Our #1 safety-conscious pick for 2013

Article Excerpt

Bank of Nova Scotia is the most international of Canada’s banks, and it’s in a particularly good position to profit from rising prosperity in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. That cuts its reliance on slower-growing regions like North America and Europe. BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $58.80 (Toronto symbol BNS: Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $70.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Div. yield: 3.9%, www.scotiabank.com) is the third-largest of Canada’s five big banks, with assets of $668.0 billion. The bank earned $1.18 a share in its fiscal fourth-quarter ended October 31, 2012. That’s up 21.6% from $0.97 a share a year earlier. Revenue rose 15.1%, to $4.9 billion from $4.2 billion. Higher demand for loans and an increase in deposits pushed up the Canadian banking division’s earnings by 14.8%. This includes the contribution of ING Direct, which Bank of Nova Scotia bought for $3.1 billion late last year. ING Direct offers a wide variety of no-fee banking services, mainly…