Analysts suddenly gung ho on this PSU bank, see up to 50% upside, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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NEW DELHI: Bank of Baroda (BoB) impressed Dalal Street with its June quarter operating performance. A double-digit growth in retail loans and an expansion net interest margin (NIM) in the challenging June quarter were noteworthy. Gross non-performing assets fell marginally, but the impact of the second wave of Covid on its retail and MSME books was visible on slippages and credit cost.

Analysts said the situation was still under control and the management commentary was strong.

They said a rebalancing of the portfolio in favour of retail and a gradual decline in the international book would support NIM for the PSU bank. This, along with a moderation in credit cost will improve the return on asset (RoA) trajectory for the bank, analysts said and suggested up to 50 per cent upside for the stock.

“BOB recently raised capital via QIP, leading to a reasonable CET 1 of 11.3 per cent. With the merger (Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank) and asset quality pain now largely over, we expect BoB’s return on equity (RoE) to gradually improve to 10-12 per cent over FY23-24 from a low of 1 per cent in FY21,” it said and suggested a price target of Rs 122.

At Monday’s close of Rs 81.15, that target suggested a 50 per cent upside.

Motilal Oswal Securities has hiked its earnings estimates by 47 per cent for FY22 and 22 per cent for FY23 post the bank’s Q1 numbers. Estimating an RoA of 0.7 per cent and an RoE of 10.3 per cent by FY23, it has upgraded the stock to ‘buy’, with a revised price target of Rs 100.

ICICIdirect also sees the stock at Rs 100. It listed four factors that would prove key to its performance. First is the shedding of the bank’s low yield exposure and its focus on retail segment. Secondly, a shift to the new tax regime, which is set to aid profitability. The third is the comfortable capital to risky asset ratio at 15.4 per cent, which may keep earnings dilution risk away. Lastly, the decent asset quality amid the tough situation would help.

The bank reported a net profit of Rs 1,209 crore compared with a loss of Rs 864 crore a year ago. Net interest income (NII) rose 16 per cent to Rs 7,892 crore. Net interest margin (NIM) came in at 3.04 per cent against 2.52 per cent YoY and 2.73 per cent QoQ.

Retail loans rose 12 per cent YoY, led by a 25 per cent growth in auto loans, 20 per cent growth in personal loans, and a 38 per cent growth in gold loans.

The loan book, however, declined 2 per cent due to a 10 per cent fall in corporate loans as the bank shed low-yielding loans.

The gross NPA ratio declined marginally to 8.86 per cent from 8.87 per cent in the March quarter and 9.39 per cent the year-ago period, as recovery and upgrades increased to Rs 4,435 crore from Rs 818 crore YoY. The bank management is targeting Rs 14,000 crore in recoveries in FY22 and has guided for 1.5-2 per cent credit cost and net slippages of less than 2 per cent.

“It was a relatively steady performance but uncertainty over subsequent Covid waves and relatively elevated stress pool still temper our enthusiasm on earnings stability. The bank’s recent capital raise was dilutive, which is a persistent challenge for PSBs. We are rolling overestimates to December FY22, revising our target to Rs 98 from Rs 95 earlier,” Edelweiss said.

Edelweiss said the demonstration of the merger value add and, indeed, getting through the current crisis without deep earnings erosion will be key to the stock performance.

The promised post-merger rationalisation benefits are not a foregone conclusion, given the complexity of the task at hand, it said and suggested that the valuation at 0.5 times FY22E P/BV lends some comfort.

JM Financial is building in a credit cost of 1.2 per cent and RoA of 0.7 per cent for FY23. It has a price target of Rs 95 on the stock.



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Analysts suddenly gung ho on this PSU bank, see up to 50% upside, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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NEW DELHI: Bank of Baroda (BoB) impressed Dalal Street with its June quarter operating performance. A double-digit growth in retail loans and an expansion net interest margin (NIM) in the challenging June quarter were noteworthy. Gross non-performing assets fell marginally, but the impact of the second wave of Covid on its retail and MSME books was visible on slippages and credit cost.

Analysts said the situation was still under control and the management commentary was strong.

They said a rebalancing of the portfolio in favour of retail and a gradual decline in the international book would support NIM for the PSU bank. This, along with a moderation in credit cost will improve the return on asset (RoA) trajectory for the bank, analysts said and suggested up to 50 per cent upside for the stock.

“BOB recently raised capital via QIP, leading to a reasonable CET 1 of 11.3 per cent. With the merger (Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank) and asset quality pain now largely over, we expect BoB’s return on equity (RoE) to gradually improve to 10-12 per cent over FY23-24 from a low of 1 per cent in FY21,” it said and suggested a price target of Rs 122.

At Monday’s close of Rs 81.15, that target suggested a 50 per cent upside.

Motilal Oswal Securities has hiked its earnings estimates by 47 per cent for FY22 and 22 per cent for FY23 post the bank’s Q1 numbers. Estimating an RoA of 0.7 per cent and an RoE of 10.3 per cent by FY23, it has upgraded the stock to ‘buy’, with a revised price target of Rs 100.

ICICIdirect also sees the stock at Rs 100. It listed four factors that would prove key to its performance. First is the shedding of the bank’s low yield exposure and its focus on retail segment. Secondly, a shift to the new tax regime, which is set to aid profitability. The third is the comfortable capital to risky asset ratio at 15.4 per cent, which may keep earnings dilution risk away. Lastly, the decent asset quality amid the tough situation would help.

