German Fiscal Stimulus And Digitalization Will Unlock Value

Key Takeaways

• Strategic positioning in German and global markets, supported by digitalization and capital strength, sets Deutsche Bank for growth in lending, advisory, and asset management revenues.
  
• Operational streamlining, investments in efficiency, and a focus on higher-margin businesses enhance profitability and support sustainable earnings improvement.
  
• Rising credit losses, litigation risks, regulatory pressures, and intensifying competition threaten Deutsche Bank's profitability, revenue growth, and ability to preserve market share.

Catalysts

A stock corporation, provides corporate and investment banking, private clients, and asset management products and services in Germany, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia-Pacific.

• The imminent large-scale German fiscal stimulus and structural reforms (including the "Made for Germany" initiative) are expected to drive significant increases in corporate, infrastructure, and defense investment activity from 2026 onward. Deutsche Bank is poised to benefit due to its leading market position, strong corporate client relationships, and global reach. This should generate higher lending volumes, advisory, and fee-based revenues over time.
  
• The accelerating mobilization of German household savings into capital markets and investment products-driven by both government incentives (e.g., early investment programs), anticipated pension reforms, and the growing shift away from deposit-based savings-positions Deutsche Bank as the gateway to European investment for domestic and global clients. This can drive recurring fee income and AUM growth in wealth and asset management, supporting top-line revenue expansion and enhancing net margins due to higher-margin business mix.
  
• The bank's continued investment in digitalization and technology, combined with ongoing operational streamlining (such as branch closures and workforce reductions in the Private Bank), is unlocking cost savings and delivering improved efficiency. With €2.2 billion of targeted efficiency gains already secured, there is confidence in achieving further cost reductions through front-to-back process reengineering and digital transformation, which is supporting higher net margins and sustainable earnings improvement.
  
• Deutsche Bank's strengthened capital position-with a CET1 ratio of 14.2% and further capital efficiency opportunities-enables it to capitalize on secular growth trends without being capital constrained. The bank's commitment to returning excess capital to shareholders (including ongoing buybacks above the 50% payout) provides a buffer for value accretive growth, while also reducing risk of earnings dilution and enhancing return on equity.
  
• Secular growth in global cross-border trade, infrastructure projects, and increased ESG/sustainable finance mandates are driving persistent demand for complex financing, advisory, and risk management solutions. Deutsche Bank's diversified international platform and established sector coverage (e.g., infrastructure and defense) make it a clear beneficiary, positioning it to capture higher fee-based and capital-light revenues, which will ultimately support long-term, higher-quality earnings growth.

Deutsche Bank Future Earnings and Revenue Growth

Assumptions

• Analysts are assuming Deutsche Bank's revenue will grow by 4.0% annually over the next 3 years.
• Analysts assume that profit margins will increase from 18.1% today to 20.1% in 3 years time.
• Analysts expect earnings to reach €6.8 billion (and earnings per share of €3.71) by about September 2028, up from €5.5 billion today. However, there is a considerable amount of disagreement amongst the analysts with the most bullish expecting €7.8 billion in earnings, and the most bearish expecting €6.0 billion.
• In order for the above numbers to justify the analysts price target, the company would need to trade at a PE ratio of 10.2x on those 2028 earnings, down from 10.5x today. This future PE is lower than the current PE for the GB Capital Markets industry at 16.9x.
• Analysts expect the number of shares outstanding to decline by 0.91% per year for the next 3 years.
• To value all of this in today's terms, we will use a discount rate of 9.81%, as per the Simply Wall St company report.

Deutsche Bank Future Earnings Per Share Growth

Risks

• Persistently elevated or rising credit losses, particularly in the U.S. commercial real estate (CRE) sector, continue to present uncertainty; the elevated provisions may signal ongoing asset quality issues and could weigh on future net profits and risk-adjusted returns.
  
• Ongoing litigation risk, notably relating to the Postbank takeover and historic compliance issues, remains a drag-unexpected legal costs or adverse outcomes could lead to unpredictable charges against earnings and dent overall net margins.
  
• Lower-than-expected loan growth and ongoing margin pressure in the Corporate Bank-caused by margin normalization, competitive market dynamics, and limited immediate impact from German fiscal stimulus-may constrain revenue growth and impair long-term net interest income.
  
• Increasing regulatory complexity and capital requirements (CRR3/output floor, FRTB implementation, etc.) could raise compliance and capital costs, thereby reducing the capital available for growth or returns to shareholders and compressing future profitability and ROE.
  
• Heightened competition from both U.S. banks benefiting from regulatory capital relief and from fintechs/Big Tech platforms threatens market share and fee revenues across core businesses, potentially pressuring long-term revenue growth and constraining the bank's ability to maintain or improve net margins.

Valuation

• The analysts have a consensus price target of €27.954 for Deutsche Bank based on their expectations of its future earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors. However, there is a degree of disagreement amongst analysts, with the most bullish reporting a price target of €35.0, and the most bearish reporting a price target of just €10.93.
• In order for you to agree with the analyst's consensus, you'd need to believe that by 2028, revenues will be €33.8 billion, earnings will come to €6.8 billion, and it would be trading on a PE ratio of 10.2x, assuming you use a discount rate of 9.8%.
• Given the current share price of €29.8, the analyst price target of €27.95 is 6.6% lower. The relatively low difference between the current share price and the analyst consensus price target indicates that they believe on average, the company is fairly priced.
• We always encourage you to reach your own conclusions though. So sense check these analyst numbers against your own assumptions and expectations based on your understanding of the business and what you believe is probable.