In its Analyst Day meeting, ICICI Bank CEO reiterated the bank's focus on return on capital via granular profit, building the most trusted brand and digital lead over peers. While no explicit financial guidance was given, the bank stated that the focus would remain on risk calibrated operating profit and in turn return on capital, while asset quality would remain a cornerstone.
ICICI Bank CEO said that Our perception of commentary was that ICICI Bank would continue to profitably grow by focusing on superior customer experience, and that India's resilient macro structural changes in corporate and consumer behaviour provide the best-in-37 years opportunity for Indian banks. The ICICI Bank closed at Rs 933.55 on Monday, up 0.30 per cent.
Elara Securities said that the bank is moving beyond hygiene to chase excellence because of the meeting and that the bank is progressing well. Elara Securities said that the bank's focus on the bank and consistent earnings delivery will underpin its sustainable rerating and will help it to establish higher than previous cycle valuations, because it has a target of Rs 1,100 on the stock.
Jefferies said that ICICI Bank's analyst day focused on strategic initiatives priorities. It said it was focused on a smoother customer journey, digitisation and network expansion. Jefferies said that the management at macro level reaffirmed stronger growth with better retail borrower behaviour and corporate balance sheet.
Visibility of growth runway is positive, despite no takeaways for near-term earning per se. Jefferies said that ICICI is one of the top-picks.
Morgan Stanley said that ICICI Bank should graduate to a compounding machine, and foresees continued re-rating over the next few years. It said investors were willing to pay high multiples for financials that have shown strong earnings compounding and avoided bad loan cycles because of the size of the long-term growth opportunity.
Morgan Stanley said that ICICI is well placed for that.
With rising impetus on its bank-tech initiatives, we believe that ICICI Bank is poised to sustain its best-in-class profitability with digitally-led market share gains in all segments. One-bank, one-RoE was the biggest takeaway from the meet, which once sounded too idealistic, now is being imbibed by the RMs and branch staff, leading to significant change in DNA culture from a lumpy, business-growth oriented approach to a sustainable, granular profitability approach, Nuvama said.
The brokerage has a target of 1,115 on the stock, calling ICICI Bank its top pick.
Kotak Institutional Equities said it had an unchanged target of Rs 1,070 on the stock, as it valued the lender at 2.8 times book and 19 times September 2024 EEPS. The subsidiaries' value is 175 per share.
The bank is at a stage where a strong outperformance is unlikely, but we are comfortable with the strength of its go-to market strategy. The sector is experiencing a lot of positive growth and benign credit costs. It said that the outperformance is likely to be stronger with the weaker franchises.