The Growing Power of Dividends

Learn everything you need to know in '7 Winning Strategies for Dividend Investors' for FREE from The Successful Investor.

The Best Canadian Dividend Stocks to Buy: REITS Canada and other Top Canadian Dividend Stocks.

 I consent to receiving information from The Successful Investor via email. I understand I can unsubscribe from these updates at any time.

Topic: Dividend Stocks

Toronto-Dominion Bank $69 – Toronto symbol TD

TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $69 (Toronto symbol TD; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; SI Rating: Above average) is Canada’s second-largest bank with $392.9 billion in assets.

Like Royal Bank, TD has expanded its American operations in the past few years. These businesses now provide around 45% of TD’s income,

In 2006, TD combined the U.S. operations of its TD Waterhouse discount brokerage subsidiary with rival Ameritrade to form TD Ameritrade. TD owns 39.8% of this operation, which is now among the top three discount brokers in the U.S.

TD is also expanding its U.S. retail banking business. It currently owns 57% of publicly traded TD Banknorth, which operates 600 branches in eight northeastern states. TD now aims to buy the rest of TD Banknorth for $3.6 billion.

This is a huge purchase for TD, which earned $1.04 a share (total $762 million) in the three months ended October 31, 2006. It earned $0.82 a share ($589 million) in the year-earlier period, which works out to a 26.8% gain. Revenue rose 6.5%, to $3.3 billion from $3.1 billion.

TD’s current dividend of $1.92 yields 2.8%. The Banknorth acquisition could hurt TD’s ability to raise it in 2007. But savings from a cost-cutting plan should free up more cash for dividends. In fact, TD’s efficiency ratio in the latest quarter improved to 66.4% from 71.5% a year earlier.

TD will probably earn $5.23 a share in fiscal 2007, and the stock trades at 13.2 times that figure.

TD Bank is a buy.

Comments are closed.