TD Bank Q4 earnings below market expectations

The Canadian Press

A TD Canada Trust branch is shown in the financial district in Toronto on Tuesday, August 22, 2017. , THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

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TORONTO -- TD Bank earned $2.71 billion in its latest quarter, up from $2.30 billion a year ago, boosted by its Canadian and U.S. retail banking business.

The bank (TD.TO) said Thursday the profit amounted to $1.42 per diluted share for the quarter ended Oct. 31, up from $1.20 per diluted share in the same quarter last year.

Revenue for what was the bank's fourth quarter totalled $9.27 billion, up from $8.75 billion.

On an adjusted basis, TD says it earned $1.36 per diluted share, compared with $1.22 per diluted share a year ago.

Analysts had expected an adjusted profit of $1.39 per diluted share, according to those surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

"Our businesses delivered good revenue growth and market share gains, and we made significant investments to transform and enhance the customer experience," TD president and chief executive Bharat Masrani said in a statement.

The country's biggest lender by assets said its Canadian retail business earned $1.66 billion in net income in its latest quarter, up 11 per cent from $1.50 billion a year ago, boosted by increased loan and deposit volumes in the quarter.

Meanwhile, its U.S. retail business earned reported net income of $776 million up 11 per cent from $701 million in the same quarter last year.

Wholesale banking, which includes TD's capital markets and investment banking business, earned $231 million in net income, down from $238 million a year ago.

Provisions for credit losses, or money set aside for bad loans, for the quarter totalled $578 million compared with $548 million a year ago.

TD's common equity tier 1 capital ratio, a key measure of the bank's financial health, for the fourth quarter was 10.7 per cent, down from 11.0 per cent in the third quarter. However, the key ratio was up from 10.4 per cent in the same quarter last year.

For its full financial year, TD says it earned $10.52 billion or $5.50 per diluted share on $36.15 billion in revenue. That compared with a profit of $8.94 billion or $4.67 per diluted share on $34.32 billion in revenue a year earlier.