We raised our 12M target price for Erste Bank stock to EUR 92 (from EUR 82) on Friday, and thus the stock currently offers a 15% upside in the next 12 months, we believe. We reiterated our accumulate recommendation.
The Erste Bank Group is expected to raise its ROE to almost 14% by 2005 due to its exposure to highly profitable central European subsidiaries and due to the expected gradual recovery of the Austrian economy over 2004-05.
Jan Hájek