HDFC Bank can rise up to 25% with attractive valuations

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

HDFC Bank's stellar first-quarter earnings — supported by healthy loan growth and margins, and strong asset quality — saw a number of brokerages reiterate their bullish recommendations on the stock that has the potential to deliver 25% returns given the attractive valuations. Shares of India's largest private lender closed at Rs 1,678 Tuesday, little changed over the previous day's closing. «We think the bank's current valuation of 2.9x FY24E BVPS (pure bank) does little justice to its compounding potential and low balance-sheet risk,» said BNP Paribas Securities in a note to clients.

The foreign brokerage believes HDFC Bank has the potential to surpass the RoA (return on assets) guidance of 1.9% to 2.0%, which could act as a re-rating catalyst going forward. Many analysts raised their price targets on the private lender and reiterated it remained their most preferred pick in the India BFSI universe. On Monday, HDFC Bank reported a 30% year-on-year (YoY) growth in net profit for the quarter ended June 2023.

Its total income for the quarter increased 39% y-o-y to Rs 57,817 crore. On Monday, its market capitalization touched Rs 12.65 trillion ($154 billion) to become the world's seventh-largest bank by market value. Of the 33 analysts that reviewed HDFC Bank’s first quarter earnings, 32 of reiterated their ‘buy’ rating on the stock, according to a Bloomberg poll of analysts.