State Bank of India had its results out today. After a pretty lousy Q3 in FY 2009, one would have expected great things this year – the low base effect.
But the results are surprisingly bad. Consolidated revenues were at 32,231 crores (up 6%) but profit after tax was at 3305 cr. (down 8.3%). EPS was Rs. 52.05, taking the first nine month EPS to 144. The problems: Higher NPAs and 3x higher provisioning/low coverage. NPAs went up to 18,861 crore (gross) and 11,270 cr. (net) both near double digit increases.
SBI is a wait and watch stock, and while I wouldn’t go long yet, the current price of 2091 talks a p/e of 11 on an EPS of nearly 190 . That’s not bad considering the overall high price of ICICI and HDFC Bank (both above 20).
