JP Morgan published a positive report on the Greek stock market, following the cautious Goldman Sachs. The house maintains its upgraded recommendation to overweight on the country as it believes that:

• There is higher growth than the Eurozone average
• The banks' balance sheets have been cleaned up
• shareholder rewards are increasing
• Debt is decreasing

The above leads JP Morgan to conclude that the MSCI Greece index will rise 17% and in the best case scenario 39% in Central, Eastern Europe, Middle East and African markets. 

STRATEGY

In relation to the large systemic banks, analysts single out Piraeus, as it is the cheapest of them, and is included in the top pick picks from the CEEMEA region. They give a target price of €6.2 per share, with a P/E ratio of less than 5 times for 2025 and 2026. JP Morgan is generally positive on banks, noting that they are cheaper than European banks. It therefore recommends that bank stocks should be included in investors' portfolios.

UPGRADE

Analysts are concerned about the possibility of upgrading the market to developed status from emerging. This is because in the event of an upgrade, only 3 of the 10 MSCI Greece companies can be included in the index, which may lead to share sales, or take Greek listed companies off investors' radar. These three stocks are:

• OPAP
• Eurobank
• National Bank of Greece