CIBC’s dividend has a solid base

Article Excerpt

Despite the real possibility of an economic slowdown in 2023, Canada’s big banks remain high-quality buys for dividend investors. That’s mainly due to the tougher new lending standards and stress-tests that the federal government brought in following the 2008 financial crisis. Together, those changes cut the risk of bank writedowns. Thanks to their solid loan books, all of the country’s big banks have rebounded strongly from their pandemic lows, including CIBC. It’s now up 35% since March 2020, and the bank just announced its third dividend increase in the past two years. CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE $56 is a buy. The bank (Toronto symbol CM; Income-Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 904.7 million; Market cap: $50.7 billion; Dividend yield: 6.1%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.cibc.com) is the smallest of Canada’s Big Five banks by market cap. CIBC gets 33% of its earnings from its Canadian personal and business banking, which operates over 1,000 branches. Its other operating segments are Canadian Commercial Banking and Wealth Management (28%),…