Industries: banking, financial company
Bank of America is a bank holding company that serves consumers, businesses, and governments with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services.
| Most recent | Growth rate (CAGR) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5 years | 10 years | ||
| Book value of equity per share | $29.16 | 10.2% | 6.6% | 2.5% |
| BV including aggregate dividends | 12.5% | 7.9% | 3.2% | |
| Most recent | Median | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5 years | 10 years | ||
| ROE | 10.9% | 10.5% | 6.3% | 3.6% |
| ROA | 1.2% | 1.2% | 0.8% | 0.4% |
| Most recent | Growth rate (CAGR) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5 years | 10 years | ||
| EPS | $2.75 | 41.8% | 35.1% | 18.6% |
| Annual dividends | $0.60 | 25% | 71.9% | -4.8% |
| Share price | $34.45 |
| Most recent | Median | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5 years | 10 years | ||
| P/B ratio | 1.18 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| P/E ratio | 12.53 | 11.8 | 15.1 | 17.4 |
A company creates wealth for its long-term shareholders in 2 main ways - through dividend payments and through the accumulation of retained earnings. This graph shows the accumulation of per-share equity of long-term shareholders (green bars), which consists of the retained earnings plus all capital invested in the company, and the cumulative dividends the company has paid over time per share of its stock (blue bars).
In the words of Warren Buffett: "We're looking for... businesses earning good returns on equity while employing little or no debt."
Return on equity is a key metric of financial performance, indicating a company's ability to generate earnings using shareholder capital. Over time, ROE is one of the major determinants of the rate at which a company creates shareholder wealth. The average ROE for large U.S. companies is 12%, and many investors use it as a threshold for attractive investments.
Companies can boost ROE by increasing leverage, which reduces the safety of the investment. Therefore, it is useful to look at the return on assets (ROA), which measures a company's earning power regardless of its capital structure. A widening gap between ROE and ROA may be a warning sign that should be thoroughly investigated.
Earnings per share is a popular metric used to value a company (using P/E ratio); growth in EPS is often used to judge company growth potential. However, many investors believe that EPS is an inferior metric to ROE, because it ignores the amount of capital the company used to generate earnings.
Free cash flow shows how much cash a company generates from operations, above and beyond what is required to maintain or expand its productive assets. This cash can be returned to investors, or spent by management on growing the company or paying back its debts.
Balance sheets of many companies contain intangible assets such as goodwill, trademarks, patents, etc. Many investors consider intangibles more difficult to value than physical assets. If intangible assets had been valued incorrectly, they must be impaired, resulting in a loss charged against shareholder equity. This chart demonstrates the potential loss to shareholder equity from such impairments.
Bank of America Corporation is a financial company. Financial companies, by their nature, typically have high debt to equity leverage, which is not a meaningful analytical metric. We suggest you use the equity to assets ratio instead.
This chart shows shareholder equity as a percentage of total assets, allowing investors to judge the overall leverage. Companies with a higher proportion of equity can be viewed as safer investments. This metric is particularly important for highly leveraged institutions, such as banks, where it must be at least 4% according to government regulations.
This chart shows the cumulative dilution of investor ownership in a company over time. Dilution reduces an investor's participation in the future earnings. Dilution increases when a company issues new shares, and decreases when a company buys its shares back. Many investors avoid companies with large chronic dilution.
The dividend payout ratio tells investors what percentage of earnings a company returns to shareholders, and what percentage it retains and reinvests. This ratio represents a major capital allocation decision by the company, and can be used to judge management rationality. Rational management should pay out all earnings that cannot be productively reinvested. Therefore, a low dividend payout ratio for a profitable company with a low growth potential may be a warning sign.
Many investors use the P/B ratio as a quick way of judging company valuation. Value investors - followers of Graham and Dodd - specifically seek out companies with low P/B ratios. However, investors should be careful not to make investment decisions on this metric alone, without considering a company's earning and growth potential, since a low P/B ratio can be a sign of a bleak future for the business.
P/E ratio is a popular way of making a quick judgment of a company valuation. Value investors - followers of Graham and Dodd - often seek solid companies with low P/E ratios as investment opportunities. However, P/E ratio represents an oversimplified approach to business valuation, and can often lead to incorrect investment decisions.
On January 9, 1996, the registrant completed the acquisition of Bank South Corporation ("BKSO"). As of the acquisition date, BKSO had assets of approximately $7.4 billion and deposits of approximately $5.1 billion. The registrant issued 0.88 shares of its common stock for each outstanding share of BKSO common stock, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately 53 million shares of the registrant's common stock (adjusted for the Split).
On January 10, 1996, the registrant completed the acquisition of CSF Holdings, Inc. ("CSF"). As of the acquisition date, CSF had assets of approximately $4.8 billion and deposits of approximately $3.8 billion. The purchase price was approximately $516 million and was paid in cash.
On August 13, 1996, the registrant completed the acquisition of TAC Bancshares, Inc. ("TAC") and its subsidiary, Chase Federal Bank FSB ("Chase Federal"). As of the acquisition date, TAC and Chase Federal had total assets and total deposits of $2.8 billion and $2.0 billion, respectively. The purchase price was approximately $280 million, in the aggregate, and was paid in cash.
