U.S. acquisitions fuel TD growth

Article Excerpt

Thanks to a series of acquisitions, TD now has the broadest U.S. exposure of any Canadian big bank. In fact, it now has more branches south of the border than in its home market. Unlike Canada, the U.S. has hundreds of smaller banks. TD’s strong earnings put it in a position to keep adding more of those firms to its American operations. It’s also able to pinpoint specific markets. Higher interest rates, along with tougher Canadian regulations on residential mortgages, have started to slow demand for new loans. However, they let TD earn more interest income and should let it continue to raise its dividend. TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $72 (Toronto symbol TD; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.85 billion; Market cap: $133.2 billion; Price-to-sales 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. TD gets 60% of its earnings from Canadian retail…