Bank of Nova Scotia set to catch up

Article Excerpt

Bank of Nova Scotia has underperformed the other Big Five Canadian banks since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. For instance, TD Bank, our other safety-conscious bank pick, is now up 22% from its pre-COVID-19 high. Scotiabank is up just 10%. That’s mostly because TD Bank’s international focus is on the recovering U.S. market, whereas Scotiabank’s focus outside Canada is on the still-recovering economies of Latin America. Still, the outlook for Bank of Nova Scotia is very positive—and the stock’s low P/E and high 4.9% dividend yield offer you an attractive mix of future growth and income. BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA, $82.51, is a buy. The bank (Toronto symbol BNS; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $96.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.9%; www.scotiabank.com) is Canada’s third-largest bank. The bank continues to reverse its big loan-loss provisions increase last year as the pandemic eases and the economy re-opens. In the quarter ended October 31, 2021, Bank of Nova Scotia set aside…