icici bank share price: ICICI Bank shares jump 5%, hit 52-week high on strong Q3 earnings. Should you buy?

ICICI Bank shares jumped 5% and hit their 52-week high of Rs 1,059.40 on the NSE on Tuesday after the second-largest private lender reported December quarter earnings which were better than Street’s estimates. Top brokerages including Jefferies, Kotak Institutional Equities and Nuvama retained their buy rating on the stocks.
ICICI Bank on Saturday reported a 23.6% year-on-year (YoY) growth in its profit after tax to Rs 10,272 crore for the quarter ended December 2023. ETNOW Poll had estimated the PAT figures at Rs 9,981 crore. Its net interest income (NII) increased by 13.4% YoY to Rs 18,678 crore in Q3 from Rs 16,465 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year. The net interest margin was 4.43% in the quarter compared to 4.53% in Q2 of FY24 and 4.65% in Q3 FY23.

Read More: ICICI Bank Q3 Results: PAT jumps 24% YoY to Rs 10,272 crore, beats estimates

Here’s what brokerages recommended:

Jefferies: Buy | Target: Rs 1,250

Jefferies reiterated a buy on ICICI Bank for a price target of Rs 1,250. The US-based brokerage noted healthy growth in loans though the net interest margins (NIMs) was down as per the estimates. Retail asset quality was seen normalising with the corporate book still showing improvements, the brokerage said in a note. Slowing opex growth should support earnings growth when rates fall, Jefferies said as it picked ICICI Bank among its top bets.

Kotak Equities: Buy | Target: Rs 1,220

Kotak Equities has maintained a buy view of ICICI Bank shares for a price target of Rs 1,220. The NIM decline was better than Kotak’s estimates and the loan growth was healthy at 18% YoY and remains broad-based. The asset quality is also holding up well. “Our conservative estimates factor the cyclical pressure on NIM and yet, we see the bank delivering superior return and growth ratios,” Nuvama said.

Nuvama: Buy | Target: Rs 1,200

Nuvama reiterated a buy on the counter calling ICICI Bank its top pick. ICICI reported better-than-expected NIM, lower-than-expected opex that offset lower fees, and a healthy loan-to-deposit (LDR) ratio, this brokerage said.Its target price of Rs 1,200 is based on 2.1X one-year forward BVPS. “Given a comfortable LDR of 86.6%, LCR of 121%, a strong deposit franchise and gross credit cost running low at 0.5%, we believe ICICI has the potential to grow assets faster than other large private banks,” Nuvama said.

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(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)