Fodder for Canadian Coffers

Tuesday, Toronto Dominion reached across the border to acquire Commerce Bank, an American Northeast regional, and the Canadian coffer wasn’t afraid to pay a hefty premium to make it happen. This is only the beginning of a spending spree by our neighbors to the north, Cramer said.

Toronto Dominion , whose share price grew about 21% year-over-year, offered 2.8 times the book value for Commerce, and Cramer expects TD’s counterparts to be willing to do at least the same. Canadian banks are able to pay up for American institutions for two reasons: a weak dollar and strong stocks.

Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal “all have great reasons to invade” the U.S., Cramer said. And he sees plenty of potential targets on par with Commerce. These other Northeast regional banks should be worth a lot to investors who got in before a buyout.

Here’s the breakdown of what Cramer said are the likely targets: National City would see a 130% gain if it fetched Commerce’s price. New York Community Bancorp would get an 84% premium. Comerica would earn 72%. Key would be worth 68% more than its current quote. Hudson City, 57%. M&T, 53%. BB&T, 48%. And Fifth Third, 39%.

	Price		Change	%Change
BBT		---
CMA		---
FITB		---
HCBK		---
KEY		---
MTB		---
NYCB		---

Capital One is a possibility too, Cramer said. COF would score a whopping 163% at Commerce’s premium price. But Capital One is still integrating its acquisition of Northfolk, so Cramer said a buyout isn’t likely.

All these American banks have great dividends as well. So even if they’re not bought out, these banks are still good investments.

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