Tax cuts to spur TD’s gains

Article Excerpt

TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $75 (Toronto symbol TD; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.85 billion; Market cap: $133.2 billion; Price-tosales ratio: 4.0; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.td.com) is Canada’s largest bank, with total assets of $1.3 trillion as of October 31, 2017. It has 1,128 branches in this country. Its 1,270 branches in the U.S. now supply 28% of its overall earnings. Recent changes to the U.S. tax code, which cut the corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%, have hurt the value of TD’s deferred tax credits (banks use those to offset their future tax bills). As a result, TD will record a one-time charge of $400 million U.S. in the first quarter ending January 31, 2018. To put that amount in context, it earned $10.6 billion (Canadian), or $5.54 a share, for fiscal 2017, ended October 31, 2017. However, the cut to the U.S. tax rate should significantly increase TD’s earnings for fiscal 2018 and…