Bank of Montreal (BMO) Set to Announce Quarterly Earnings on Tuesday

Net income for the fourth quarter ended October 31 was C$1.21 billion, or C$1.83 per share, compared with C$1.07 billion, or C$1.56 per share, a year earlier. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.32 per share.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) posted its earnings results on Tuesday.

Analysts on average had expected C$1.74 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

“The bank’s earnings growth in 2015 was driven by very good performances in our personal, commercial and wealth businesses, both in Canada and internationally”, Brian Porter, Scotiabank’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “With the acquisition of GE Capital Transportation Finance which closed today, we continue to strengthen our large, well-established North American commercial banking customer base”, he added.

The bank’s board approved the quarterly dividend of 70 cents per common share.

BMO Financial Group (BMO, BMO.TO) announced its intention to initiate a new normal course issuer bid or NCIB for up to 15 million of its common shares, commencing on or about February 1, 2016, after the expiry of the current NCIB. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.00 billion and a PE ratio of 11.39. Net income from wealth management was $243 million, up eight per cent from past year, while BMO Capital Markets had $242 million of net income, up 27 per cent.

The bank’s provisions for credit losses-a reserve the bank uses to cover soured loans-fell by C$42 million on a year-over-year basis to C$128 million. The Bank operates primarily in Canada and the United States.

For the full year, Canadian banking generated $3.344 billion of net income, down from $3.684 billion in fiscal 2014, worldwide banking contributed $2.052 billion, up from $1.842 billion last year, and the global banking-markets segment contributed $1.553 billion in 2015, down from $1.670 billion. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Toronto-Dominion Bank, which rank fifth and first, respectively, are scheduled to report on Thursday.