Mankind Pharma, which operates in the domestic pharmaceuticals space, opens its Rs 4300 core IPO today. The issue is priced at a band of Rs 1,026 – Rs 1,080 per share of face value Re.1/-.
When markets make merry, many stocks have seemingly compelling stories even for entering at peak valuation. And the market is fine with stretched valuations to accommodate such stories. In other words, every market-favoured stock appears to scream – buy me at any price.
But when challenges emerge, the same market starts reacting so sharply that investors who bought into the story midway start making losses. Yes, there isn’t a bigger disaster for stock market investors than earnings and PE multiples contracting together.
In February last year, we had issued a buy call on the stock of a premier fashion player housing a vast number of national brands. The steps this company had taken to expand its offering range, a return of focus on margins, and the consumption promise all propelled the call. the stock rallied handsomely as well, post our call.
However, owing to two factors, the stock has since given up nearly 40% from its high and is currently about 25% below our original call price.
Indian markets have corrected about 10% (Nifty 50) from the last peak in December 2022. But many stocks have fallen much more than the bellwether index. This has provided an opportunity to revisit some of our recommended stocks – to either identify averaging opportunities or move them to a BUY from a HOLD.
When we published our equity market outlook for 2023, we had mentioned where pockets of opportunity could be found. The correction the market is going through provides fertile grounds for stock picking. So here, we tell you how to pick stocks in 2023, in those pockets that we had noted. We do this using our Stock Screener.
In April 2022, we had issued a buy recommendation on a general insurance player, as both the industry and the company itself were emerging from the Covid-driven impact and were poised for growth. Since then, however, the insurance sector has lost market favour as growth has not panned out as expected.
When we gave the call of this R&D focused company engaged in the manufacture of enzymes and probiotics, the company had Covid-related challenges but showed promise of growth. It was later also pulled down by consolidation of acquisitions and costs related to new product launches. We therefore knew that the call would take longer to pay off. The stock went through a significant correction after our initial recommendation as earnings disappointed.
Covid proved be an ultimate stress test for Small Finance Banks (SFBs). As SFBs largely cater to low income borrowers comprising small businesses, small vehicle owners and other self-employed categories including micro-finance, they were among the most Covid-sensitive sectors.
We had, in mid-2021, initiated a buy call on a stock that was reinventing itself from a supplier of diesel engines into an EV player. It was an early call we’d made on the EV boom, which appears well-timed as electric 2-wheeler sales jumped from 16,000 units in 2018 to 150,000 units in 2021 to a whopping 615,000 units in 2022!
With the EV 2-wheeler market now clearly segmenting itself, there is more clarity on how competition and market share is shaping up. The EV 2-wheeler industry is also going through regulatory tightening.
This leader in engineering and R&D services is differentiated from other large IT players and is focused on high growth opportunities.
In one of our stock recommendations last year, we analysed a company that was moving from ‘tonnage to technology’. We spoke briefly about the company transforming itself from a manufacturer of forged components to a supplier of products, systems and assemblies to defence and electric vehicles. The stock delivered 27% since our call (index 8.5%) and we retain a buy. In this report we detail further on the above opportunities based on the information that the company shared with analysts last month.
In our Prime Equity outlook in 2022 we said “We would expect any correction triggered by global rates to take the Nifty 50 down to the 12,500 to 15,000 range. In this range, investors should deploy cash and swoop in on buying opportunities rather than develop cold feet!”.
The equity market world over did see a correction in 2022 along these lines and as geo-political factors took hold. Indian markets too, experienced a rout in the first half of the year hitting close to our predicted range at 15,200 by mid-June.
Even so, India did a lot better than its emerging market peers. The Nifty 50 closed the year on a positive note, with a modest 4% return. Simply buying the Nifty 50 would have delivered a good 18% from June until December 2022. Our own stock picks delivered well in 2022, too.
But with global recession on the cards, still high Nifty 50 and a hostile rate scenario, can 2023 be better than 2022? For Indian markets, there are some key trends that we think can play out. We look at where the Nifty 50 could be headed, and where opportunities lie.
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