There are now only 5 sessions to go until the end of the stock market year and it is therefore time to take stock of the year, which is now running out. The best performer, since the beginning of the year, on the Ftse Mib of Piazza Affari is Unicredit which shows an increase of more than 77%, almost four times better than the + 20% of the Ftse Mib and at more than twice the speed of Eurostoxx Bank ( + 34%).
This year the second largest Italian banking group was involved in several important events, starting with the change at the top with the arrival in spring of Andrea Orcel. The new one was presented two weeks ago piano 2022-2024, which indicates a net profit for 2022 in excess of € 3.3 billion. In the plan presented on 9 December, Unicredit foresees investments for 2.8 billion euros in digital and data, while on the cost front the objective is to reduce the absolute value of 0.5 billion euros.
The market has warmly welcomed the new plan and the strategic turning point wanted by the CEO Orcel who has repeatedly expressed his desire to return to growth in Italy through organic growth. For these and other reasons, for the Italian banking institution, mergers with other banks, even if Orcel has not yet expressed himself in this regard after the failure of the negotiations with MPS.
During his mandate Orcel will try to close the gap with Intesa Sanpaolo, the current market leader in Italy, and as the CEO himself believes, Unicredit can still be competitive in Italy and beyond.
Looking at the consensus of the Bloomberg analysts we see how most (67%) remain Buy on the stock, while only 1 is sell on the stock. Despite the strong increases this year, the average target price remains at 16 euros with a potential return of 19.3% from current prices.
Technical analysis
Today the stock moves on parity at 13.43 euros, remaining close to the top since February 2020. After the downward trend that has characterized the stock in recent years and which has led prices up to 6 euros, from March 2020 Unicredit marks an increase of 117% outperforming the sector not only in the Italian index but also in the European one. The stock remains above an important trendline that develops from the end of October and then confirmed also at the beginning of December of this year. In particular, right after the test of this trendline, which is close to the average at 200, Unicredit found new strength and cut the 50-period moving average upwards, thus returning to the pre-covid price levels of February 2020. In the last few sessions, the banking giant has been consolidating area 13.40 and large volumes and volatility are not expected until the beginning of the new year. On the upside, a breakout of 13,60 euro will be able to guarantee a new bullish push to prices and in case of continuation the next static resistance is in the psychological area of 14 euro. On the contrary, in the event of profit taking and reductions on the stock, the levels to be monitored are first 12,60 € and then area 12.10. Trend indicators, such as the Macd e parabolic sar, are long aligned, as is the oscillator Rsi which is overbought.