Report by Renta 4
Recommendation: BBVA, Hold, Target Price €20.80/share; Caixabank, Overweight, Target Price €11.86/share; Santander, Overweight, Target Price €12.08/share; Sabadell, Overweight, Target Price €3.85/share
Fitch has upgraded the long-term issuer and long-term deposit ratings of BBVA (BBVA) and Caixabank (CABK) by one notch in both cases to A (from A-) and to A+ (from A), respectively.
In the case of Santander (SAN), it has raised the long-term rating to A+ (from A) and that of Sabadell (SAB) to A- (from BBB+).
As for the outlooks, they remain Stable for BBVA, Santander, and Sabadell, and Positive for Caixabank.
In the case of Unicaja (UNI), the agency has assigned ratings to long-term and short-term deposits, A- and F2 respectively, while keeping the rest of the ratings unchanged.
Similarly, Fitch has assigned Abanca and Ibercaja, a rating of A- for long-term deposits and F2 for short-term deposits, keeping the rest of the ratings unchanged, with the long-term rating at BBB+ (after raising it by one notch in January) with a stable outlook.
Assessment: Positive news, but no impact on the share price. These upgrades follow theupdate to the rating methodology for banks used by Fitch.
