BNS aims for cost cuts

Article Excerpt

BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA, $67.98, is a buy. The lender, (Toronto symbol BNS; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $82.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 6.2%; www.scotiabank.com) due to current economic uncertainty and higher interest rates/inflation, set aside $962 million to cover future loan losses in its fiscal 2024 first quarter, ended January 31, 2024. That’s up 50.8% from $638 million a year earlier. As a result, the bank’s earnings in the quarter excluding one-time items fell 6.1%, to $2.08 billion from $2.21 billion. Due to more shares outstanding, per-share earnings declined at a faster rate of 8.2%, to $1.69 from $1.84. Overall revenue in the quarter gained 5.9%, to $8.43 billion from $7.96 billion a year earlier. Savings from Bank of Nova Scotia’s cost-cutting plan, which includes job cuts, will probably lift its earnings for all of fiscal 2024 by about 2% to $6.64 a share. The stock trades at just 10.2 times that estimate. The $4.24 dividend looks safe and yields a..