UBS (UBS, Financial) shares experienced their most significant increase in two months. This surge followed an optimistic forecast from BNP Paribas analyst Jeremy Sigee, who anticipates increased stock buybacks from the Swiss bank. Sigee upgraded UBS from "neutral" to "outperform" and raised the target price from 27.5 CHF to 35 CHF.
On Friday, UBS stock rose by 3.8%, making it one of the top-performing stocks in Europe. Sigee believes that concerns over the impact of revised Swiss capital rules are overstated. Although these reforms are expected to be implemented this year, the capital release from UBS's overseas subsidiaries might offset the most threatening aspects of these proposals.
Sigee noted that while UBS might not assess the new capital regulations' impact when announcing its full-year results next month, it could provide clarity on the capital release from its overseas units, offering reassurance to the market.