NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of the National Bank of Greece are down by 4.09% to $1.64 in mid-morning trading on Friday, as two of the country's banks request emergency liquidity assistance. The Greek banks have requested access to an emergency cash facility, run by Greece's central bank, due to concerns that liquidity conditions in the Greek banking sector were tightening in the days leading up to this month's national elections, the Wall Street Journal reports. The banks that requested the emergency liquidity assistance are two of the largest lenders in the country, Eurobank Ergasias and Alpha Bank. Exclusive Report: Jim Cramer's Best Stocks For 2015 STOCKS TO BUY: TheStreet Quant Ratings has identified a handful of stocks that can potentially TRIPLE in the next 12 months. Learn more. The banks are seeking a few billion dollars between them, sources told the Journal, but despite the small amount being sought the request has roused fears regarding the stability of Greece's banking system. National Bank of Greece may also request ELA in the coming days the sources said. However, when the Journal spoke with the National Bank it said it hasn't applied and has no intention of applying. The last time banks began requesting ELA was in the summer of 2011 during Greece's protracted debt crisis, the Journal noted. Greece's deadline to work out a new aid package to replace its existing €240 billion bailout from other Eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund, is February. One month after the country's national elections, the Journal added. If Greece can't come up with a new deal it won't be able to borrow new funds from the ECB and will have to rely on the ELA for cash, the Journal said. Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates NATIONAL BANK OF GREECE as a Sell with a ratings score of D. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate NATIONAL BANK OF GREECE (NBG) a SELL. This is driven by some concerns, which we believe should have a greater impact than any strengths, and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks we cover. Among the areas we feel are negative, one of the most important has been a generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: NBG's stock share price has done very poorly compared to where it was a year ago: Despite any rallies, the net result is that it is down by 72.80%, which is also worse that the performance of the S&P 500 Index. Investors have so far failed to pay much attention to the earnings improvements the company has managed to achieve over the last quarter. Naturally, the overall market trend is bound to be a significant factor. However, in one sense, the stock's sharp decline last year is a positive for future investors, making it cheaper (in proportion to its earnings over the past year) than most other stocks in its industry. But due to other concerns, we feel the stock is still not a good buy right now. The company, on the basis of net income growth from the same quarter one year ago, has underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and greatly underperformed compared to the Commercial Banks industry average. The net income increased by 9.8% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, going from -$92.93 million to -$83.82 million. The revenue fell significantly faster than the industry average of 5.2%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues fell by 30.3%. The declining revenue has not hurt the company's bottom line, with increasing earnings per share. NATIONAL BANK OF GREECE reported significant earnings per share improvement in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. However, we anticipate underperformance relative to this pattern in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, NATIONAL BANK OF GREECE turned its bottom line around by earning $1.98 versus -$27.80 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 92.9% in earnings ($0.14 versus $1.98). 36.50% is the gross profit margin for NATIONAL BANK OF GREECE which we consider to be strong. It has increased from the same quarter the previous year. Regardless of the strong results of the gross profit margin, the net profit margin of -5.49% is in-line with the industry average. You can view the full analysis from the report here: NBG Ratings Report STOCKS TO BUY: TheStreet Quant Ratings has identified a handful of stocks that can potentially TRIPLE in the next 12 months. Learn more.
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