Shares of ICICI Bank were trading as much as 1.3 percent lower on Monday on the BSE after the private sector lender reported a 78 percent increase year-on-year in standalone net profit to Rs 4,616 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2021, owing to higher net interest come and lower provisions. The net profit stood at Rs 2,599 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

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Net interest income (NII) for the quarter rose 18 percent year-on-year to Rs 10,936 crore from Rs 9,280 crore YoY.

Provisions (excluding tax provision) fell to Rs 2,852 crore in the June quarter from Rs 7,594 crore in the year-ago quarter.

ICICI Bank said it has changed its policy on non-performing loans during the June quarter to make it more conservative. "The policy change resulted in a higher provision on non-performing advances amounting to Rs 1,127 crore (US$ 152 million) for aligning provisions on outstanding loans to the revised policy," it said.

Here’s what brokerages have to say about ICICI Bank’s Q1 earnings and stock:

Morgan Stanley

The brokerage has an 'overweight' call on the stock with the target at Rs 900 per share. It noted that the lender remains its top pick in the banking sector. It further added that while slippages elevated above estimates, the net slippages are in line with estimates given strong recoveries. The brokerage further noted that provision write-backs helped manage credit costs for the lender.

CLSA

The brokerage has a 'buy' call on the stock. According to the brokerage, the lender is now consistently delivering sector-best growth in loans/core pre-provision operation profit.

With the normalisation of retail credit costs in 2HFY22, we expect credit costs to settle 90bps over FY23/24. With 1%-6% higher earnings estimates we expect RoRWA of 2.7 percent which is 30 percent higher than the last upcycle. We thus increase our target price from Rs 825 to Rs 940 on a new 2.75x multiple (previously 2.5x) and a Rs 197 per share in subsidiary value, the brokerage said.

Bernstein

The brokerage has an 'outperform' rating on the stock with the target at Rs 790 per share. It noted that the company has a digital focus leading to granular loan growth. It added that the bank's margin is at an all-time high aided by a low cost of funds.

JP Morgan

The brokerage has an 'overweight' rating on the stock with the target at Rs 675 per share. The brokerage firm believes the coming quarters should be better for the lender in terms of growth and asset quality.

Nomura

The brokerage has a 'buy' call on the stock with the target at Rs 790 per share. It said the leader has a strong core pre-provision operating profit but its asset quality has surprised negatively. The brokerage also said that ICICI Bank is positioning towards right customer selection and working towards having a greater share of profit and payment pools.

First Published:Jul 26, 2021 10:17 AM IST