A little more than six crore shares exchanged hands on the BSE and NSE compared with a combined average volume of 1 crore shares on both exchanges in the past month.
Most analysts raised their price targets on the stock with a median target of ‘1,019.07 over the course of next 12 months. This is 7.1% higher than previous forecasts and up 13.2% from the stock’s closing price on Friday.
Morgan Stanley and Hong Kong-based CLSA have raised their respective price forecasts to ‘1,150.
“We recently lifted Axis to our top sector pick, and Q2FY23 is clearly a turning point,” said CLSA in a client note. “We lift our higher than consensus estimates 3-6% and now expect a core PPOP CAGR of 21% over FY22-25CL and an ROE of 16% (including Citi and capital raise). The management indicated it is not in a hurry to raise capital which is also a positive.”
Of the 49 analysts tracking the stock, 45 have a ‘buy’ or positive rating on the stock, while four remain neutral, as per Bloomberg estimates.
Asia and expect the stock to touch ‘1,130 per share.
The stock has advanced nearly 15% returns in the last month and yielded nearly 30% returns since the beginning of calendar 2022.
“Axis Bank delivered surprises at one go. Sustenance of performance hereon to drive further rerating,” said ICICI Securities in a client note. “The Q2FY23 earnings surpassed our and consensus expectations by a wide margin. Surprise on NIM and visibility on sustainability of operating performance compel an earnings upgrade of 13% and 8% for FY23e and FY24e.”
“Going forward, given moderate balance sheet expansion, we believe Axis needs to accelerate its retail TD engine to support asset growth with the CD ratio now at 92%,” said ICICI Securities.
