Axis Bank shares fall nearly 6%, most in two years after Q1; Most bullish analyst sees 42% upside

Shares of Axis Bank Ltd. fell as much as 5.5% on Monday, July 20, in response to its June quarter results that missed street expectations. Despite the earnings miss, the street continues to remain optimistic on the Mumbai-based private lender, with only one out of the 49 analysts tracking it have a "sell" rating on the stock.

This is the biggest single-day fall in the stock since June 4, 2024.

Jefferies Price Target On Axis Bank Among The Highest

Brokerage firm Jefferies has maintained its "buy" rating on Axis Bank with a price target of ₹1,700, which is the fifth highest among the analysts who track the lender.

The brokerage called Axis Bank's asset quality strong and also cited low credit costs behind its bullish recommendations, adding that a pick-up in retail deposit growth and fees will continue to aid its core profitability going forward.

Jefferies has raised its financial year 2027 Earnings Per Share (EPS) estimates by 2% and have left them largely unchanged for financial year 2028 and 2029.

Bernstein Retains Optimism

Bernstein has also maintained its "outperform" rating on Axis Bank with a price target of ₹1,600, calling the current quarter mixed.

Balance sheet growth for Axis Bank came from the corporate segment. "While this strategy supported an improvement in NII growth, it came at cost of margin compression, as NIM declined by 16 bps sequentially," Bernstein said.

Axis Bank's profitability was aided by lower provisions from the previous quarter, gross NPAs saw a marginal rise, while margins saw a contraction of over 16 basis points.

Among the 49 analysts covering Axis Bank, 45 of them have a "buy" rating on the stock, three say "hold" and one has a "sell" rating.

Yes Research's ₹1,775 is the highest price target on the street for Axis Bank, which indicates an upside potential of 42% from current levels.

Shares of Axis Bank are trading 4.8% lower on Monday at ₹1,264.2. As a result of Monday's fall, the stock has turned negative on a year-to-date basis.