Topic: Dividend Stocks

Bank of Nova Scotia $47 – Toronto symbol BNS

BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $47 (Toronto symbol BNS; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 984.0 million; Market cap: $46.2 billion; SI Rating: Above average) is the third-largest Canadian bank, with assets of $411.5 billion.

Bank of Nova Scotia prefers to focus on developing markets, such as Asia and Latin America, for new growth. These areas give it a better opportunity to quickly improve its market share than more established countries like the U.S.

The bank wrote down $191 million (pre-tax) worth of asset-backed securities in fiscal 2007. However, this was more than offset by a $202 million (pre-tax) gain from the Visa restructuring. That helped earnings grow to $4.01 a share (total $4.0 billion), up 13.0% from $3.55 a share ($3.6 billion) in 2006. Revenue rose 11.6%, to $12.5 billion from $11.2 billion.

Bank of Nova Scotia is still the most efficient of Canada’s big five banks. Its efficiency ratio fell to 53.7% in 2007 from 55.3% in 2006. It is also doing a good job controlling credit losses. Bad loans in 2007 fell to 0.25% of total loans from 0.27%.

Bank of Nova Scotia now aims to expand its Canadian wealth management business. It recently paid $608 million for Dundee Bank of Canada, plus an 18% (mostly non-voting) stake in its parent DundeeWealth Inc. This investment gives the bank access to Dundee’s large salesforce, as well as the Dynamic family of mutual funds.

Bank of Nova Scotia’s earnings should grow to $4.30 a share in 2008, which implies a p/e of 11.2. The $1.88 dividend yields 3.9%.

Bank of Nova Scotia is a buy.

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