In Q1 2019, the holdings in the Hamilton Capital U.S. Mid-Cap Financials ETF (USD) (ticker: HFMU.U) recorded year-over-year portfolio-weighted EPS growth of a strong 13%[1], or ~500 bps ahead of the large-caps at 8%[2]. This strong performance was supported by excellent fundamentals including stable margins, steady volume growth and a benign credit environment. Note to Reader: This Insight includes references to certain Hamilton ETFs that were…
Insights: Region
Canadian Banks: Why Volatility Will Likely Rise (and a Comment on Mean Reversion)
In October 2018, we launched the Hamilton Capital Canadian Bank Variable-Weight ETF (ticker: HCB), which seeks to benefit from the historical mean reversion tendencies of the Big-6 banks, especially in times of greater market volatility. At the end of each month, the three most oversold banks are rebalanced to represent ~80% of HCB, while the three most overbought banks are rebalanced to 20%. HCB’s objective is…
Cdn/Aust’n Banks: Why the Big Housing Short is So Difficult (and the Risk of a “Direct Hit” Remains Low)
In Q4 2018, we expanded our ETF offering to include two ETFs with monthly distributions and exposure to two world-class – and very similar – financial sectors with excellent performance histories. In October, we launched the Hamilton Capital Canadian Bank Variable-Weight ETF (HCB), a rules-based strategy that seeks to capitalize on the historical mean reversion tendencies of the Canadian banking sector[1]. In December, we launched the…
Notes from Atlanta: (Growth, M&A) Going Strong
In the almost two years since our last trip to Atlanta, a lot has changed in the banking sector (M&A) and a lot has not (strong growth). The opportunity to speak with 8 banks operating in and around Atlanta – several of which are holdings in the Hamilton Capital Global Bank ETF (HBG) and the Hamilton Capital U.S. Mid-Cap Financials ETF (USD) (HFMU.U) – provided some…
U.S. Banks: Mid-Caps vs. JPM, BAC, C & WFC – Higher EPS Growth at Deeper Valuation Discounts
At present, the actively-managed Hamilton Capital U.S. Mid-Cap Financials ETF (USD) (ticker, HFMU.U), represents superior value versus a portfolio of the largest U.S. banks, namely Bank of America, JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo. As the chart below highlights, the portfolio-weighted price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio for HFMU.U is now at a 2.5x discount to its 5 year average, which is meaningfully larger than the 0.9x discount of the four…
Notes from New York: Cards, Payments and Financial Technology Meetings
We met the management teams of over a dozen payments, cards, exchanges and other related companies in the rapidly growing financial technology sector[1] in New York. The financial technology sector (“Fin-Tech”) is expected to continue to benefit from multiple structural tailwinds including the growth of e-commerce and growing technology adoption. However, high competitive intensity, rapidly evolving consumer preferences and a wide variety of business models (including…
Canadian Banks: Five Takeaways from BBT/STI, Accelerating U.S. Bank M&A
Last week, in our insight “U.S. Bank M&A: Implications of the Largest Deal in a Decade”, we explained why we expect U.S. bank consolidation will accelerate following the BB&T/SunTrust merger, and reasons why such activity will predominately be within the small and mid-cap banks. In this insight, we offer five takeaways for the Canadian banks – BMO, CM, RY, and TD – and their U.S. expansion…
Indian Banks Overview: Large Diverse Sector, Operating in a High Growth Market
In this insight, we provide a review of the Indian economy and banking system, highlighting the most important issues facing the sector. India is a large emerging market with a fast-growing banking sector comprised of over 35 publicly traded banks divided into two main categories: state-owned (over 20) and private banks (over 15). For many years, India has been – and is forecast to remain –…
U.S. Bank M&A: Implications from the Largest Deal in a Decade
On Thursday morning, BB&T (BBT) and SunTrust (STI), two of the largest banks in the U.S. Southeast, announced a merger of equals (“MOE”). With an aggregate deal value approaching US$66 billion, the transaction marks the largest bank M&A deal since the 2008 financial crisis and will create the 6th largest bank in the United States. In this update we provide our thoughts including the main takeaways…
Notes from India: Financials Poised to Benefit from World’s Fastest Growing Economy
We met the management teams of over a dozen Indian banks, insurers and asset managers in the financial capital of Mumbai, India in December. With real GDP growth of over 7% over the past decade, India is one of the largest emerging markets and forecast to be the fastest growing major economy in 2019. Not surprisingly, the management teams we met were very upbeat. Exposure to…
Australian Financials: Regulatory Clarity Arrives
The Hamilton Capital Australian Financials Yield ETF (HFA) was launched in December 2018, with a targeted yield of 6.5% or higher paid monthly (aided by covered calls). The Australian financials have a history of long-term outperformance versus the Canadian financials with lower volatility. In fact, the Australian banks outperformed the Canadian banks during the global financial crisis. One main reason Australian financials have consistently outperformed their…
Pref ETFs Falter (Again): Why HFA/HCB are Logical Switch Candidates for Monthly Income
Following our October launch of the Hamilton Capital Canadian Bank Variable-Weight ETF (HCB), today we launched the Hamilton Capital Australian Financials Yield ETF (HFA). Both of these ETFs pay monthly dividends. HFA seeks to generate a yield of 6.5% or higher from a portfolio of higher dividend-paying Australian financials operating in arguably the world’s strongest and safest financial sector (aided by covered calls). Of note, the…