0829 GMT - Southern European banks reported another quarter of solid earnings beats, leading Keefe, Bruyette & Woods to lift its target prices by 15% on average, the brokerage says in a research note. Guidance for this year was generally positive with most lenders seeing a pick up in loan growth, analysts Hugo Cruz and Ben Maher write. They add that the M&A landscape is getting increasingly complicated but deals can be accretive for most parties if management teams are disciplined. "A lower cost of equity is consistent with the emerging theme of European banks' rerating...and we think many banks in Southern Europe are a good way to play it, given their still low [price to earnings ratios]," they write. KBW raises Santander stock to outperform and cuts CaixaBank's to market perform. (elena.vardon@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 24, 2025 03:30 ET (08:30 GMT)
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