Time To Buy Canadian Banks

With the banking industry continuing to be in free fall all around the world a new report has just come out that names Canada as the soundest banks in the world. As the banking situation continues to weaken around the world this puts Canadian banks in a good place. Royal Bank Of Canada is, and has been my favorite banking stock since even before this whole mess started. Their stock price has been holding up much better than most other banking stocks as well, but they have taken a hit in just the last week as the markets sunk. Still even off of their 52 week low this stock is still a buy. Royal Bank Of Canada provides a fat 5% dividend at this price level of $36.10 so this is a stock that pays you to own! While you might think it is crazy for someone to be recommended a banking stock in this environment, things will turn around eventually. There might even be a v shaped recovery if all goes well. As long as you have a long term view on things, now is the time to be buying, not selling. Concentrate on the future and you should do fine...

Get Ready For Vasco Data Securities Earnings

With earnings season in full swing one of our favorites here at Stock Picky is set to report. Vasco Data Securities (VDSI) on will report it's quarterly earnings on Thursday, February 21.

In case you haven't heard of them, Vasco is a company that designs and manufactures security tokens for online banking all around the world, but not so much here in The States just yet. Their stock has fallen from grace, and is back down to a price that I certainly find reasonable for the moment. They had a tremendous amount of backlog 33.4 million to be exact, from last quarter which should help out on the earnings release tomorrow.



During the last conference call Vasco did reaffirm their full year guidance for revenue growth, gross margins and operating margins, so things from their standpoint appear to be very healthy. The real question is will the banking crisis hurt Vasco's bottom line? A logical person would think that security for it's customers should be #1 priority, so I find it hard to believe that there will be many cutbacks from banks.

Now, like with any stock it is very easy to get burned in earnings season, ah but that is the beauty of being a long term-investor. You can put some in before earnings, and then add to your position over time. Buying on the dips and selling on the peaks if you so choose.

So is Vasco Data Securities a slam dunk? Of course not, I mean is there really any slam dunks in this market? Just remember that you need to focused on the future, and I can tell you that with Vasco's vast customer base, and growing presence around the world the future sure looks bright for this company...