full article in the Financial Post.
BNN Bloomberg: Canadian banks earnings season and No-Fee Trading
Rob Wessel was on BNN Bloomberg today to discuss the upcoming Canadian banks earnings season and no-fee trading, as well as the Hamilton Enhanced Multi-Sector Covered Call ETF (HDIV), that launched in July 2021. Click here to watch the interview.
Canadian Banks: Reserve Releases Dominate Results; Q2-21 Takeaways (in Charts)
Reserve releases featured prominently in Q2 earnings results for the Canadian banks, another step forward for the sector in its ongoing credit recovery and just one of the positive catalysts we previously identified for Canadian bank stocks in 2021. In our October webcast, “Canadian Banks: Credit Cycle is (Basically) Over”[1], we outlined our reasoning that a credit-driven recovery in Canadian bank earnings and stocks was beginning.…
Canadian Banks: Catalyst #2 (Reserve Releases) Approaching
In this Insight, we explain why we believe reserve releases of between $6 and $8 bln for the Canadian banks are coming in 2021, which could have a material impact on share prices. While all credit cycles are unique, they each have distinct stages and this COVID credit cycle has been no different. The first stage was three quarters in duration (Q2-20 to Q4-20) and characterized…
HCAL/HCA: Volatility vs. Individual Cdn Banks
In this One Chart, we compare the volatility profile of 1.25x the Solactive Canadian Bank Mean Reversion index (SOLCBMRT) – which the Hamilton Enhanced Canadian Bank ETF (ticker, HCAL) seeks to replicate before fees – to that of the Big-6 Canadian banks. We believe HCAL is a good choice for long-term investors, as its modest leverage offers the potential for higher returns in a steadily growing…
Canadian Banks: Are Analysts Underestimating the Recovery (Again)?
In our October webcast, “Canadian Banks – Credit Cycle is (Basically) Over”, we correctly predicted that reserve builds for the Canadian banks would peak in Q4-20, and that the recovery would begin in Q1-21. In fact, we launched the Hamilton Enhanced Canadian Bank ETF (HCAL)[1] in October 2020 to give investors a vehicle to capitalize more fully on this recovery while at the same time benefiting…
Canadian Banks: Q1-21 Takeaways – One Catalyst Down, Two to Go
In October 2020, we launched the Hamilton Enhanced Canadian Bank ETF (ticker: HCAL), a modestly levered version of our Canadian bank mean reversion strategy ETF (ticker: HCA), in anticipation of a credit-driven recovery for Canadian bank earnings and stocks. In our view, with its 25% leverage, HCAL offers investors an opportunity to benefit as the recovery gains traction (in the near-to-medium term), as well as for…
Video: Canadian Banks – Three Potential Catalysts for 2021
Watch Rob Wessel, Managing Partner of Hamilton ETFs, give an update on three potential catalysts for the Canadian banks in 2021.