HSBC (LON: HSBA) share price has risen for two consecutive weeks as investors focus on the actions by central banks and the new management. The stock was trading at 665p in London, up by over 16% this year and by almost 200% from the lowest point in 2020.
Bank in a turnaround
HSBC’s stock performance has coincided with the robust gains made by other European banks like Unicredit, Lloyds, and Barclays.
These banks have done well because of the relatively high interest rates in key markets and the robust economy.
Most notably, HSBC and other banks have focused on boosting shareholder returns through dividends and share buybacks.
HSBC has done well because of its prolonged turnaround strategy that has seen it exit some of its lagging markets.
The company sold its US retail business to Citizens Bank after struggling to compete with the likes of Bank of America, Citigroup, and JP Morgan. It also sold its Canadian operations to Royal Bank of Canada in a $9.96 billion deal.
HSBC also sold its retail banking operation in France, and most recently, it exited Argentina, a country whose economy is not doing well.
These sales have made HSBC a smaller and more streamlined company. In most periods, companies do well when they sell their international and often low-growth entities.
HSBC has done these measures so that it can focus on its UK and Chinese markets. In China, the company is hoping to become a bigger player in both retail and wealth management, by being a formidable competitor to UBS.
China, the second-biggest economy in the world, is a big priority for the company because of the number of rich people. The challenge, however, is that the Chinese economy is slowing, and the property market that provided wealth to most people has imploded.
More turnaround measures to continue
HSBC will be in the spotlight as Georges Elhedery, the new CEO continues with the turnaround effort as interest rates start falling. In fact, HSBC slashed rates in Hong Kong after the Fed and HKMA slashed their benchmarks.
According to Bloomberg, Elhedery wants to continue with cost cuts by eliminating overlapping roles across the firm.
As part of these efforts, he will merge its global banking and markets businesses with the commercial banking and eliminate some senior and junior roles. These businesses cater to large institutions and also its trading and investment banking division.
If this merging happens, it will become the firm’s anchor business, bringing in over $40 billion a year. It will be much bigger than its wealth management and personal banking division.
It is still not clear whether this merger will happen since past efforts to do so have found strong resistance among executives. The argument against merging these divisions is that it would be highly disruptive and expensive in the long term.
However, proponents cite the success of Jamie Dimon, who combined these divisions a few years ago. Today, JPMorgan has become the biggest bank in the US and is still growing.
The new CEO also wants to reduce costs at a time when its net interest income is expected to start falling.
HSBC joins other large banks that are implementing these turnaround measures. Citigroup, a large American company, is also working to change its business after years of underperformance.
HSBC earnings statement
The most recent financial results showed that the company was doing well. Its revenue rose by 1% to over $37.3 billion while its profit before tax held stable at $21.6 billion in the first half of the year.
The company also announced that it had completed its $5 billion share repurchase program, meaning that it has repurchased shares worth $12 billion since 2022 and over $54 billion since 2019. It then announced a new $1.8 billion dividend and up to $3 billion share buyback plan.
HSBC is still an undervalued bank as it trades below book value. Its price-to-book ratio stands at 0.97, lower than the industry average of 1.29. It also has a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.62, lower than the industry average of 7.62.
The company also has a dividend yield of 6.95%, which will make it an attractive income play when rates start falling.
HSBC share price analysis
The weekly chart shows that the HSBA stock price bottomed at 223.20p in 2020 and has rose to a high of 715p this year. It has formed an ascending channel shown in blue.
The stock has formed an ascending channel shown in blue. Also, it has remained above the 50-week and 100-week Exponential Moving Averages (EMA).
It has moved above the lower side of the lower side of the ascending channel pattern. Therefore, the stock will likely continue rising as bulls target the year-to-date high of 715.6p, which is about 7.41% from the current level.
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