On Axis Bank

Nomura

• Maintained ‘Buy’; raised to Rs 750 from Rs 630, implying a potential upside of 23 percent from the last regular trade.
• Core performance improves along with stability in asset quality.
• Strong improvement in pre-provisioning operating profit trends.
• Valuations undemanding considering improving credit cycle and strong liability franchise.

Deutsche Bank Research

• Maintained ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 750, implying a potential upside of 23 percent from the last regular trade.
• Getting better; strong trends across all sectors.
• Asset quality improves; unrecognised stress book declines.
• Expect lower slippages and sharply lower credit costs.

CLSA

• Maintained ‘Buy’; raised price target to Rs 750 from Rs 690, implying a potential upside of 23 percent from the last regular trade.
• Key positive was moderation of slippage, lower non-NPLs and high coverage.
• Lower stressed loan formation and corporate de-risking encouraging.
• Tad disappointed with tepid CASA growth; uptick in Casa growth will be key.

On ONGC

JPMorgan

• Maintained ‘Overweight’ with a price target of Rs 265, implying a potential upside of 68 percent from the last regular trade.
• A strong quarter driven by sharply higher realisations.
• Rupee weakness, recent gas price hike should aid earnings further.
• Stock pricing in large subsidy burden.
• No dividend as company likely considering buy back.

IDFC Securities

• Maintained ‘Outperform’; raised price target to Rs 265 from Rs 255, implying a potential upside of 23 percent from the last regular trade.
• Another strong quarter, but oil output a miss; Highest profit in the last four years.
• Market overcompensating for near term uncertainty.
• Expect subsidy contribution of $6 a barrel for for the current and the next financial year; still expect EPS CAGR of 28 percent over FY18-20.

On Indian Oil Corp

CLSA

• Maintained ‘Sell’ with a price target of Rs 105, implying a potential downside of 29 percent from the last regular trade.
• September quarter results disappointed across all key parameters.
• Cut EPS estimates by 3-17 percent over FY19-21 to build in Q2 miss.
• Pressure on marketing along with GRM weakness should weigh on the stock.

Citi

• Maintained ‘Sell’ with a price target of Rs 120, implying a potential downside of 19 percent from the last regular trade.
• September quarter missed, primarily driven by weaker marketing and petchem performance and higher forex losses.
• Q2 GRMs in-line; December quarter performance is likely to be weaker.
• Remain cautious near-term as we enter election and winter season.

On NTPC

Deutsche Bank Research

• Maintained ‘Buy’; cut price target to Rs 190 from Rs 200, implying a potential upside of 20 percent from the last regular trade.
• Earnings miss on coal unavailability as well as capacity delays.
• Management targets to restrict coal under-recovery to Rs 600 crore in the next financial year.

Citi

• Maintained ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 203, implying a potential upside of 29 percent from the last regular trade.
• Fixed cost under-recoveries hurt September quarter’s profit.
• Management’s hope to solve underlying challenges may not happen to the extent.
• Management highlighted that coal availability is gradually improving post monsoons.

On Petronet LNG

Citi

• Maintained ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 290, implying a potential upside of 30 percent from the last regular trade.
• September quarter results were inline; higher payout a positive.
• Dahej utilisation remains robust, while Kochi is stable.
• Risk-reward remains compelling on earnings upsides, limited competition and compelling valuations.

Morgan Stanley

• Maintained ’Overweight’ with a price target of Rs 286, implying a potential upside of 28 percent from the last regular trade.
• Core earnings in line, but key surprise was higher special dividend.
• Believe India gas aggregators to benefit from rising gas competitiveness.
• See upside from demand as government lowers the pollution impact.

On Gujarat Gas

IDFC Securities

• Maintained ‘Outperform’; cut price target to Rs 865 from Rs 875, implying a potential upside of 37 percent from the last regular trade.
• A miss on margins, growth prospects undiminished.
• Key positives: Record volumes.
• Key negatives: Higher than expected gas costs drag margins.

Elara Capital

• Maintained ‘Buy’; cut price target to Rs 916 from Rs 1,115 implying a potential upside of 45 percent from the last regular trade.
• Higher gas cost impacted margins.
• Volume recovery beat our expectation.
• Cut price target to factor lower margins on higher oil-linked gas cost.

On Godrej Consumer

CLSA

• Maintained ‘Outperform’; cut price target to Rs 785 from Rs 950, implying a potential upside if 10 percent from the last regular trade.
• All round miss in September quarter; consolidated Ebitda was sharply below estimates.
• Improvement in household insecticides and Africa critical for the stock.
• Stock could be range-bound until the outlook improves.

Jefferies

• Maintained ‘Hold’; cut price target to Rs 740 from Rs 780, implying a potential upside of 4 percent from the last regular trade.
• September quarter review: Margin disappoints led by international business.
• Despite 25 percent stock correction from peak risk-reward remains unattractive.
• Continue to believe that the international business deserves lower multiple.

