Standard Chartered share price gains ground ahead of full-year update

Shares in Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) have climbed higher in today’s session, outperforming the market ahead of the group’s full-year results tomorrow. The update will come after the Asia-focused lender said last week that it had set aside $900 million to cover potential penalties resulting from investigations in the UK and in the US.

As of 14:40 GMT, Standard Chartered’s share price had added 1.38 percent to 617.50p, outperforming the broader UK market, with the benchmark FTSE 100 index currently standing 0.09 percent higher at 7,184.86 points. The group’s shares have lost over a quarter of their value over the past year, as compared with a near one-percent drop in the Footsie.

StanChart to post results

Standard Chartered is scheduled to post its full-year results tomorrow and Proactive Investors reports that UBS expects the lender’s fourth-quarter adjusted pre-tax profit to come in at $597 million, down from $1.07 billion “quarter-on-quarter, driven primarily from the fourth quarter inclusion of the $310 million UK bank levy”.

The newswire further notes that a new three-year strategy plan is set to be announced alongside the numbers.

Analyst ratings update

Goldman Sachs, which sees StanChart as ‘conviction-buy,’ lowered its price target on the shares from 930p to 910p on Friday. According to MarketBeat, the Asia-focused lender currently has a consensus ‘hold’ rating and an average price target of 686.21p.

Jefferies reaffirmed the company as an ‘underperform’ last week, while lifting its price target on the shares. The broker pointed to the declining trend in consensus estimates for the Asia-focused lender and the multiple hurdles which it was facing in terms of growing its revenues, which, the analysts reckon, may necessitate a downgrade of management’s expectations.

As of 15:09 GMT, Monday, 25 February, Standard Chartered PLC share price is 617.50p.