Financial

As I mentioned in the last piece on First Hawaiian, a ‘safety first’ approach is definitely not the worst way to treat investing in bank stocks. I know Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach (FMBL) isn’t for everyone (and that really is understating it), but it does dovetail nicely with that sentiment, and it’s just about as rock solid as you can ask for…

One thing’s for sure, quality isn’t going to be an issue when it comes to the Hawaiian banks. First Hawaiian (FHB) is just about the largest of the bunch with $25.5b in assets (Bank of Hawaii being a very close second), and they don’t get the love they deserve from the wider investing community in my view. In a way, that’s understandable. Earnings quality and…

Though a nasty ‘one-two’ punch on the way down, sensitivity to both consumer spending and loan losses was always going to lead to a strong recovery for credit card issuer American Express (AXP). The headline numbers maybe mask how lumpy that recovery is, but positive comps versus pre-COVID times were proof enough that things were heading in the right direction in Q3. I say ‘were’…

My coverage of Wells Fargo (WFC) to date has basically been to channel a kind of Michael O’Higgins “Dogs of the Dow” approach. O’Higgins hypothesized that, thanks to their size, big blue chip firms often have a bit more breathing space to sort out any issues that may be plaguing their stock prices. In the meantime, reinvesting larger than average dividends yields (which is of…

A year ago it might have been tough to imagine Toronto Dominion (TD) putting down the kind of financial results it has of late. The economic environment was obviously pretty darn scary back then, with the early economic data resembling nothing ever seen before. The potentially devastating impact to bank stocks in the form of credit losses probably doesn’t require much extra commentary. Indeed, that…