One More Raymond James’ Stephen Boland to $98 from $89 with an “outperform” rating.
“EQB’s diversified funding model and growing retail deposit base has been the key differentiator for the bank this year,” said Mr. Boland. “As many larger banks have seen NIM pressures due to rising deposit costs, EQB’s NIM has expanded 12 basis points year-to-date (7bp of expansion in 2Q). EQ Bank — a zero-fee retail banking solution which has been critical to the company’s recent success — has seen its customer base grow 31 per cent year-over-year to 367,790. This level of growth is remarkable considering many smaller banks have historically struggled to take deposit market share from the Big 6 in Canada. EQ Bank looks well poised for further growth in 2H23 following the company’s recent launch in Quebec and continued benefits from the ‘Make Bank’ marketing campaign.”