Overseas initiative generates interest in SBI

On BSE, 64308 shares were traded in the State Bank of India (SBI) counter. The scrip had an average daily volume of 3.77 lakh shares in the past one quarter.
The stock hit a high of Rs 1791 and a low of Rs 1741.10 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 2396.54 on 14 January 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 863.42 on 3 April 2007.
The large-cap scrip underperformed the market over the past one month till 25 March 2008, declining 18.21% compared to the Sensex’s fall of 8.12%. It had also underperformed the market in the past one quarter, declining 23.13% compared to Sensex’s decline of 19.69%.
India's biggest commercial bank in terms of market capitalisation has current equity of Rs 631.56 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10. Government of India holds 59.73% stake in the bank (as at end December 2007).
The current price of Rs 1762 discounts its Q3 December 2007 annualized EPS of Rs 137.46, by a PE multiple of 12.81.
Meanwhile, SBI has completed acquisition of 91% stake in Global Trade Finance, an Indian factoring services company for Rs 520.55 crore. The stake in Global Trade Finance was purchased from Export-Import Bank of India, IIFC, Washington (IFC) and FIM Bank, Malta (FIM).
State Bank of India (SBI)’s net profit rose 69.8% to Rs 1808.64 on 36.3% growth in operating income in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.
SBI's principal activity is to provide banking, treasury and credit management services to individual and corporate clients.