State Bank of India posted its Q2 results on Friday.

What Happened: SBI in its Q2 results reported a 27.9% increase in net profit to ₹18,331.44 crore. The bank's net interest income gained 5.4% to ₹41,619.54 crore. The public sector lender's net non-performing assets (NPAs) fell to 0.53% from 0.64% in the previous year. Its gross non-performing assets eased to 2.13% from 2.55%.

The ban's deposits increased by 9.13% from the previous year while its current account-savings account ratio deposits rose by 4.24%. The total credit grew 14.93% to ₹39.21 lakh crore.

Brokerage Views: Nomura maintained a "buy" call on the scrip and hiked the target price to ₹1,050. The brokerage firm said the company has posted sector-leading growth and healthy deposit growth. The lender's asset quality performance remained robust and the cost to income was at the lowest level since FY18, the research firm added.

The current valuations of the core bank on a price-to-book basis are attractive, the research firm noted. SBI remains a top pick in the sector, Nomura said.

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CLSA also gave an "outperformance" call with a target price of ₹1,075. CLSA said while the loan growth remained healthy, the deposit growth was lagging on a year-on-year basis. The brokerage forecasts a 15%-16% return on equity over the medium term for the bank.

Jefferies maintained a "buy" call and increased its target price to ₹1,030. According to the brokerage, the stability in the retail asset quality provides comfort. The bank posted healthy loan growth and deposit growth can improve, it added. The capital market-related subsidiaries of the bank have also done well, it noted.

Price Action: Shares of SBI were up 0.24% to ₹845.15  on Monday morning. 

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