10 stocks which are most popular with brokerages right now and are expected to deliver maximum upside over the next 12 months.
Tata Communications has seen analyst upgrades after reporting Q3FY24 results. The biggest factor is the visible signs of a turnaround in its new acquisition, Kaleyra. The consolidated revenue grew 16 per cent Q-o-Q to Rs 5,630 crore led by 15 per cent Q-o-Q improvement in the data segment.
A strong performance in the July-September quarter of 2023-24 (Q2FY24), an upward revision in the margin guidance and sustained momentum in US sales has helped the stock of pharmaceutical major Cipla gain about 2 per cent over the last two trading sessions. The brokerages have upgraded the earnings estimates for this financial year (FY24) by 6-9 per cent to factor in the improved margin guidance and sales in the US market. Led by the US market, which rose by 31 per cent, the company posted a 16 per cent growth in revenues.
Brokerages expect Nifty50 companies to have cumulatively witnessed strong double-digit growth in their earnings in the first quarter of FY24 (Q1FY24). This growth in the combined earnings is expected to have been driven by banks, automakers, and oil & gas companies. Other sectors may report muted profit growth.
As a step to entrench its consumer finance business, Bajaj Finance (BFL) plans to scale up its business-to-business (B2B) activity, both in terms of volume as well as value. It plans to add up to 1,000 cities in the next three years and this will mark its presence in around 5,000 cities. The expansion activity will be more in Northern and Eastern India.
Punjab National Bank on Monday allayed concerns about its exposure to Adani companies and noted that its loans to the group are diversified into 8-9 companies, which are generating sufficient cash. Atul Kumar Goel, the bank's MD & CEO, in a post-earnings call said total exposure to Adani group, so far, stands at Rs 7,000 crore, of which Rs 2,500 crore is in the airport sector. He further said there is "no worry as the exposure is not very big" and that the bank is keeping an eye on the development that is taking place.
'As China's reopening euphoria fizzled out on the back of some disappointing economic data, we saw inflows coming back to India with full force in the past 3-4 months.'
'At the policy's maturity, the total premium is refunded.'
In addition to the negative sentiment as a consequence of changes announced in the Union Budget 2023-24 concerning tax treatment for debt repayment distribution, concerns about hiring slowdown and its leasing impact, as well as higher interest rates, could blight the sector in the near term.
Fundraising through the issuance of shares to qualified institutional investors has seen hectic activity in the first half of the current fiscal year (FY24), with 20 companies mobilising over Rs 18,400 crore, more than four-fold from the year-ago period, on positive investors' sentiments. Moreover, the robust trend of Qualified Institutional Placements (QIPs) in the first half of the fiscal year 2023-24 is expected to persist throughout the second half of the year too, Sanjay Moorjani, Research Analyst at SAMCO Securities, told PTI. Prashant Rao, director and head of equity capital markets, Anand Rathi Investment Banking, said that market and investor sentiments play an important role for these issuances.
The stock of two wheeler maker Eicher Motors was the highest gainer among BSE 100 stocks, rising 6.6 per cent in trade on Friday. The gains came on the back of better than expected performance in the March quarter of the 2022-23 financial year (Q4FY23) and earnings upgrades by brokerages. Standalone revenues (Royal Enfield) were up 19.9 per cent year-on-year (YoY), led by an 18 per cent growth in volumes and a marginal uptick in realisations.
Next year Medica and Manipal will merge, making the amalgamated entity the largest corporate hospital chain in the country, overtaking Apollo Hospitals Enterprises.
The Reserve Bank is expected to go for another rate hike of 0.40 per cent at the scheduled review of the monetary policy next week, a foreign brokerage said on Friday. The central bank's rate setting panel will follow it up with a 0.35 per cent hike in rates at the next review in August, or make it into a 0.50 per cent hike next week and a 0.25 per cent increase in August, to make the total quantum of rate hikes at 0.75 per cent, the report by Bofa Securities said. On May 4, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked rates by 0.40 per cent, and Governor Shaktikanta Das has already called a rate hike at the forthcoming review as a "no brainer" given the pressure to maintain its core mandate of inflation in the targeted band of under 6 per cent.
Key drivers of profitability for Zomato has not witnessed remarkable growth, the management believes the venture will turn profitable in the long term.
