Axis Bank snapped a three-day gaining streak on Friday, February 21, even after brokerage firm Nomura included the Mumbai-based private lender as one of its top picks.

Nomura maintained a “buy” rating on Axis Bank with a price target of ₹1,230, which implies a potential upside of 21% from Thursday’s closing levels.

Axis Bank’s valuations are “inexpensive” for healthy Return on Assets (RoA) and Return on Equity (RoE) projections, according to the Nomura note.

At the current levels, Axis Bank is trading at a financial year 2026 price-to-book multiple of 1.49 times, which is below its five-year average price-to-book multiple of 1.9 times.

Nomura believes that although a tough liquidity scenario may weigh on the lender’s growth, asset quality is not a cause of concern for the bank.

The brokerage also went on to say that Axis Bank has a healthy profitability outlook going ahead.

Axis Bank’s net profit for the third quarter increased by 3.8% to ₹6,304 crore from the last year. It was in-line with street estimates of ₹6,284 crore.

The lender’s gross NPA was at 1.46% from 1.44% in the previous quarter and its net NPA stood at 0.35% from 0.34% in the previous quarter.

Out of the 49 analysts that have coverage on the stock, 40 have a ‘buy’ rating and nine have a ‘hold’ recommendation

Shares of Axis Bank are currently trading 0.7% lower on Friday at ₹1,010.4. The stock is down 25% from its peak of ₹1,339.

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