BNS’s new strategy will pay of

Article Excerpt

Under a new plan to pivot away from underperforming Latin American markets, Bank of Nova Scotia recently purchase a 14.9% stake in U.S.-banking firm KeyCorp (New York symbol KEY). KeyCorp provides a variety of financial services through 1,000 branches in 15 states. The acquisition will help Bank of Nova Scotia earn $7.00 a share in fiscal 2025—the stock trades at just 10.6 times that estimate. BNS shares yield a high 5.7%. BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA, $74.33, is a buy. The lender (Toronto symbol BNS; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $91.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.5%; www.scotiabank.com) is Canada’s third-largest bank. Excluding one-time items, earnings for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, ended October 31, 2024, rose 30.1%, to $1.95 billion from $1.50 billion a year earlier. Due to more shares outstanding, per-share earnings rose at a slower rate of 27.6%, to $1.57 from $1.23. The higher earnings are due to an 18.0% decline in loan-loss provisions, falling to $1.03…