Royal Bank has a bright future

Article Excerpt

Royal Bank now plans to complete its acquisition of HSBC’s Canadian operations in March 2024. That $13.5-billion purchase enhances Royal’s domestic operations. Moreover, costs savings from the elimination of overlapping operations should also spur earnings. Banking regulators have toughened lending standards and mortgage stress-test levels in the past few years, and that has helped keep Royal’s loan writeoffs low. Thanks to higher interest rates, the bank is also earnings higher revenue on its loans. That should give it plenty of room to keep raising your dividend. ROYAL BANK OF CANADA $131 is a buy. The bank (Toronto symbol RY; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.4 billion; Market cap: $183.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.2; Dividend yield: 4.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.rbc.com) is Canada’s largest bank by market cap. It has over 17 million clients in Canada, the U.S. and 27 other countries. Royal Bank has four main businesses: Personal and Commercial banking (53% of fiscal 2023 earnings); Capital Markets (26%); Wealth Management…