Citi, % 40 'lık koşunun ardından HSBC'nin notunu "nötr" e düşürdü

Citi downgrades HSBC to 'neutral' after 40% run

Wed, August 5, 2026 at 1:35 PM GMT+3 1 min read

Citi has downgraded HSBC Holdings PLC (LSE:HSBA, NYSE:HSBC) to 'neutral' from 'buy', arguing that the shares need a breather after one of the strongest runs in the European banking sector this year.

The stock is up 40% since January, and the bank now trades on roughly 11 times forward earnings and 2.2 times price to tangible book for a return on tangible equity of about 18% to 19%.

Citi cut its price target to 1570p from 1640p, having trimmed earnings per share forecasts by up to 3%.

The argument is not that anything has gone wrong. It is that a further rerating from here requires investors to believe in a sustained period of faster top-line growth, and while Citi sees encouraging signs, it expects that to take time to come through.

Two nearer-term constraints also feature. HSBC has guided to incremental cost spending over the coming quarters, which Citi thinks may limit the scale of positive jaws in 2027, the gap between revenue growth and cost growth that banks use to demonstrate operating leverage.

The renewed emphasis on growing volumes may also cap the size of buybacks in the short term, removing one of the supports that has helped drive the shares this year.

The downgrade follows first-half results that came in ahead of expectations, with second-quarter pretax profit of just over $10 billion against a company-compiled consensus of $9.5 billion, alongside a fresh $1 billion buyback and a raised net interest income target.

The shares hit a record high in the session that followed before slipping back.