NatWest Group PLC (LSE:NWG)<\/a>\u00a0shares rose 4% to 603.88p after UBS upgraded its earnings forecasts following better-than-expected fourth quarter and stronger capital generation.<\/p>\nThe Swiss bank said fourth-quarter pre-tax profit excluding notable items and litigation and conduct charges was 7% above consensus, with net interest income 3% ahead and operating costs in line, while impairments were 30% better than expected at 13 basis points of loans.<\/p>\n
It lifted its diluted earnings per share forecasts by 5% for 2026, 4% for 2027 and 3% for 2028, while keeping a ‘buy’ rating and a 780p price target that it said implied about 40% forecast total return.<\/p>\n
UBS said momentum was \u201cstrong\u201d, pointing to loan growth, deposit growth and an 8 basis point improvement in net interest margin versus a 2 basis point increase expected by the market.<\/p>\n
The bank\u2019s common equity tier 1 ratio of 14.0% was 30 basis points above consensus, UBS said, including the \u00a3750 million buyback announced alongside the Evelyn Partners transaction.<\/p>\n
UBS described 2026 guidance as broadly in line with consensus, and said new 2028 targets implied 2-3% upside to market expectations and looked achievable.<\/p>\n
Those targets include return on tangible equity of more than 18%, customer assets and liabilities growth of more than 4% compound annual growth, and a cost-to-income ratio below 45%, alongside a move to operate with around a 13.0% CET1 ratio.<\/p>\n
Deutsche Bank\u2019s Robert Noble also described the results as a \u201cdecent beat\u201d driven by both growth and margin, but said consensus was already well aware that NatWest is a high return-on-tangible-equity bank.<\/p>\n
Noble said the lower end of management\u2019s 2026 revenue guidance \u201cmay concern some today\u201d, adding that management is usually conservative on revenue and that recent extra disclosure around the Evelyn Partners deal was unlikely to \u201cassuage the doubters\u201d.<\/p>\n
Deutsche Bank said pre-tax profit was a 13% beat versus consensus in the quarter, driven mainly by net interest income, with impairments again helping, while costs were in line, and it highlighted a final dividend of 23p and the \u00a3750 million buyback with a CET1 ratio of 14%, maintaining a ‘buy’ rating and a 730p target price.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NatWest shares rise after UBS lifts earnings forecasts, but Deutsche Bank flags cautious 2026 revenue guide Proactive uses…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[7102,7100,7103,1186,7104,943,7101,7106,7105,223],"class_list":{"0":"post-8887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ubs","8":"tag-basis-points","9":"tag-deutsche-bank","10":"tag-earnings-forecasts","11":"tag-natwest","12":"tag-natwest-group","13":"tag-net-interest-income","14":"tag-net-interest-margin","15":"tag-pre-tax-profit","16":"tag-robert-noble","17":"tag-ubs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"NatWest](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cb8fc62ad5da168f57593ed427da7c46.jpeg\")
NatWest shares rise after UBS lifts earnings forecasts, but Deutsche Bank flags cautious 2026 revenue guide Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock <\/p>\n