UBS Lifts Erste Group Bank (EBKDY) Target to €97, Keeps Buy Rating

Erste Group Bank AG (OTCMKTS:EBKDY) is one of the best European bank stocks to buy now. On November 7, analysts at UBS lifted their price target for the Erste Group Bank AG (OTCMKTS:EBKDY) stock to €97 from €93. They also kept a Buy rating, a decision that follows the lender’s stronger-than-expected Q3 2025 results.

UBS Lifts Erste Group Bank (EBKDY) Target to €97, Keeps Buy Rating

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Erste reported third-quarter 2025 earnings on October 30. The company’s pre-tax profit for the quarter exceeded consensus by 7%, and net interest income beat by 3%. Net fee and commission income also beat forecasts by 2%.​ Erste Group Bank reported earnings per share of €2.20, with revenue surpassing €2.9 billion for the first time.The bank’s good results came from higher fee income and smart digital projects, even though the economy in Central and Eastern Europe.

Also on UBS’s radar was the fact that Erste’s management raised 2025 guidance to more than 2% NII growth (from more than 0%). The cost-to-income ratio is also expected to reach around 48% (from under 50%). UBS incorporated the guidance in their model, which led to lifting EPS estimates by 3–4% for FY 2025–2027.​

Erste Group Bank AG (OTCMKTS:EBKDY) is an Austrian financial services provider headquartered in Vienna, with operations concentrated in Central and Eastern Europe. Its core businesses include retail banking, corporate banking, and asset management. The lender serves more than 16 million clients across countries such as Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, and Serbia.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.