Shares of Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) (BNS), also known as Scotiabank, gained in today’s trading after the Canadian banking giant reported earnings for its third quarter of Fiscal Year 2024. There was good and bad news alike in the Scotiabank report, which featured an adjusted earnings per share (EPS) figure of C$1.63. TipRanks data noted the consensus estimate was C$1.62, and in the previous quarter, it came in at just C$1.58, so the figure was a win all around. However, it was down against the C$1.72 figure from a year prior.
Meanwhile, Scotiabank’s total revenue came in at C$8.36 billion, which was up from the second quarter’s figure of C$8.35 billion and above the C$8.07 billion posted in the third quarter of 2023.
But the biggest issue for Scotiabank seemed to be its credit loss provisions. Scotiabank was prepared for an ever-increasing number of loans to turn bad. In fact, its bad debt provision rose from C$1.01 billion to C$1.05 billion quarter-over-quarter and from C$819 million when looking at last year’s figure.
A “Continued Challenging Environment”
On the downside, though, things do not look like they will brighten up any time soon for Scotiabank. CEO Scott Thomson said that Scotiabank will face a “…continued challenging environment” this quarter. While Thomson et al. have worked to ameliorate this with the acquisition of KeyBank shares, it will still be a fight to keep people paying their debts or taking on new loans. When people are clearly most concerned about keeping the lights on and food on the table, their ability to simply qualify for banking services can tumble accordingly.
Is BNS Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on TSE:BNS stock based on nine Holds and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 14% rally in its share price over the past year, the average TSE:BNS price target of C$67.67 per share implies 0.67% upside potential.
