Macquarie believes the regional banks are more leveraged to improving deposit pricing and following a period of underperformance upgrades Bendigo & Adelaide Bank to Outperform from Neutral.
The main downside risk stems from smaller margin benefits from improved pricing compared with estimates. Estimates for earnings per share are increased by up to 7% for FY21-23. Target is raised to $11.00 from $10.25.
Sector: Banks.
Target price is $11.00.Current Price is $9.65. Difference: $1.35 – (brackets indicate current price is over target). If BEN meets the Macquarie target it will return approximately 12% (excluding dividends, fees and charges – negative figures indicate an expected loss).
