Earnings should rise in 2024

Article Excerpt

BANK OF MONTREAL $117 is a buy. The bank (Toronto symbol BMO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 720.9 million; Market cap: $84.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 5.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bmo.com) completed its $13.8 billion U.S. acquisition of Bank of the West in February 2023. Despite that purchase, earnings in the fiscal 2023 fourth quarter, ended October 31, 2023, fell 2.0%, to $2.02 billion from $2.06 billion a year earlier. Due to more shares outstanding, earnings per share declined at a faster pace of 7.6%, to $2.81 from $3.04. The lower earnings are due to a 97.3% jump in loan-loss provisions, to $446 million from $226 million. However, the new operations should lift Bank of Montreal’s earnings in fiscal 2024 by about 8% to $12.67 a share, and the stock trades at just 9.2 times that forecast. As well, the bank is raising your quarterly dividend by 2.7%. The new annual rate of $6.04 yields a high 5.2%. Bank…