♦ The banking shares on the Bucharest Stock Exchange are undervalued by half compared to those of the bank giants on Wall Street and below the average of the European banking sector in terms of the report between capitalization and net profit, which shows growth potential in the next period, say the brokers consulted by ZF.
Thus, the actions of the Transylvania Bank (TLV scholar symbol), the largest credit institution in Romania, are traded to a price-to-earnings report (P/E) 5.5 times, those of BRD-Groupe Société Générale (BRD) 8.4 times, and of Patria Bank (PBK). For comparison, the big American banking actions JPMORGAN and Goldman Sachs are traded 11 times and 13 times, while the European average is seven times, according to ZF centralized data. This shows an undervaluation, but also a possible penalty of the investors against the background of the political tensions in Romania in the last period and of the fragile conditions in the economy. «From the point of view of the indicator P/E, the actions of the Romanian banks are traded to multiples below the average value of 7.3 (according to the UBS). It is possible that this undervaluation is also determined by the country risk to which our banks are exposed. Also, this year's challenges to which the Romanian economy could be exposed can also have an impact on the activity of banks. This will be seen more clearly in the budgets of revenues and expenses that will be proposed by the administrators for approval at the general balance sheet assemblies, ”says Marcel Murgoci, Estinvest Broker. Banca Transilvania reported for 2024 a net consolidated profit of 4.7 billion lei, increasing from 3 billion lei in the previous year, an evolution that also includes the transaction of OTP Bank Romania (winnings of 816 million lei). The assets of the group went up to 207 billion lei, from 169 billion lei. «Although TLV actions have been appreciated in the last year, we see that they are maintained at an attractive evaluation compared to the companies in the sector. This fact can be put on the background of the very good results reported for 2024, where the acquisition of OTP has also made an important contribution, ”says Radu Cojoc, Goldring Broker.