SBI Shares Remain Quiet As Strong Q3 Numbers Seemingly Fail To Allay Adani Fears

Shares of SBI were trading marginally higher on Monday even as the public sector bank reported a massive 68% increase in profits in Q3FY23.

What Happened: India's largest bank posted its Q3 results on Friday. The standalone net profit for the company grew 68% year-over-year to ₹14,205.3 crore beating market estimates of around ₹13,400 crore with quite a margin. This is also the company's highest-ever quarterly profit. 

India's largest lender also saw its revenue rise by 25% YoY to ₹98,083.8 crore. The company's net interest income grew 24.05% YoY to ₹38,069 crore. The company's net interest margin also improved by 29 basis points YoY this quarter to 3.69%.

Despite the estimate-beating results, investors seem unimpressed by the numbers.

This might be a result of SBI's exposure in the Adani Group. Shares of Adani Group companies have been in a free-fall since the U.S.-based Hindenburg Research released its report. 

SBI Chairman Dinesh Khara on Friday had said the bank's overall exposure to the Adani Group is at 0.88% or around ₹27,000 crore. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the Reserve Bank of India have also sought to allay concerns related to the banks’ exposure to the Adani Group.

However, brokerages remain optimistic and recommend buying shares of the lender. ICICI Securities and Motilal Oswal Investment Services see an over 30% upside in the stock with price targets of ₹805 and ₹725, respectively.

Price Action: SBI was up 0.28% to trade at ₹545.95 in the afternoon hours of trading on Monday.