Weekly "Focus" and the Canadian Banks

The second quarter of Canadian bank earnings kicked off on Thursday with TD Bank reporting results ahead of expectations with the other major banks set to report their quarterly results next week:

• Tuesday – Bank of Nova Scotia
• Wednesday – Bank of Montreal, National Bank
• Thursday – CIBC, Royal Bank

Sohrab Movahedi is the BMO Capital Market’s analyst covering the sector and he expects flat earnings growth across the group with investor focus on the credit quality of loans and how they are setting aside reserves for potential credit losses in the current economic environment. Attractive yields and increasing dividends over time are a key feature of investing in the Canadian banks and this quarter Sohrab expects to see dividend increases from Bank of Nova Scotia, National Bank and Royal Bank. Last year, the shares of TD Bank were the weakest performer due to issues in their US banking operations, but so far in 2025 TD has been the strongest amongst the group.

 

	Price Return 2025	Dividend Yield
Bank of Montreal (BMO)	+2.5%	4.4%
Bank of Nova Scotia * (BNS)	-7.3%	5.9%
CIBC* (CM)	+2.9%	4.0%
National Bank* (NA)	-1.8%	3.5%
Royal Bank* (RY)	+1.6%	3.4%
TD Bank* (TD)	+21.8%	4.5%

Source: FactSet, Values as of May 23, 2025

 

This week’s "Focus" from our economics team is attached.

 

Have a great weekend,

 

Brad

Senior Portfolio Manager and Senior Investment Advisor