Financials Again

Time to jump back into banking and the like, as this is where the real dividends are anyway. I was a bit scared to earlier, but I suppose its time to take another look. Last time there were a few names I tossed about at the end, so lets start with those.

AFL Aflac *****
2.81% yield, 20%+ growth, 41% payout ratio
Beta: 1.78 PE: 15.81 PB: 2.93 ANALYSTS: 2.29

BNS Bank of Nova Soctia
4.22% yield, 18%+ growth (recent cuts), 68% payout ratio
Beta: 1.29 PE: 16.12 PB: 2.42 ANALYSTS:3.14

Some I rejected before but I'll give another look:

BBT Financial Holding Company (div cut but yield still reasonable)
2.54% yield, 14% growth rate, 43% payout ratio
Beta: 1.55 PE: 13.16 (Google) PB: ? ANALYSTS:none

CINF Cincinnati Financial Corp ***** (no cut?)
6.24% yield, 11% growth, 50% payout ratio
Beta: .72 PE:9.09 PB:1.05 ANALYSTS:3.0 --These ratios look attractive!

MMM 3M Company *****
2.83% yield, 8.6% growth, 50% payout
Beta: .77 PE: 17.82 PB: 21.18! (to tangible- I normally use)/ 4 PB standard ANALYSTS:2.06

AXP American Express ***
2.51% yield, 14% growth, 51% payout
Beta:2.07 PE: 20.25 PB: 2.54 ANALYSTS: 3.06

add a few new ones

AEA Advance America, Cash Advance Centers
4.54% yield, -20% growth (cuts), 60% payout
Beta: 3.3 PE:8.8 PB: 6! (1.8 standard) ANALYSTS: 3 looks risky

DOM Dominion Resources Black Warrior Trust
8.72% yield, 11.45% growth (seems a bit high with cuts), 100%payout (it's a trust)
Beta: .59 PE: 5.22 PB:6! ANALYSTS:?
This thing looks more like a bond- all money out as divs.

I should check to see if any of these companies have preferred shares, as most financial companies will. Initially, I am liking the look of AFL, and I think DOM is probably good if it has some appreciation on top of its dividend. MMM's PB worries me somewhat, but the good analyst rating soothes me. BNS and AXP seem to have good dividend growth rates.

Time to bust out the charts:

3mo: MMM, AFL, AEA, BNS outperform, BBT and DOM lag.
6mo: All but DOM and CINF outperform. AEA, BNS, AXP, and AFL do the best.
1yr: MMM,AEA,BNS,CINF outperform.
5yr: BNS, MMM, AFL outperform.

Well, BNS, MMM, and AFL have accounted for themselves rather well across the board. Recently, AEA has been recovering rather well from a large hit over the last year and AXP has recovered a bit as well. CINF and DOM don't seem to preform very admirably. I think I will delve into the financials of the first 5 mentioned companies in this paragraph.

BNS: 1/4th drop in income! Again about a 3yr setback in terms of EPS. Again, large jump in assets as well as liabilities, mostly 'other' liabilities- not a huge portion of debt.

MMM: 1/6th drop in income, rise in EPS? Drop in shares outstanding? Jump in debt, and other liabilities.

AFL: Operating income down the last year due to larger increase in expenses than income. About a 3yr setback in terms of EPS. Drop in cash, jump in long term assets. Similar (large!) jump in liabilities.

AEA: 2 years of falling operating income, expenses actually dropped last year. Assets dropped while liabilities rose by about the same amount. The market has punished it alot for this, but has it punished it enough? I am a bit more hesitant now.

AXP: Operating income almost cut in half over the last year. Assets and liabilities both dropped by about the same amount. AXP has also taken alot of punishment, but was it enough?

I like AFL, BNS, and MMM. I feel that perhaps AEA and AXP have done their recovery and now will be flat for a while longer. Both had been underperformed before the crash, so maybe I will leave them alone for now. I will add 20k positions in these three companies.


Edit: I lost 4% on BNS on day one: I really need to look at technical signals before buying in, as well as buy in in steps rather than all at once.