As far as operating performance is concerned, PNB delivered on expected lines, however, on the asset quality front, the bank witnessed improvement (contrary to market expectations). NII growth at 14.2% yoy and operating income growth at 12.9% yoy, came on expected lines. Operating expenses grew by 27.4% yoy, marginally above estimates and hence, the pre-provisioning profit de-grew by 2.9% yoy, slightly lower than our expectation of a flat performance on that front. On the asset quality front, the bank reported sequential improvement in Gross NPA levels by around 4% each. The bank prudently chose to increase its provision coverage ratio (up by around 300bp) over earnings and thereby increased its provisioning expenses by 43.8% yoy and reported an earnings decline of 20.6% yoy.
At the CMP, the stock is trading at valuations of 0.7x FY2015E ABV. Hence, we recommend an Accumulate on the stock with a target price of Rs. 889.