I was surprised to find Barclays (LSE:BARC) is up 30% since I bought the shares in early January. That’s some of the highest growth of any FTSE 100 stock over the past three months. By comparison, Lloyds is up only 20% and HSBC only 10%. On reflection, NatWest Group would have been an even better buy, up 33%. But I was hesitant to invest in the shares after heavy losses in 2023. The only FTSE 100 stock that has done better in the past three months is major mining conglomerate Antofagasta, up 43%. So can Barclays continue its winning streak? Let’s check the charts. The P/B ratio measures a company’s market cap against its book value – that is, equity divided by outstanding shares. It’s considered a more reliable valuation of bank shares than price-to-earnings. This is because bank earnings can fluctuate wildly due to factors not necessarily associated with performance. A high P/B ratio usually means the company has been doing well but a value below one is preferable when considering investing. At 0.49, Barclays’ P/B ratio is still low even though it’s increased this year. By comparison, Lloyds’ is 0.81 and HSBC’s is 0.95. This reinforces my belief...