With Canada’s big six banks in the midst of reporting their latest quarterly results, one analyst suggests the top bank has already reported.

Scotiabank and the Bank of Montreal are set to report earnings for the third quarter on Tuesday. National Bank of Canada’s results are expected Wednesday, while CIBC is due to report on Thursday.

But Tim Regan, managing director and portfolio manager at Kingwest and Company, is most bullish on TD Bank, which reported its latest financials last week.

“They’re very, very attractive,” he told BNN Bloomberg in a television interview. “People forget that, TD, because their deal didn’t go through in the States, they have all this cash to buy back stocks as well.”

Last Thursday, TD reported earnings had dragged for its quarter ending on July 31, as it set aside more money to prepare for troubled loans. The bank’s deal to purchase Tennessee-based First Horizon Corp. collapsed back in May after it failed to receive the regulatory approvals in time.  

TD is also now fielding questions from U.S. regulators, including the U.S. Department of Justice, concerning its compliance with anti-money laundering rules. The bank said it is cooperating with the investigation.

Regan said the investigation may put the bank in the “penalty box” for about a year when it comes to looking at U.S. mergers or acquisitions, meaning TD investments are a more long-term option.

“It’s a great company and we’re always prepared to hold for two or three years because we just don’t know what’s going to happen in the short term,” he said.

VIEWS ON OTHER BANKS

Regan is not as bullish on some of the other banks. His company having sold off its CIBC and Scotiabank investments this quarter, but it bought some interest in the Royal Bank of Canada.

“We just thought we’d go to a little more quality and we thought that some of the idiosyncratic issues of individual banks, even though they tend to move in a pack, we’d rather wade ourselves towards a (RBC) than towards the other two banks,” he said.

“I still think the banks that we may have sold off and switched into – Royal Bank – they’ll still do fine in the next two to three years.”

Regan pointed to CIBC’s exposure to the Canadian market and concerns surrounding the extent of Scotiabank’s turnaround as reasons for the sell off.

RBC beat expectations for the quarter, but a surge in expenses has the bank planning to cut two per cent of staff in the upcoming quarter.

With files from Bloomberg News