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BMO EQUAL WEIGHT BANKS INDEX ETFZEB.TODON'T BUYApr 09, 2015Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 19, 2026. Market Open.
Only the big 6, nothing simpler. Bellwether, the biggest. BMO did cut the fee a bit to 28 bps, but there are cheaper ones. If you're considering starting a new position, try HBNK, which has a fee waiver for the next little bit. No need to swap out of ZEB if you already hold it.
Before jumping in to either, consider how much bank exposure you may already have in your other index funds.
6 largest Canadian banks on a fairly equal weight basis. Likes the Canadian banks, decent growth rate. Canadian banks have cheap valuations, especially on price to book. Not as exciting as tech or cyclical names, but you'll get more of a stable ride. Pretty good yield of 5.1%.
HBNK is an alternative. Pretty much the same makeup as ZEB, but offering 0% management fees until next summer.
Banks are down 20%+. This is what he'd buy, without the covered call, because he wants the growth at this point. Yield is around 3.5%, instead of 6%, but he doesn't care as he wants the growth, and we're going to see that with the Canadian banks despite headwinds in terms of US real estate. Canadian banks have all kinds of buffers in place. Loan loss problems in Canada are actually pretty small.
We would be quite comfortable owning Canadian banks today. The Canadian financial space continues to be one of the more robust across the globe, and their lending standards are considered to be quite high. While challenging economic events are putting downward pressure on earnings, we feel that an eventual turnaround in the macro outlook will be a benefit to these names down the road. Canadian banks continue to pay high dividend yields and have long track records of returning value to shareholders. While there may be some near-term or intermediate downward price pressure on these names, for an investor with a long-term timeframe, we would be comfortable owning the Canadian banks here.
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Banks now may not be star performers as in the last 30 years. Interest rates are rising now and could stay this way for a while. Loan loss provisions will increase in a weakening economy. But of this class, he likes ZEB and ZWB (a covered call one for income) which he prefers, because he expects banks to be sideways and the covered call will enhance returns. You could buy a combination of the two.
An equal weight 6 largest Canadian banks ETF. It carries an MER of .62 with a 3.4% dividend expected going forward. Canadian banks have had a bit of a tough time over the last while, given the uncertainty surrounding the Canadian economy, housing market and the energy sector. He still likes banks and thinks they will continue to perform well. The 200 day moving average is still moving upwards and still doing okay. He likes to buy ETF’s when you want to get a diversified basket. This is not a diversified basket. He would prefer to pick 2 or 3 bank stocks.