Shares of ICICI Bank jumped about 3 per cent Rs 906.75 in the early trading session amid the euphoria, which fizzled out soon and the stock was seen at Rs 895.25 at 10.30 am on Monday. ICICI Bank reported a strong set of numbers for the period that ended on March 31, 2023, which boosted the investors' confidence in the stock. From net interest income (NIIs) to net interest margins (NIMs) and profit after tax (PAT) to non-performing assets (NPAs), India's second-largest private lenders, reported healthy growth. According to the brokerage firms, ICICI Bank reported strong 4QFY23 performance on the back of healthy credit growth, margin expansion and improvement in asset quality. The result was largely in-line with analysts' estimates on both year-on-year (YoY) and quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, pushing the stock higher on Monday. Shares of ICICI Bank jumped about 3 per cent to Rs 906.75 in the early trading session amid the euphoria, which fizzled out soon. The stock was seen at Rs 895.25 at 10.30 am on Monday, about a per cent higher from its previous close at Rs 884.20 on BSE. ICICI Bank posted healthy pre-provisioning operating profit (PPOP) and PAT growth of 34 per cent and 30 per cent YoY in 4QFY23, with NIMs up 25 bps QoQ to 4.9 per cent, beating the estimates said Equirus Securities which has maintained its 'long' rating with a target price of Rs 1,240, suggesting an upside potential of 40 per cent from its previous close. Equirus sees domestic advances growth of 21 per cent YoY, contained net slippages of Rs 14 crore driven by net upgrades in the corporate book and normalized upgrades in retail, additional contingency provisions at Rs 1,600 crore, taking total provisions to Rs 13,100 crore, reduction in the restructured book to 0.4 per cent and a non-NPA provision buffer as key Q4 positives. ICICI Bank reported strong, high-quality earnings yet again. ICICI has reported flawless earnings for the thirteenth quarter in a row. With a strong deposit franchise and digital leadership, the bank is well-geared to outperform peers even in the future, said Nuvama Institutional Equities in its report. "We believe ICICI Bank deserves to trade at a premium to peers given consistent and granular earnings outperformance. We find the bank well-positioned to maintain high credit growth and stable NIM in FY24E even amidst slowing sector growth. We revise the target price to Rs 1,180, from Rs 1,115, and reiterate the 'buy' rating," Nuvama said. Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities said that provisions were negligible if one excludes contingent provisions of Rs 1,600 crore. The bank continues to carry higher contingent provisions and total provisions, including contingent, restructuring, general and specific provisions at 2.2 per cent of total net advances. "The bank registered an all-time high annualized RoA of 2.4 per cent for 4QFY23 and 2.16 per cent for FY23. We remain positive on ICICI Bank given its growth outlook and earnings trajectory with return ratios to remain in the top quartile going forward. We maintain BUY on ICICI Bank with a target price of Rs 1,154," Nirmal Bang said. ICICI Bank continues to benefit from interest rate tailwinds with 4QFY23 NIMs hitting elevated levels of 4.9 per cent and PAT grew 30 per cent YoY to Rs 9,120 crore driven by strong NII momentum and continued low credit costs, said JM Financial. "Loan growth stood at 19 per cent YoY and deposit growth while soft on a YoY basis at 11 per cent, sequentially picked up to 5 per cent QoQ." "Management continues to focus on its stated strategy of a strong PPOP profile and exuded confidence on asset quality. Net slippages for ICICI Bank were negligible. Our continued positive bias on ICICI Bank stems from strengths of its PPOP profile and healthy asset quality," it said, maintaining a buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 1,115. Earnings in 4QFY23 re-acknowledge that ICICI Bank is maintaining sustainable and prudent growth led by tech-driven initiatives, said LKP Securities. "Factoring stable balance sheet growth and credit cost of below 1 per cent in FY24E, we estimate the bank’s FY23E ROA and ROE of 2.1 per cent and 16.8 per cent respectively," it added with a 'buy' rating and a target of Rs 1,058.
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