London, June 25, 2026, 09:27 BST
- HSBC gained 0.6% to 1,438.4 pence just after the open in London.
- Price-to-book is close to 1.7 times, while the four-year average is 0.9 times.
- Deutsche Bank’s Robert Noble lifted his price target to 1,520 pence and left his Hold rating unchanged.
- HSBC’s survey shows 62% get investment ideas from professionals. Just 12% said AI was behind their final choice.
HSBC Holdings Plc (LON:HSBA) was quoted close to its 52-week high Thursday, with Google Finance putting the stock up 0.5% at 1,436.4 pence as of 0849 BST. That was just 1.3% under the 1,456-pence top.
HSBC’s price-to-book ratio hit 1.67, the highest in five years and over double the 0.82 median, according to FTSE Russell data from June 23. The shares climbed 63.1% across 52 weeks and are up 23.2% in 2024. That’s ahead of the FTSE 350 by 45.4 points for the year and 18.5 points for 2024.
With that rerating, there’s not much headroom for a bigger move in the multiple. LSEG data shows 14 analysts have a median 12-month target of 1,493.84 pence. That’s roughly 3.9% over the 0859 BST price.
Deutsche Bank AG (ETR:DBK) left its Hold rating on HSBC unchanged, but raised the price target to 1,520 pence from 1,450 pence. That puts the new target 5.7% over the morning price.
HSBC’s latest numbers show clients favor advisers over AI when it comes to investment ideas and decisions. In a survey of 10,000 wealthy investors, 62% got their most recent idea from a professional, while 32% credited AI. For the final call, 37% said advisers had the biggest influence, with only 12% picking AI. “Clients value judgement … from a trusted wealth adviser,” said Barry O’Byrne, head of HSBC international wealth. HSBC’s Wealth Intelligence tool taps over 10,000 sources. HSBC
Wealth is a big reason behind the higher book multiple. HSBC finished Q1 with $1.6 trillion in wealth balances and brought in $39 billion in net new money. The bulk—$34 billion—came from Asia. Revenue was up 6% to $18.6 billion, on growth in wealth fees and banking net interest income.
HSBC posted a first-quarter pretax profit of $9.4 billion. Annualised return on tangible equity hit 17.3%. The bank kept its target at 17% or higher through 2028 and lifted 2026 banking net interest income guidance to about $46 billion. Chief Executive Georges Elhedery said, “We remain confident in achieving the targets we set out in February 2026.” HSBC
Credit costs are still the main worry. HSBC posted $1.3 billion in expected credit losses for the first quarter, and that tally includes a $400 million hit tied to fraud. The lender bumped up its 2026 credit-cost outlook to about 45 basis points, up from 40. “We don’t see anything comparable there,” Chief Financial Officer Pam Kaur said after a broad review. Reuters
HSBC will release its interim results August 4, with third-quarter numbers set to come out October 27.