On January 9, 1998, the Corporation completed its merger with Barnett Banks, Inc. (Barnett), a multi-bank holding company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida (the Merger). Barnett's total assets, total deposits and total shareholders' equity on the date of the Merger amounted to approximately $46.0 billion, $35.4 billion and $3.4 billion, respectively. Each outstanding share of Barnett common stock was converted into 1.1875 shares of the Corporation's common stock, resulting in the net issuance of approximately 233 million common shares to the former Barnett shareholders.
On September 30, 1998, the Corporation completed its merger with BankAmerica, a multi-bank holding company headquartered in San Francisco, California (the Merger). In connection with the Merger, the Corporation changed its name from NationsBank Corporation to BankAmerica Corporation. Prior to the Merger, BankAmerica provided banking and various other financial services throughout the U.S. and in selected international markets to consumers and business customers, including corporations, governments and other institutions. In the Merger, each outstanding share of BankAmerica common stock was converted into 1.1316 shares of the Corporation's common stock, resulting in the net issuance of approximately 779 million common shares to the BankAmerica shareholders.
As provided by the Merger Agreement, approximately 1.068 billion shares of FleetBoston common stock were exchanged for approximately 593 million shares of the Corporation's common stock.
On June 30, 2005, we announced a definitive agreement to acquire all outstanding shares of MBNA Corporation (MBNA Merger), a leading provider of credit card and payment products, for approximately $35.0 billion in stock (85 percent) and cash (15 percent). This transaction closed on January 1, 2006. Under the terms of the agreement, MBNA stockholders received 0.5009 of a share of our common stock plus $4.125 for each MBNA share of common stock. Under the terms of the MBNA Merger Agreement, MBNA stockholders received 0.5009 of a share of the Corporation's common stock plus $4.125 for each MBNA share of common stock. As provided by the MBNA Merger Agreement, approximately 1.3 billion shares of MBNA common stock were exchanged for approximately 631 million shares of the Corporation's common stock. At the date of the MBNA Merger, this represented approximately 16 percent of the Corporation's outstanding common stock. MBNA shareholders also received cash of $5.2 billion.
On July 1, 2008, we acquired Countrywide through its merger with a subsidiary of the Corporation in exchange for stock with a value of $4.2 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Countrywide shareholders received 0.1822 of a share of Bank of America Corporation common stock in exchange for each share of Countrywide common stock.
On January 1, 2009, we acquired Merrill Lynch through its merger with a subsidiary of the Corporation in exchange for common and preferred stock with a value of $29.1 billion, creating a premier financial services franchise with significantly enhanced wealth management, investment banking and international capabilities. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Merrill Lynch common shareholders received 0.8595 of a share of Bank of America Corporation common stock in exchange for each share of Merrill Lynch common stock.
During the second quarter of 2009, the Corporation issued 1.25 billion shares of its common stock at an average price of $10.77 per share through an at-the-market issuance program resulting in gross proceeds of approximately $13.5 billion...
In the second quarter of 2009, the Corporation entered into agreements with certain holders of non-government perpetual preferred shares to exchange their holdings of approximately $7.3 billion aggregate liquidation preference of perpetual preferred stock for approximately 545 million shares of common stock. In addition, the Corporation exchanged approximately $3.9 billion aggregate liquidation preference of non-government preferred stock for approximately 200 million shares of common stock in an exchange offer. In total, these exchanges resulted in the exchange of approximately $11.3 billion aggregate liquidation preference of preferred stock into approximately 745 million shares of common stock.
On December 2, 2009, we received approval from the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve to repay the U.S. government's $45.0 billion preferred stock investment provided under TARP. In accordance with the approval, on December 9, 2009, we repurchased all outstanding shares of Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock Series N, Series Q and Series R issued to the U.S. Treasury as part of the TARP. While participating in the TARP we recorded $7.4 billion in dividends and accretion on the TARP Preferred Stock and repayment will save us approximately $3.6 billion in annual dividends and accretion. We did not repurchase the related common stock warrants issued to the U.S. Treasury in connection with its TARP investment. The U.S. Treasury recently announced its intention to auction these warrants during March 2010. For more detail on the TARP Preferred Stock, refer to Note 15 - Shareholders' Equity and Earnings Per Common Share to the Consolidated Financial Statements. The Corporation repurchased the TARP Preferred Stock through the use of $25.7 billion in excess liquidity and $19.3 billion in proceeds from the sale of 1.3 billion units of CES valued at $15.00 per unit. The CES consisted of depositary shares representing interests in shares of Common Equivalent Junior Preferred Stock Series S (Common Equivalent Stock) and warrants (Contingent Warrants) to purchase an aggregate 60 million shares of the Corporation's common stock. Each depositary share represented a 1/1000th interest in a share of Common Equivalent Stock and each Contingent Warrant granted the holder the right to purchase 0.0467 of a share of a common stock for $.01 per share. Each depositary share entitled the holder, through the depository, to a proportional fractional interest in all rights and preferences of the Common Equivalent Stock, including conversion, dividend, liquidation and voting rights... on February 23, 2010 at which we obtained stockholder approval of an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of our common stock, and following effectiveness of the amendment, on February 24, 2010, the Common Equivalent Stock converted in full into our common stock and the Contingent Warrants automatically expired without becoming exercisable, and the CES ceased to exist.