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: Region
Video: Market Outlook and Q&A with Ed Yardeni and Rob Wessel
Hamilton ETFs presents a Q&A with prominent Wall Street strategist, Ed Yardeni, moderated by Rob Wessel. Ed has been one of the most influential Wall Street strategists over the last 30 years and is regularly on CNBC. Rob asks Ed for his outlook on the U.S. and global equity markets, inflation, interest rates and, of course, the financials. Disclaimer: Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and…
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…
Australian Banks: Robust Earnings and Large Capital Return
A strong recovery of the Australian economy is underway as evidenced by the solid earnings growth seen at the Australian banks in their most recent reporting season. In this insight, we discuss the positive trends impacting the sector. Specifically, we elaborate on the recent operating results (both earnings drivers and capital returns), and other positive trends including economic growth supported by further reopening as well as…
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.…
Australian Banks: Earnings Recovery in Progress; Massive Capital Return Ahead
The recovery of the Australian economy and banks is accelerating. In this insight, we discuss how the Australian banking sector – one of the world’s strongest – has firmly entered the recovery stage of the credit cycle and what that means for share prices. In the past, we have described the Canadian and Australian banking sectors as being akin to fraternal twins given their significant similarities,…
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…
U.S. Banks: M&A Features Prominently on Q1 Calls
[All values in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted] As we noted in last week’s Insight, U.S. Financials: Why They Remain Attractive (Especially the Mid-Caps), the Q4 2020 pick-up in U.S. bank M&A – a clear sign of management’s conviction that the economic recovery was well underway – has gained momentum in 2021, including several transactions involving Hamilton U.S. Mid/Small-Cap Financials ETF (tickers: HUM, HUM-U) and Hamilton…