Smart acquisitions will spur their dividends

Article Excerpt

CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE $116 (Toronto symbol CM; Income-Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 443.8 million; Market cap: $51.4 billion; Dividend yield: 4.6%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.cibc.com) is Canada’s fifthlargest bank with assets of $586.9 billion. Starting with the April 2018 payment, CIBC will raise its quarterly dividend by 2.3%, to $1.33 a share from $1.30. The new annual rate of $5.32 yields a high 4.6%. CIBC completed its acquisition of Chicago-based PrivateBancorp in June 2017. That firm mainly lends to small and mid-sized businesses. It also provides wealth management services. CIBC paid $6.6 billion in cash and stock. If you exclude costs to integrate PrivateBancorp, the bank earned $1.43 billion in the three months ended January 31, 2018. That’s up 22.9% from $1.17 billion a year earlier. Due to the additional shares outstanding, earnings per share rose just 10.0%, to $3.18 from $2.89. Earnings from CIBC’s Canadian retail banking (46% of the total) rose 17.3% due to higher loan demand and…