TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $53 - Toronto symbol TD

TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $53 (Toronto symbol TD; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $95.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.4; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.td.com) recently agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to department store operator Nordstrom (New York symbol JWN) for its U.S. credit card portfolio. These loans total $2.2 billion U.S.; TD expects to complete the purchase by the end of 2015.

Separately, TD has agreed to become the exclusive issuer of Nordstrom-branded Visa and privatelabel credit cards.

Under the deal, which is similar to the bank’s March 2013 purchase of Target’s credit card portfolio, Nordstrom will keep receiving most of the earnings from its card operations. However, TD will also get a share, and it stands to benefit as more Nordstrom shoppers adopt the cards.

The bank should earn $4.55 a share in fiscal 2015, and the stock trades at 11.6 times that estimate. The $2.04 dividend yields 3.8%.

TD Bank is a buy.

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