Canadian Imperial Bank Of Commerce $87 - Toronto symbol CM

CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE $87 (Toronto symbol CM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 337.5 million; Market cap: $29.4 billion; SI Rating: Above average) provides an example. CIBC has some exposure to the U.S. subprime mortgage market, which is the source of today’s credit worries and market downturn. Growing uncertainty in the mortgage market will force CIBC to write down its U.S. investment portfolio by $190 million (after-tax) in its third fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2007. It earned $807 million or $2.27 a share in its second quarter. Further writedowns are possible. But if CIBC wrote off 100% of all its net remaining subprime exposure to zero, that would cut its earnings by only $2 or so per share. CIBC now expects to earn about $2.30 a share in its third quarter, a 23.7% improvement over the $1.86 a share it earned a year earlier. The stock is a buy.

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