Geojit BNP Paribas Puts A"BUY" Call On ICICI Bank with a price target of Rs 379, in its research report of an 15.

"We maintain our BUY rating while lowering our Target Price to Rs364 as we have rolled forward the valuation to average of FY17E/FY18E and have done adjustments for credit costs and growth. We reiterate our longer-term themes of corporate deleveraging, deposit gathering and capital accumulation.

Currently the stock is trading at FY17E P/BV of 1.3x compared to its 5Yr average 1 year forward P/E of 1.7x," the firm has said in its research report.

The firm has highlighted the following in its report:

#We expect PAT to grow by 7.7% on a YoY basis in 3QFY16.

# We estimate loan growth to be at 15% and 17% for FY16E and FY17E respectively.

# As per RBI, banks are expected to clean up their balance sheet over the next 2-6 quarters in a phased manner which is expected to increase the credit cost (provision for NPAs).

# Going forward we expect revamp in investment cycle in the economy which will lead to a pick-up in credit growth and reduction in NPAs. · Asset quality trends should be watched in the coming quarters.

# For 3QFY16, we have not factored any impact of an increase in credit cost.

# Currently the stock is trading at FY17E P/BV of 1.3x compared to its 5Yr average 1 year forward P/E of 1.7x.

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