The bank reported a net profit of Rs 1,209 crore compared with a loss of Rs 864 crore a year ago. Net interest income (NII) rose 16 per cent to Rs 7,892 crore. Net interest margin (NIM) came in at 3.04 per cent against 2.52 per cent YoY and 2.73 per cent QoQ.

Retail loans rose 12 per cent YoY, led by a 25 per cent growth in auto loans, 20 per cent growth in personal loans, and a 38 per cent growth in gold loans.

The loan book, however, declined 2 per cent due to a 10 per cent fall in corporate loans as the bank shed low-yielding loans.

The gross NPA ratio declined marginally to 8.86 per cent from 8.87 per cent in the March quarter and 9.39 per cent the year-ago period, as recovery and upgrades increased to Rs 4,435 crore from Rs 818 crore YoY. The bank management is targeting Rs 14,000 crore in recoveries in FY22 and has guided for 1.5-2 per cent credit cost and net slippages of less than 2 per cent.

“It was a relatively steady performance but uncertainty over subsequent Covid waves and relatively elevated stress pool still temper our enthusiasm on earnings stability. The bank’s recent capital raise was dilutive, which is a persistent challenge for PSBs. We are rolling overestimates to December FY22, revising our target to Rs 98 from Rs 95 earlier,” Edelweiss said.

Edelweiss said the demonstration of the merger value add and, indeed, getting through the current crisis without deep earnings erosion will be key to the stock performance.

The promised post-merger rationalisation benefits are not a foregone conclusion, given the complexity of the task at hand, it said and suggested that the valuation at 0.5 times FY22E P/BV lends some comfort.

JM Financial is building in a credit cost of 1.2 per cent and RoA of 0.7 per cent for FY23. It has a price target of Rs 95 on the stock.



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Mumbai: The merger of Vijaya Bank has given Bank of Baroda a lead in retail lending, particularly loans against jewellery, which rose 35% to be one of the fastest-growing segments last year. Bank of Baroda has also recorded nearly Rs 1,000 crore of savings following the three-way merger and is in line to achieve savings of Rs 10,000 crore over five years.

Bank of Baroda MD & CEO Sanjiv Chadha told TOI the lender completed the integration of 2,898 branches of erstwhile Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with itself in December last year. Since then the bank has got the benefits of economies of scale and branch rationalisation. “There were 1,300 branches that were closed where there was an overlap, expenses on account of rent and taxes have come down in absolute terms,” said Chadha. He added that the merger has also reduced the need for fresh hiring.

Another cost-saving has been in interest expenses. “The ratio of low-cost current and savings account (CASA) deposits of the merging banks was lesser than that of standalone Bank of Baroda. As a result of the merger, BoB’s CASA dropped from 40% to 36%. We have not only retrieved what we have lost but moved ahead with a CASA ratio of 43%,” said Chadha. While Vijaya Bank’s business has given Bank of Baroda a leg up in retail, Dena Bank has consolidated its position in Western India particularly Gujarat.



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PNB report higher stress levels a year after merging two banks, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Ahead of its plan to raise funds via qualified institutional placement, Punjab National Bank (PNB) has revealed a pile of stressed loans.

As of December, the lender had 13.2% of loans with repayment overdue for more than one month.

It had a gross bad loan ratio of over 14% for the December quarter with most stressed segments being corporate loans and small businesses. MSME dominated loans those where repayments are overdue for more than thirty days or SMA loans.

PNB’s ratio of loans that were in default for anywhere between one and 90 days stood at 20% of the overall book at the end of 2020, according to the offer document issued by the bank. It witnessed a sharp increase in its stressed loans during the moratorium period last year.

SMA accounts

The special mention account (SMA)-2 loans, where repayments are overdue for 61-90 days, rose to 8.8% as on December 31, 2020, from 2.74% as on September 30, 2020.

The SMA loans as of December 31, 2020, also include loans that were not being classified as non-performing assets (NPAs) in line with the Supreme Court’s interim stay on recognition of fresh bad loans after August 31, 2020.

With the stay vacated on March 23, these loans are likely to slip into NPAs as of the March quarter of FY21.

About 2.89% of MSME advances were classified as SMA 2 while 2.72% loans in the corporate sector were unpaid between 61 and 90 days.

In Bank of Baroda‘s offer document too, the bank’s SMA ratio surged to 21.57% as on December 31, 2020, from 8% on March 31, 2020.

These are likely to slip into the NPA bucket in the March quarter of FY21 as the stay was vacated on March 23.

while both banks had around 20% of their loans under SMA, PNB carried a much higher ratio of SMA 1 and 2 loans — 13% — compared to 9% for BoB. Segment-wise, SMA2 for PNB is nearly double that of BOB in the retail and corporate sector.

The QIP

PNB board has approved raising equity capital from qualified institutional investors to enhance its capital base. For the Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) purposes, the bank has fixed the floor price at Rs 35.51 per equity share. The ”Relevant Date” for the purpose of the QIP is May 10, 2021 and accordingly the floor price in respect of the aforesaid QIP, based on the pricing formula as prescribed under SEBI ICDR Regulations is Rs 35.51 per equity share, PNB said in a regulatory filing.

The merger

Last year, Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) and United Bank of India (UBI) were merged into Punjab National Bank (PNB), making PNB India’s second-biggest public sector bank after State Bank of India (SBI).

In a first three-way amalgamation, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank were merged with Bank of Baroda from April 1, 2019.



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