Wells Fargo (WFC)

The largest lending institution in the US. Lending is growing rapidly in the US.

This represents an opportunity to participate in the housing recovery. In terms of mortgage origination, they are the largest in the US. Loan originations are growing reasonably well. We have really only seen a tepid growth in the housing market, and when that really starts to move this bank is going to do quite well.

(There was no discussion on this.)

There are probably some better growth prospects with isolated regional names in certain specific states, but among the national players this would probably be his favourite. They are zoned in to the retail banking side of things. The overall economic recovery in the US, housing and jobs recovery, should benefit this bank more than other national players.

He just owns regionals. If he had to choose a national bank it would be this one because they are heavy in the retail banking. They are aggressive at selling you their banking products. Most banks have 3 products with a customer, but WFC-N has 6.

He likes the US banks. This is the one that people tend to think of as the blue-chip bank. Well-run and well capitalized. Didn’t have a lot of issues during the financial crisis, like a lot of the other banks. Tends to get a bit of a premium valuation. Has a lot of exposure to the mortgage business, and will benefit when the US housing market improves. Nice dividend yield.

Sell Citigroup (C-N) and buy Wells Fargo (WFC-N)? If you understand the differences between the 2 banks and make considered decisions, then you could. He owns both. This is more of a housing play, the largest originator of mortgages. It is more expensive and more predictable. It just depends on what you are looking for in a bank. They are going to move roughly together, but with a positive economic background, Citigroup might recover more quickly because of the valuation spread.

Wells Fargo is as good of a bank that you will get in the US. They are better at balance sheet management than anybody in the business. Through multiple cycles, manages interest rate risk better than anybody in the industry. They have a well diversified balance sheet. They manage credit well. They manage interest rate risk well. He thinks it is a great place to be even with a consolidated role.

Bank Of America or Wells Fargo? Bank of America has a spottier past with balance management and on risks that they have taken. He would defer to Wells Fargo. They have that core banking exposure . They are consumer focused. They have great leverage to a steeper yield curve and to an interest rate increase. They have less capital market exposure. More volatile, less sensitive to a interest rate increase which he feels is on the horizon. Would look to Bank of America if the fundamental came through and if the charts supported it.

This is a premium US banking company. They didn’t suffer as much in 2008. Have a great mortgage book. One thing that concerns him is that they are going a little bit more into investment banking, but they are incredibly well run. Trading at a much bigger premium than its competition. He prefers Bank of America (BAC-N) because it has underperformed a great deal, are changing, and will be able to do better over the next little while.

Probably one of the biggest, broadest, coast-to-coast coverage banks, but it has the least growth compared to Citibank (C-N) or Bank of America (BAC-N). Great company and very strong. Very friendly to shareholders. He would rate Citibank or Bank of America much higher.

He is bullish on the US consumer, and a name like this stands to benefit from that because of the retail banking operations. Have done a great job over the last year of accelerating loan growth, and at the same time reducing their write down and expects this to continue. Feels the US consumer is in the early days of having a good 3-5 year run. This bank is very good at cross-selling their products. He feels the real growth is going to come from the consumer focused area, and regional banks are primarily focused on that. He likes Columbia Banking System (COLB-Q), National Penn Bancshares (NPBC-Q) and City Holding (CHCO-Q).

Domestically focused US bank. This is the bank with the best exposure to the US housing market. As the housing market slowly improves they benefit. They grew the dividend 23% over the last three years. Bought part of GE Capital. You get a good yield and exposure to a domestically improving economy in the US.

One of the best managed banks in the US, if not Globally. They are the largest lender for small to midsized business. They never got into the problems the other banks got into in the recession. The play is on the improving US economy. FX will not impact their financial results.

This is a play on the US economy. It is very domestic so you don’t have to worry about the strength of the US$ and how that is going to impact their earnings. Very good loan growth. The largest mortgage originator and the top lender in autos, small business and midmarket. Very good history and track record of keeping their costs low. Dividend yield of 2.62%.