The National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price was a strong performer in October.
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What happened to the NAB share price in October?
During October, the banking giant's shares hit a new 52-week high of $29.45 before ultimately ending the month at $28.71.
This means the NAB share price rose approximately 3.2% during the period, which compares favourably to the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO). The benchmark index ended the month slightly lower than where it started it.
Why did its shares outperform?
Investors were bidding the NAB share price higher last month despite there being no major news out of it.
However, the bank was the subject of a bullish note out of Goldman Sachs last month.
According to the note, ahead of the company's full year results release, the broker retained its conviction buy rating and lifted its price target to $30.84.
Based on the current NAB share price, this implies potential upside of 7.8% for investors.
And with Goldman forecasting a $1.44 per share fully franked dividend in FY 2022, the total potential return stretches to almost 13%.
What did the broker say?
Goldman is positive on the NAB share price for a number of reasons. This includes its cost management initiatives and its margin management.
The broker explained: "Our preference for NAB (Buy, on CL) is premised on i) NAB's cost management initiatives, which seem further progressed relative to most of its peers and should drive productivity benefits sooner and free up investment spend to be directed more towards customer experience, as opposed to infrastructure; ii) given NAB's position as the largest business bank and investment in its mortgage capability, we believe it is strongly positioned to benefit from the current recovery in both housing and commercial volumes; iii) NAB continues to effectively manage the balance between volumes and margins."
Shareholders will no doubt be hoping for more of the same in November.
