Global brokerages remained upbeat on ICICI Bank as the private lender reported better-than-expected financial results for the March quarter.

The results were released after market hours on Monday.

ICICI Bank posted 49.62 per cent annual drop in standalone profit at Rs 1,020 crore for January-March due to a sharp rise in provisioning for the bad loans.

However, the profit number was better than Rs 980 crore estimated by analysts in an ETNow poll. The bank had reported Rs 2,024.64 crore profit in the year-ago quarter.

The scrip was up 5.10 per cent up at Rs 304.15 at around 9.20 am (IST) whereas BSE Sensex moved up 80 points to 35,271.

Jefferies maintained ‘Buy’ on ICICI Bank with a target price of Rs 380 per share. “Fresh NPLs came mostly from known stressed assets. From here on, revenue and core PPOP (pre-provision operating profit) trajectory is key and 15 per cent consolidated RoE (return on equity) guidance seems a tad soft,” Jefferies said.

Macquarie retained ‘Outperform’ on the lender, setting the target price at Rs 416. “Nothing negative is a positive and core valuation of 1.1 times offer favourable risk-reward,” Macquarie added.

Provisions jumped 128.61 per cent to Rs 6,625.75 crore from Rs 2,898.22 crore in the same quarter last year.

Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rose to 8.84 per cent for the fourth quarter, from 7.82 per cent in the December quarter and 7.89 per cent in the year-ago period.

Similarly, CLSA retained ‘Buy’ on ICICI Bank with the target price at Rs 430.

Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley are also positive on ICICI Bank, keeping target price at Rs 357 and Rs 425, respectively.