Turkish banks had outperformed European peers over the course of last year. However, rising risks around Turkish central bank’s independency depressed the asset prices in the country as well as the share prices. Therefore, the gap between Turkish banks and their European peers began to close starting late January. Since then, we have seen Turkish banking index performing in line with MSCI European Financial Index.
To be more specific, following is an analysis of most traded Turkish banks stocks and their CEEMEA peers. Simply, Eastern European and Middle Eastern stocks seem to be the most overvalued ones while Nigerians remain exceptionally cheap. This should be mostly due to country-specific risks. In broad strokes Turkish banks along with their Russian peers are traded at reasonable multiples. At this stage my recommendation to investors looking into CEEMEA financials would be forming a list of stock picks supported by a strong investment theme and key fundamental data.
Below is a list of top-traded Turkish banks with fundamental indicators.
ROE generation has appeared to be the key theme in Turkish banking sector. Halkbank which delivered the strongest profitability metric has been the best performer in year-to-date terms. Isbank, Yapi Kredi, and Vakifbank are traded at a discount to their book values. Growing fee income in the industry has built a supportive case for Garanti and Akbank due to their exposure consumer banking and credit cards.
The consensus has a neutral view on Turkish banks in general, and more specifically on the stocks excluding Akbank and Halkbank. However, there are key risks to be watched including the economic growth on a slowing path and higher unemployment leading higher credit card fails.