canadian banks
ROYAL BANK OF CANADA (Toronto symbol RY; www.rbc.com) is Canada’s largest bank, with $867.5 billion of assets. Royal recently paid $3.7 billion for Ally Financial’s Canadian operations. This business mainly provides car loans through over 1,600 dealerships across the country. It also offers no-fee savings accounts and consumer and business loans....
AGRIUM INC., $115.36, Toronto symbol AGU, jumped 8% this week after the company increased its earnings forecast for the fourth quarter of 2012. Higher prices for grains and other crops are prompting farmers to apply more fertilizer. As a result, the company now expects to report fourth quarter earnings of slightly more than $2.00 a share (all amounts except share price in U.S. dollars). That’s well above its earlier forecast of $1.50 to $1.90 a share. Activist investment firm Jana Partners LLC continues to pressure Agrium to spin off its retail business as a separate company. Jana owns 6% of Agrium’s shares....
I read Seth Godin’s books and blog for his keen understanding of online business and marketing, and of the way business and society are evolving because of the Internet. In his August 17 email, Seth talked about an individual who died in an auto collision. Her survivors had a claim against her insurance company, but the company refused to pay. As Seth puts it, “Instead, the company paid to send a lawyer to co-ordinate a defense with the other driver—in other words, they paid their lawyers to go to court to prove that their client was at fault. They went to court against their client even though there was significant evidence to the contrary, and even though the other driver’s insurance company had already paid the family $25,000. The amount at stake: just $75,000.” You can read the whole story in Seth’s blog post: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/08/corporations-are-not-people.html...
Dividends don’t always get the respect they deserve, especially from beginning investors. A dividend stock’s yearly 2% or 3% or 5% yield barely seems worth mentioning alongside yearly capital gains of 10%, 20% or 30% or more. Yet dividends are far more reliable than capital gains. A stock that pays a dividend of $1 this year will probably do the same next year. It may even rise to $1.05....
Canada’s big five banks have avoided the problems with subprime mortgages and European sovereign debt that have crippled many of the world’s largest financial firms. The big banks are now using their strong balance sheets to make acquisitions, often at bargain prices, and to upgrade their holdings....
Dividends rarely get the respect they deserve, especially from beginning investors. That’s because a dividend paying stock’s yearly 2% or 3% or 5% yield barely seems worth mentioning alongside yearly capital gains of 10%, 20% or 30% or more. But dividends are far more reliable than capital gains. A stock that pays a dividend of $1 this year will probably do the same next year. It may even raise it to $1.05....
BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $51.74 (Toronto symbol BNS: Shares outstanding: 1.1 billion; Market cap: $55.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Div. yield: 4.0%, www.scotiabank.com) continues to build up its operations in China. The bank recently agreed to buy 19.99% of the Bank of Guangzhou; the Chinese government owns the remaining 80.01%. This bank is the 29th largest in China, with 84 branches. Bank of Nova Scotia will pay $719 million when the deal closes in December 2011. To put that in context, it earned $1.2 billion, or $1.11 a share, in the three months ended July 31, 2011. The bank has operated in China for the past 29 years, and has the largest presence in that country among the big five Canadian banks. This experience cuts the risk of this latest investment. Bank of Nova Scotia’s expertise should also help Bank of Guangzhou increase its earnings and market share....
Bank of Nova Scotia, Toronto symbol BNS, continues to benefit from its growing banking operations in the Caribbean, Latin America, South America and Asia. Last week, Bank of Nova Scotia agreed to buy 19.99% of the Bank of Guangzhou; the Chinese government owns the remaining 80.01%. This bank is the 29th largest in China, with 84 branches. Bank of Nova Scotia will pay $719 million when the deal closes in December 2011. To put that in context, it earned $1.2 billion, or $1.11 a share, in the three months ended July 31, 2011....