The accounts weigh on Intesa Sanpaolo. At the beginning of the afternoon, the Bank's stock traded in the red by more than one point in Piazza Affari in the first session after the last quarterly report, published on Friday evening with the markets closed. Investors were disappointed above all by earnings, which fell more than expected mainly due to provisions which allowed for an improvement in capital ratios.
The net result was positive for 116 million euros, down 60% compared to the same period of 2012, against expectations for 178 million. S&P Equity analysts reduced their earnings per share estimate for the current year, maintaining their hold opinion, while Barclays cut their target price to 1,2 euro (the stock trades at 1,416 euro), with an underperform rating and Citi maintained the "sell" and target price at 1,10 euros.
On the other hand, Equita was positive, reiterating its buy opinion and target price at 1,75 euro, believing that the quality of the numbers for the second quarter is better than expected and the negative reaction of the stock on the Stock Exchange was excessive.
Ubs and Deutsche Bank also recommend buying, with target prices unchanged at €1,70 and €1,80, respectively. The two investment banks appreciate the improvement in the interest margin and the fact that the bank has the best coverage of problem loans among its domestic and European competitors. Deutsche Bank analysts point to the unchanged outlook, however reducing the 2013 adjusted EPS estimates by 6% due to the higher provisions and increasing the 2014-2015 EPS estimates by an average of 2%.
Kepler Cheuvreux (rating hold and target price of 1,60 euro), while admitting that Intesa has the most solid balance sheet in Italy and that it is the most prepared for a long process of credit deterioration and for the implementation of regulatory constraints, without needing another recapitalization, it cut this year's net profit estimates by 22% to 923 million, while confirming the forecasts for 2014-2015.
