Topic: How To Invest

The Successful Investor Hotline – Friday, December 6, 2019

Article Excerpt

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA, $104.99, Toronto symbol RY, is a buy for investors. The bank shared lower-than-expected quarterly earnings this week with investors. The results reflect a weaker performance by its insurance and capital markets operations, which offset improvements for retail banking and wealth management. In its fiscal 2019 fourth quarter, ended October 31, 2019, Royal earned $3.21 billion. That’s down 1.4% from $3.25 billion a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings declined at a slower rate of 0.9%, to $2.18 from $2.20. If you factor out unusual items, Royal earned $2.22 a share in the latest quarter. That missed the consensus estimate of $2.28. Earnings from retail banking (50% of the total) rose 5.2%, due to higher loan and deposit volumes. As well, earnings at the wealth management business (22%) jumped 31.8% largely due to a 13.7% increase in assets under management. A gain on the sale of a private debt business also contributed to that jump. However, the capital markets…