Topic: How To Invest

The Successful Investor Hotline – Friday, May 24, 2019

Article Excerpt

CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE, $104.56, Toronto symbol CM, is the smallest of Canada’s Big Five banks, with assets of $634.1 billion. In its fiscal 2019 second quarter, ended April 30, 2019, the bank’s earnings rose 0.5%, to $1.32 billion from $1.31 billion a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share improved 0.7%, to $2.97 from $2.95. Those figures exclude unusual items, among them costs related to CIBC’s June 2017 purchase of Chicago-based PrivateBancorp Inc. for $6.6 billion in cash and stock. That firm mainly lends to small and mid-sized businesses. It also provides wealth management services. On that basis, the latest earnings missed the consensus estimate of $2.99 a share. Earnings from Canadian retail banking (42% of the total) fell 2.6% in the quarter. That’s because higher interest rates and Ottawa’s tougher lending standards have hurt demand for new mortgages. The Canadian commercial banking and wealth management business (24%) reported 5.8% higher earnings. That gain is due to the…