Brokerages see over 10% upside in Axis Bank post Q3 result

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Brokerages retained their bullish view on Axis Bank despite it posted 36% year-on-year (YoY) drop in net profit at Rs 1,116 crore for the quarter ended December 31. It had reported a profit of Rs 1,757 crore for the corresponding quarter last year.

While retaining ‘Accumulate’ rating on Axis Bank, Nirmal Bang Securities said, “Given the stock of additional provisions, Q4FY21 provisions are expected to be lower than Q3FY21. Demand resolution across retail stood at 98% in Dec’20 compared to 94% in Sept’20 and 97% pre-Covid.” The brokerage has fixed a target price of Rs 706, indicating an upside of nearly 11% from the current market price of Rs 637.

Provisions of Axis Bank increased by 32% to Rs 4,604 crore, which include Rs 3,899 crore for assets overdue for over 90 days. It reported fresh slippages of Rs 6,736 crore under the IRAC norms as against Rs 6,214 crore in the year-ago period. The same had come down to Rs 1,572 crore in the preceding September quarter.

On the other hand, Sharekhan has ‘Buy’ rating on the private bank with a price target of Rs 800. “Operational performance was largely in line with expectations, but PAT slipped, owing to elevated provisions and slower advances growth. However, asset quality improved QoQ. The front-loading of provisions on a proforma basis augurs well for the long term,” Sharekhan added.

Asset quality of the bank improved with gross non-performing assets (GNPA) ratio came at 3.44% as against 5% in the year-ago period. The figure stood at 4.18% in the preceding quarter.