BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $69 - Toronto symbol BNS

BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $69 (Toronto symbol BNS; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $82.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.7; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.scotiabank.com) is the third-largest bank in Canada, with $791.5 billion of assets.

In the quarter ended July 31, 2014, the bank’s earnings rose 38.5%, to $2.3 billion from $1.6 billion a year earlier. Per-share profits gained 36.0%, to $1.85 from $1.36, on more shares outstanding.

The latest earnings included a $555-million gain on the sale of most of Bank of Nova Scotia’s stake in mutual fund operator CI Financial Corp. (Toronto symbol CIX). Without that, the bank earned $1.40 a share. Revenue rose 17.6%, to $6.5 billion from $5.5 billion.

Bank of Nova Scotia set aside $398 million to cover potential bad loans in the latest quarter, up 26.8% from $314 million a year earlier. That’s mainly due to rising credit card balances, more car loans and higher provisions for commercial loans in the Caribbean and Latin America.

The bank recently announced that it would write down the value of its 26.6% stake in a Venezuelan bank, close 120 of its international branches and cut 2% of its workforce.

In all, severance payments and other costs will lower its fiscal 2014 earnings by $341 million. However, these moves should cut $120 million from its yearly costs by the end of fiscal 2016. Excluding unusual items, earnings should rise 9.6%, to $5.57 a share in 2014 from $5.08 in 2013. The stock trades at 12.4 times that forecast. The $2.64 dividend yields 3.8%.

Bank of Nova Scotia is a buy.

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