TD BANK $52.89 (Toronto symbol TD; Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $90.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.6%; www.td.com) is Canada’s largest bank, with $944.7 billion of assets. It also operates 1,318 branches in the U.S.—compared to 1,165 in Canada—and owns 40.72% of TD Ameritrade (New York symbol AMTD), a leading online brokerage.
Excluding one-time items, TD’s earnings per share rose 15.1% in the fiscal year ended October 31, 2014, to $4.28 from $3.72. Revenue gained 9.2%, to $30.0 billion from $27.3 billion.
TD continues to benefit from its early 2014 deal with Aimia (Toronto symbol AIM) to become the main credit card issuer for the popular Aeroplan travel-reward program. The bank’s Canadian and U.S. retail operations are also profiting from stronger growth in both loans and deposits. In addition, the U.S. business is gaining from acquisitions, including Target Corp.’s U.S. credit card portfolio.
The bank’s focus on customer service and online banking let it attract and hold depositors. Lower gasoline prices will also give consumers more cash to repay loans, cutting TD’s loan losses.
The stock trades at 11.6 times the bank’s forecast fiscal 2015 earnings of $4.54 a share. It yields 3.6%.
We’re adding TD to our Safety-Conscious Stock Portfolio and making it our our #1 safety-conscious buy for 2015.
