Expenses Come in Hot in Q4 for Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce; Still Something to Prove in 2022

Narrow-moat rated Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reported decent fiscal fourth-quarter earnings. Adjusted earnings per share were CAD 3.37, coming in below Factset consensus estimates for CAD 3.54. Revenue slightly missed consensus as underwriting and advisory fees and trading fees dropped a bit, but this is something we’ve seen for the industry. We think expenses were the biggest disappointment, which came in above our projections as they increased 7% on a reported basis and 5% on an adjusted basis. We think this was the biggest question mark from earnings and from the call.