Bright outlook for Canada’s big banks

Article Excerpt

The outlook for Canada’s Big Five banks remains bright, particularly as lower interest rates mean they can reduce funds set aside to cover potential loan defaults. Lower loan-loss provisions will in turn push up their earnings and give them more room to increase their dividends. ROYAL BANK OF CANADA $172 is a buy. The bank (Toronto symbol RY; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.4 billion; Market cap: $240.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.2; Dividend yield: 3.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.rbc.com) continues to benefit from its March 2024 acquisition of the Canadian operations of U.K.-based HSBC Holdings plc (New York symbol HSBC) for $15.5 billion. So far, eliminating overlapping operations has cut $224 million from Royal’s annual costs. That’s equal to 30% of its overall savings target, and ahead of its 25% interim goal. Those annual savings will rise to $740 million by the end of the second year. Royal’s revenue rose 18.8%, to $15.07 billion from $12.69 billion a year earlier. The…