The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE:CM) (TSE:CM)–also known as CIBC–along with the rest of the top five largest banks in Canada, faced the ire of a “climate activist” group, which alleges that any of the banks’ “green-finance claims” may not be worth making.
The group in question, Investors for Paris Compliance, filed its complaint earlier today, alleging that those five major banks have indeed launched into green-lending activities but haven’t disclosed much about them. In fact, the group alleges, in some cases, the lending may have made things worse overall. Although investments were made in the “sustainable finance” field, some of them might lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions and, ultimately, more environmental damage.
Bigger Fish to Fry
While there’s a case to be made for helping the environment, it’s a safe bet those five banks have more trouble to handle right now than some eco-activist group chasing phantom emissions problems. A report from last November noted that Canada’s economy has turned sluggish, and bad loans are increasingly coming into play for Canadian banks. Credit card debt is turning sour, mortgages are going south, and banks will likely be left with a substantial quantity of cars and houses in a slow economic period. In addition, the average stock price of the top five Canadian banks is down between 5% and 11.5% this year.
Is Canadian Bank of Commerce a Good Stock to Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on CM stock based on two Buys and six Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After an 18.9% rally in its share price over the past year, the average CM price target of C$64 per share implies 0.47% upside potential.
