Taking stock: How bankable are PSU bank shares?

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Narendra Modi urged investors in Lok Sabha to bet on public sector bank (PSU) stocks, triggering a rally in the segment on Friday. This move, however, was not an aberration as investors have consistently been rewarded handsomely by investing in these stocks in various time frames.

Nifty PSU Bank which comprises 12 stocks has yielded nearly 60% in returns in the last 12 months, which is higher from 10%, 13.68% and 14.92% returns given by Nifty50, Nifty Bank and Nifty Private Bank, respectively, during this period. The story remains the same over 6 months, 1 month and the most recent week.Returns by individual stocks ETMarkets has analysed returns of these 12 stocks, individually, post the announcement of their respective April-June quarter earnings along with returns of the previous four quarters.

With the exception of the January-March quarter when most of the PSU bank stocks gave double-digit negative returns, the rally has been northwards. The best returns came in October-December period with Uco Bank (164%) standing tall among its other contemporaries.

Three stocks — Uco Bank (162%), PSB (131%), and Union Bank (102%) — have given multibagger returns over the span of four quarters preceding the current quarter i.e July-September. Heavyweight SBI has been the biggest laggard in the pack with 26% returns during this period.