'This year's detection of frauds and probable recovery will be mainly driven by several compliance measures put in place, and amendments made to the GST regime to plug revenue leakages particularly in new-edge sectors.'
The message is clear: The 60-year-old wise uncles need to handhold the 40-year-old entrepreneurs when, obsessed with ambition and greed for growth, they become a victim of hubris, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
"We will raise Rs 300 crore via bonds of two-, three- and five-year tenures. This will be our maiden bond issuance and is part of our effort to widen funding sources," says Vimal Bhandari, executive vice-chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), Arka Fincap. The firm, a subsidiary of Kirloskar Oil, is only five years old and small (assets of around Rs 5,000 crore with an "AA" rating), but the response to this float will be closely watched: It would be the first by a non-banking finance company (NBFC) after Mint Road upped the risk weights on bank exposures to them by 25 percentage points. The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has caught NBFCs off guard even though the issue had been flagged by Governor Shaktikanta Das with their corner-room occupants (and that of banks) in July and August 2023 - on consumer credit and the dependency on bank borrowings.
Domestic rating agency Icra on Monday upped its banking sector outlook to 'positive' on healthy asset growth, improving asset quality and stronger capital buffers. The agency expects asset quality to improve to a decadal best of 4 per cent from a gross non-performing assets (NPAs) perspective by the end of FY24. The banking system's credit growth will slow down to 11-11.6 per cent in FY24, after a very healthy growth of 15.2-16.1 per cent expected in FY23, the rating agency said.
The four public sector general insurance companies -- New India Assurance, United India Insurance, Oriental Insurance, and National Insurance Company -- have lost 800 basis points (bps) in market share in last five years to their private counterparts, the data from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irdai) revealed. In 2018-19, the four had a cumulative market share of 40.04 per cent, with New India Assurance having a market share of 14 per cent and United India Insurance with a market share of 9.63 per cent. But, gradually in the past five years, these state-backed firms have lost their market share to private sector players, due to the declining health of their business.
Ask rediffGURU and tax expert Mihir Tanna your income tax-related questions.
Gold, the safest haven amid the ongoing uncertainty, also emerged as one of the most lucrative investment options in financial year 2022-23 with an impressive return of 16.1 per cent in rupee terms, and 2.3 per cent returns in dollars. And, had it not been for the very high inflow of smuggled gold and the huge discount prevailing in the market due to high prices, the returns in gold would have been much higher, analysts said. The precious metal has consistently been delivering positive returns in India since 2016.
A 25 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase in budget allocation towards the roads sector for FY24 has led to renewed interest among investors. However, a combination of escalating costs for Bharatmala and unseasonal rains to some extent have impacted progress. Bharatmala's cost has nearly doubled from Rs 5.35 trillion to Rs 10.6 trillion and the finance ministry has asked MoRTH to go slow until Cabinet approval is received.
The stocks of Mumbai-based real estate companies have been hitting lifetime highs on expectations that launches, steady demand, and price increases in the largest real estate market in the country would boost their financials. Macrotech Developers (Lodha) and Oberoi Realty hit their all-time highs last week, while Godrej Properties came close to its 52-week high last month before witnessing a sharp correction.
Over the past three trading sessions, the stock of Cummins India has gained about nine per cent on strong January-March quarter (Q4) results and good near-term prospects. Its Q4 performance was led by a healthy 29 per cent revenue growth over the year ago quarter. This was largely on the back of a 33 per cent jump in domestic revenues while exports witnessed a growth of 17 per cent.
InterGlobe Aviation, the operator of India's leading airline IndiGo, delivered a better than expected performance across most parameters in Q2FY24. The company posted its fourth consecutive quarter of net profit of Rs 188 crore. It had reported a loss of Rs 1,583 crore in the same quarter a year ago.
Logistics services provider Delhivery posted a mixed set of results during the March quarter of the previous financial year (Q4 of FY23). While its operating profit was marginally in the green, its net losses widened as compared to the year-ago quarter. Overall revenues, which were in line with estimates, fell 10 per cent year-on-year (YoY).
