ICICI Securities has issued a buy rating on Equitas Small Finance Bank with a target price of ₹90 in its research report dated May 03, 2026. According to reports from Moneycontrol, the brokerage maintains its positive outlook on the small finance bank based on strong quarterly performance metrics. The bank's Q4FY26 net profit jumped 10% year-on-year to ₹209.6 crore, demonstrating sustained earnings momentum across multiple quarters.
Equitas SFB delivered robust Q4FY26 financial results, achieving a multi-quarter high RoA of 1.5%, significantly exceeding its 1% guidance. As reported by Moneycontrol, the bank's PAT doubled sequentially to ₹2.1 billion, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of sustained earnings momentum. The earnings recovery was broad-based across all business segments, with total income reaching ₹7,867.78 crore compared to ₹7,223.21 crore in the previous year.
The bank demonstrated strong operational performance with NII growth at 15% QoQ, cost-income ratio reduction of approximately 500 basis points QoQ, and credit cost moderating to 1%, which represents the lowest level in the past eight quarters. According to Moneycontrol, these improvements reflect the bank's operational efficiency gains and risk management effectiveness. The bank's interest income from advances and bills increased to ₹5,970.88 crore from ₹5,563.32 crore year-on-year, while total interest earned reached ₹6,794.24 crore.
While management acknowledged that lower credit costs in Q4FY26 may reflect favorable seasonality and could normalize upward, ICICI Securities expects RoA to remain above 1% going forward. As reported by Moneycontrol, the brokerage maintains its buy rating with an unchanged target price of ₹90, based on 1.5x on March 2027E book value per share. The bank's basic EPS stood at ₹0.90 for the quarter, reflecting the strong operational performance across all business segments.
