TD Bank passes key U.S. test

Article Excerpt

TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $76 (Toronto symbol TD; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.85 billion; Market cap: $140.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.0; Dividend yield: 3.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.td.com) now gets roughly 30% of its earnings from its U.S. banking and brokerage businesses. Those operations recently passed the U.S. Federal Reserve’s annual “stress test.” It measures how banks would cope with a jump in unemployment, falling stock prices and other unfavourable developments. That approval means saves TD from adding capital to its U.S. operations. It also frees up cash that the bank can use to buy back shares or increase its dividend. The current annual rate of $2.68 a share yields 3.5%. TD Bank is a buy. buy…