The Punjab National Bank stock slumped in early trade on record quarterly loss, the biggest ever by any domestic lender, as bad loans surged. At 10:41 am, the stock was trading 11.92% or 10 points lower to 75.75 level on BSE. The stock fell to 74.30 level intra day to its fresh 52 week low on weak Q4 earnings. The bank hit its 52 week high of 231.60 on October 26, 2017. The stock started falling after the bank was hit by Rs 11,400-crore scam committed by Nirav Modi in February 2018.
The lender on Tuesday reported Rs 13,416.91 crore net loss for the quarter ending March 31, 2018 compared with standalone profit of Rs 261.90 crore in the fourth quarter of the preceding fiscal 2016-17.
The stock which closed at 86 level yesterday, opened at 79.35 in trade today.
The market capitalisation of the stock stood at Rs 20,869.93 crore. The stock is down 15.21% in the last two days.
The stock is down 55% since the beginning of this year. On an yearly basis, the share price has fallen 56.57%.
Meanwhile, Kunal Shah of Edelweiss has given a reduce recommendation on the stock with a target price of Rs 70.
Credit Suisse has downgraded the stock to "neutral", reduced target price to Rs 88 from Rs 188; says the lender could incur losses even in FY19
Brokerage Jefferies too has cut its target price to Rs 80 from Rs 110; analysts see downside risk on higher impairments, credit costs.
Surging bad debts in sector might weaken PNB's capital reserves, damaging its growth prospects, say analysts.
With regards to provision made for the loss incurred on account of Nirav Modi fraud, the bank said it provided for Rs 7,178 crore, 50 per cent of the total amount of Rs 14,356 crore in the fourth quarter of 2017-18. The remaining amount will be covered in the three quarters of the current fiscal year.
The total income for the fourth quarter also declined to Rs 12,945.68 crore from Rs 14,989.33 crore in the year-ago period.
The bank reported deterioration in gross net performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans, which rose to 18.38 per cent of gross advances at the end of March this year, as against 12.53 per cent a year ago.
Net NPAs also soared to 11.24 per cent against 7.81 per cent year ago.