YES Bank shares climb 9%, take winning run to 4th straight day. Here's why

Shares of YES Bank Ltd climbed 9 per cent in Friday's trade as the bank denied reports suggesting a stakeholder State Bank of India (SBI) was looking to sell Rs 5,000-7,000 crore worth stake in the private lender via block deals. The news appears to be speculative in nature, the bank had told stock exchanges on Thursday.

Following the development, the stock rose 9.25 per cent to hit a high of Rs 32.81 on BSE. A total of 62,84,43,825 YES Bank shares changed hands on NSE so far, as the turnover on the counter soared to Rs 1,977 crore within the first 30 minutes of trade.

As the session progressed, the stock cut gains and was up 2.43 per cent at Rs 30.76 level. This still was the fourth straight day of gains for YES Bank. The scrip had settled 0.67 per cent higher on Thursday, up 17.32 per cent on Wednesday and 11.40 per cent higher on Tuesday.

"The bank is not involved in any negotiations with respect to the subject of the news. Hence, the Bank is unable to comment on the said article and its impact. Further, we would like to clarify that presently, there are no material events which are required to be disclosed under Regulation 30 of the Listing Regulations," YES Bank said.

"We shall keep the stock exchanges informed of any material events as required under Regulation 30 of Listing Regulations," it said. SBI had also called the report factually incorrect.

Yes Bank recently reported Q3 profit at Rs 231 crore, which Emkay Global said was less-than-expected due to elevated LLP, even as the bank cut its specific provision coverage ratio to a low of 57 per cent.

"Overall credit growth trajectory too remains sub-optimal at 12 per cent YoY, while the bank has turned cautious on unsecured lending amid rising asset-quality noise. Overall stressed assets (NNPA + SR + RSA) stand high at
3.3 per centof loans which we believe, coupled with potential fresh stress from the retail book, could keep provisions elevated and thus depress RoAs. In the wake of the adverse Bombay High Court judgement in the AT 1 write-off case, RBI and Yes Bank’s appeal is up for hearing in the Supreme Court," Emkay Global said post YES Bank's December quarter results on January 29.

The YES Bank management believes that even an unfavorable judgement, if any, will not have a material
financial impact. Factoring-in the slower growth and higher provisions, Emkay cut its FY24-26 earning estimates by 13-33 per cent and expect the bank to deliver sub-par RoA of 0.4-0.6 per cent. It retained its SELL on the stock, with target of Rs12 per share.

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