Topic: Dividend Stocks

BANK OF MONTREAL $62 – Toronto symbol BMO

BANK OF MONTREAL $62 (Toronto symbol BMO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 650.8 million; Market cap: $40.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 4.6%; TSI Network Rating: Above Average;www.bmo.com) earned $4.1 billion in fiscal 2012.That’s up 24.9% from $3.3 billion in 2011.Earnings per share rose 17.6%, to $6.00 from $5.10,on more shares outstanding. These figures exclude integration costs related to U.S. bank Marshall & Ilsley, which Bank of Montreal bought for $4.1billion in stock in July 2011. Revenue rose 15.7%,to $16.1 billion from $13.9 billion.

Earnings at the Canadian banking business (46%of Bank of Montreal’s total earnings) increased0.7%. Low interest rates continue to attract borrowers, but they also hurt the income that the bank of earns on its loans. Marshall & Ilsley pushed up earnings at the bank’s U.S. operations (15% of the total) by 50.1%. Acquisitions also raised revenue at the wealth management division (14%) by 12.3%.

Fewer of the bank’s corporate clients are merging and issuing new stock. Even so, lower income taxes and loan losses pushed up earnings at the securities tradingdivision (25% of the total) by 5.1%.

The bank will probably earn $6.08 a share in2013. The stock trades at 10.2 times that forecast. The $2.88 dividend yields 4.6%.

Bank of Montreal is a buy.

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