Solid Results for Toronto Dominion Bank in Fourth-Quarter 2021; Fees and Rates Should Help in 2022

Wide-moat rated Toronto Dominion Bank reported solid fiscal fourth-quarter earnings. Adjusted earnings per share were CAD 2.09, coming in above Factset consensus estimates of CAD 1.93. Results also came in ahead of our own expectations, and the beat was broad-based, with revenue coming in higher and expenses coming in lower than we expected, leading to a 5% beat on full-year net income. Management was reticent to give much guidance on the call, citing the uncertainty of the current environment, which was interesting given most other Canadian banks this quarter have managed to give some updates on their thoughts for 2022. The only hint on the call was that hitting 7% in EPS growth in 2022 was unlikely, which isn’t too surprising given the bank recorded a net benefit from provisioning for 2021.