BANK OF MONTREAL $75 - Toronto symbol BMO

BANK OF MONTREAL $75 (Toronto symbol BMO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 644.7 million; Market cap: $48.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bmo.com) earned $787 million from its U.S. banking operations (or 27% of the total) in the year ended October 31, 2013.

The bank continues to integrate Milwaukee-based Marshall & Ilsley, which it bought in 2011. The move doubled the size of its U.S. retail banking business. Bank of Montreal has already cut this division’s annual costs by $400 million, which should help it meet its goal of raising this business’s earnings to $1 billion in 2015.

Bank of Montreal is a buy.

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