Conflicting views on Coal India (CIL) might leave investors confused. The bullish perspective that India has strong power demand (and also high steel production) means high demand for coal. As CIL is the monopoly producer of coal -- supplying over 80 per cent of the domestic requirement - the public sector undertaking should be a beneficiary of the rising power demand.
Even as top Pegatron executives went to the factory near Chennai on Tuesday to make an assessment of the fire damage to decide on a possible date for resuming operations, sources said the impact of the closure will be minimal for Apple's iPhone production. Late in the evening sources said that the factory might be operational soon-but said they are waiting for a final update. It will also not impact the availability of the newly-launched iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, they said.
Eveready Industries India will launch a new category in Financial Year 2024-25 (FY25) as it works to double revenue, said a senior executive of the country's largest dry cell battery maker. It could be an adjacency or a new product under the Eveready brand and a final decision is expected by the end of this financial year. "We are currently working on that exercise; it's on the drawing board," said Suvamoy Saha, managing director of Eveready.
The government's target of hitting $52 billion to $58 billion in mobile phone exports in FY26 has been faltering; an Indian corporate group with financial muscle will help.
Despite rising interest rates, and high inflation, the banking sector is doing well, on the back of a recovering economy. The last couple of quarters indicate credit demand is picking up and Return on Assets (RoA) is more than acceptable at the moment. The PSU bank pack may be more interesting at the moment simply due to being valued at far lower multiples than the private banks.
The biggest headwind to the consumption story in FY23 is a sharp decline in government subsidies on food, fertiliser and fuel, and overall decline in revenue expenditure net of interest payments. This, analysts say, will adversely impact purchasing power of households at the lower end of the income pyramid, translating into lower spending on consumer goods and services.
Trade generic drugs (medicines that are sold directly through distributors) are fast becoming a key segment for domestic pharma firms as volume growth slows in the overall market. Big companies like Cipla and Alkem have a significant presence in the segment but recently, players like Torrent Pharmaceuticals and Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) have also entered this market. What is driving big pharma's focus on trade generics? The volume growth in the Indian Pharma Market (IPM) has come down from 5.6 per cent in FY16 to 0.1 per cent in FY23.
But the government will present a second tranche of Supplementary Demands for Grants during the Budget session of Parliament in February, when it can seek additional spending.
The board of Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) on Tuesday approved a proposal to issue shares worth Rs 12,841 crore to parent company Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) for acquiring Suzuki Motor Gujarat (SMG). The Gujarat manufacturing plant - with an annual capacity of 750,000 units - is owned by SMG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SMC. The shares issued to SMC will raise its ownership in MSIL from 56.48 per cent to 58.19 per cent--India's largest carmaker stated in a notice to BSE.
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) reported weak growth through H1FY24 but it witnessed a boost in embedded value (EV) due to equity-market performance. But concerns regarding its stock include loss of market share as it is outpaced by private sector rivals, sticky operating expenses (reduced slightly year-on-year but up in Q2FY24 versus Q1FY24), and high sensitivity of embedded value to equity volatility. Traders may also factor in the likelihood of another stake sale by the Government of India.
The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) latest order on unsecured loans is set to hit the banking sector's growth in the near-term, cautioned analysts, as they see banks slowing down on aggressive retail lending. Besides, cost of funds for non-banking finance companies (NBFC) is expected to inch up as banks will pass on higher capital charge to NBFCs. "We believe the fallout of the RBI action will be mainly on growth, given the rising dependence on unsecured retail loans and lending to NBFCs for growth.
With another quarter of steady growth in demand, cement companies are expected to report strong year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in earnings, according to analysts. The September quarter (Q2FY24) also witnessed a resumption of price hikes in certain markets. UltraTech Cement, India's largest cement producer, reported a 15 per cent Y-o-Y increase in cement sales in the country for the quarter under review.
In the June quarter of FY24, 51 per cent of consumers who took small-ticket personal loans already had more than four credit products at the time of accessing yet another new loan, compared with just 17 per cent in the June quarter of FY20, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
India's forex reserves dropped by $329 million to $578.45 billion for the week ended March 31, on decline in gold reserves, the RBI said on Friday. The forex kitty had risen handsomely in the previous two reporting weeks, and rose by $5.98 billion to $578.78 billion for the week ended March 24. For FY23, the overall kitty has dropped by $28.86 billion.