Canada’s Big Five banks are still resilient

Article Excerpt

The country’s big banks have plenty of capital to withstand economic shocks to the broader economy. Those threats include volatile housing markets, which would hurt demand for mortgages, and rising household debt levels, which could lead to loan writeoffs. The high market share of the Big Five also helps shield them from potential new competitors. We most like TD and Bank of Nova Scotia for new buying, but continue to recommend all five. TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $74 (Toronto symbol TD; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $133.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.7; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.td.com) recently paid $817 million for Regina-based wealth management firm Greystone Managed Investments. As a result, TD is now Canada’s largest wealth management firm. If you exclude costs related to that purchase and other unusual items, the bank earned $2.95 billion in its fiscal 2019 first quarter, ended January 31, 2019, That was unchanged from a year earlier. Due to fewer…