Shares in OneSavings Bank (LON:OSB) were one of the few risers on a dour day for stocks after Investec upped its recommendation to ‘buy’ on valuation grounds.
The stock, previously a ‘hold’, rose 8.8p, or 3%, to 315.9p. This provided some respite for investors, who have seen the shares lose almost a fifth of their value in the last month.
“Today we make absolutely no change to forecasts (or target price) but with the shares down 18% since 17 Dec with (we believe) no just cause,” said analyst Ian Gordon, who reckons OneSavings is worth 380p.
Its pick of the challenger banks is Aldermore (LON:ALD), which it reckons is “misunderstood and (still) grossly mispriced”. Its shares were hit by the wholesale sell-off on Thursday, as it fell 4.4% to 215.1p.