BIST 100 Q2 2026: Record Profits in Banking and Valuation Divergences

As the second quarter earnings season of 2026 gains momentum on Borsa İstanbul, the period is shaping up under the spotlight of diverging financial performances, with 16 companies in the BIST 100 having released their results so far. While the process kicked off last week with TURSG, it deepened with profit announcements from banking and industrial giants, bringing arbitrage opportunities and risks created by price-to-book (P/BV) multiples to the forefront.

Banking Sector Performance Beyond Multiples

The banking index exhibited two-fold strength in terms of both profitability and valuation in the opening match of the earnings season. The sector reflected its operational efficiency into net profit figures, while market multiples remain at attractive levels.

■GARAN claimed the top spot among the announcing companies with a net profit of 63.7 billion TL, confirming the sector's strength.

■AKBNK and YKBNK sustained their growth stories with strong profit growth of %38.34 and %36.32, respectively.

■On the multiples side, YKBNK's 0.97 and TSKB's 0.61 P/BV ratios indicate that the sector still trades at a discount and could act as a safe harbor in terms of valuation.

■TSKB's %10.24 decline in net profit draws attention to the company's short-term momentum loss despite its low multiple.

Industrial Giants' Transformation and Operational Velocity

On the industrial front, the return to profitability by companies that posted losses last year and successes in operational engineering became the main dynamics determining stock performance. Particularly in the automotive and defense sub-sectors, figures better than expected were announced, while high valuation risks came to the fore for some companies.

■TOASO wrote one of the season's most striking turnaround stories, increasing its net profit by %197.20 to 6.29 billion TL; however, its 2.07 P/BV ratio suggests this growth is largely priced in.

■ANSGR painted a balanced picture with %41.32 profit growth and 7.37 billion TL net profit, alongside a 1.18 P/BV.

■CWENE (%89.51 increase) and EFOR (%48.38 increase) were among the industrial companies that multiplied their profitability.

Red Flags and Sustainability Concerns

On the shadow side of the earnings season were companies experiencing erosion in profitability and lagging behind market multiples. The deterioration of financial statements despite high P/BV ratios produced signals requiring a cautious stance for investors.

■OTKAR experienced a serious deterioration in financial performance, raising its loss to 4.49 billion TL with an annual change of %4,179 creating a shock effect; yet, trading at a 6.64 P/BV shows the company is still priced expensively.

■PASEU saw a sharp %73.55 decline in net profit, yet continues to be priced by the market with an excessively high 24.96 P/BV ratio, raising questions about sustainability.

■PSGYO and DAPGM were also recorded as other sector players experiencing profit declines.

From a corporate portfolio perspective, this earnings period proves that the spread between "value and price" has widened significantly. The sub-1 P/BV ratios on the banking side present an opportunity window that should not be missed for dividend strategies. On the other hand, as seen in the examples of OTKAR and PASEU, high multiples do not always represent high quality, but can instead be perceived as a premium for operational risks. For long-term value creation, we must focus not only on the cheapness of multiples but also on the quality of cash flows and the management's capital allocation efficiency.