On Bharat Forge

CLSA

• Maintained ‘Outperform’; cut price target to Rs 680 from Rs 735, implying a potential upside of 12 percent from the last regular trade.
• Strong September quarter, led by strong double-digit growth across domestic and export businesses.
• Management positive on new order wins in passenger vehicle and pick-up in India’s industrials.
• Stock unlikely to deliver much return if demand in trucks tapers off.

Deutsche Bank Research

• Maintained ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 820, implying a potential upside of 35 percent from the last regular trade.
• Strong growth continues; new revenue streams opening up.
• Expect revenue and EPS to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 12 percent and 16 percent respectively over FY18-21.

On Alkem Labs

HSBC

• Maintained ‘Hold’; cut price target to Rs 2,000 from Rs 2,100, implying a potential upside of 5 percent from the last regular trade.
• Muted India growth in September quarter due to impact of high base and weak seasonal pickup.
• India outlook intact for mid-teen sales growth medium term.
• U.S. growth hinges on new launches and traction in legacy products.

Nomura

• Maintained ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 2,089, implying a potential upside of 9 percent from the last regular trade.
• September quarter was lower than our estimates.
• Underlying growth in domestic business is slower.
• Ban of Fixed Dose Combinations to hit growth in the second half of the current financial year.

More Calls

Deutsche Bank Research on Power Finance Corp

• Maintained ‘Buy’; raised price target to Rs 115 from Rs 110, implying a potential upside of 23 percent from the last regular trade.
• Stable quarter marked by margin expansion and steady asset quality metrics.
• Disbursements driven by discoms/transcos; NIM/spreads improve.
• Exposure to IL&FS at Rs 2500 crore at SPV level.

Deutsche Bank Research on PNB

• Maintained ‘Hold’; cut price target to Rs 75 from Rs 80, implying a potential upside of 9 percent from the last regular trade.
• Slippage ratio remains elevated; another big loss quarter.
• Core banking business is weak and growth is lagging peers.
• Weak margin trajectory along with higher credits costs to result in sub-par RoEs.

Elara Capital on Gujarat State Petronet

• Maintained ‘Buy’; cut price target to Rs 244 from Rs 279, implying a potential upside of 35 percent from the last regular trade.
• Growth from higher tariff and volume.
• Transmission volume declined on a sequential basis on softening of power sector demand.
• Expect margins to improve on new tariff structure and volume growth.

CLSA on Godrej Properties

• Maintained ‘Buy’; cut price target to Rs 843 from Rs 1,097, implying a potential upside of 40 percent from the last regular trade.
• Results weaker than expected.
• Pre-sales down; expect recovery as launches pick-up.
• Cut price target to factor in rising borrowing cost, near-term risks and lower valuation multiple.

CLSA on Cadila Healthcare

• Maintained ‘Outperform’; cut price target to Rs 410 from Rs 460, implying a potential upside of 14 percent from the last regular trade.
• September quarter’s net profit declines, but was inline.
• U.S. revenue in the second half of the current financial year has multiple variables at play.
• Cut price target to factor in lower margins.

Citi on Apollo Hospitals

• Maintained ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 1,540, implying a potential upside of 34 percent from the last regular trade.
• September quarter to underline margin headroom; open positive catalyst watch.
• September quarter is seasonally strongest quarter and should better reflect operating leverage.
• Expect numbers to provide further conviction on turnaround.

CLSA on Sun TV

• Maintained ‘Buy’; cut price target to Rs 870 from Rs 1,100, implying a potential upside of 31 percent from the last regular trade.
• September quarter results a mixed bag; subscriptions growth led by Tamil Nadu.
• Investments to support ad-revenues.
• Still expect Sun TV to deliver 11 percent earnings CAGR over FY19-21.

CLSA on GSK Consumer

• Maintained ‘Buy’; raised price target to Rs 9,200 from Rs 8,700, implying a potential upside of 30 percent from the last regular trade.
• Another strong quarter; strong volume growth and margin expansion.
• Outcome of strategic review holds the key.
• Acquisition by a strong player could be a significant re-rating event.

Citi on SRF

• Maintained ‘Buy’; hike price target to Rs 2,508 from Rs 2,262, implying a potential upside of 28 percent from the last regular trade.
• September quarter reported strong revenue growth but margins compress.
• Revenue growth driven by capacity ramp-up in packaging films and volume uptick in chemical.
• Hike a price target to reflect earnings revision.

CLSA on Aditya Birla Fashion

• Maintained ‘Buy’; hike price target to Rs 232 from Rs 212, implying a potential upside of 21 percent from the last regular trade.
• Second consecutive quarter of margin expansion; operating leverage turning favourable.
• Strong operating leverage, store maturity and corrective steps taken in Madura led to margin expansion.
• Aggressive store additions and online strategy on track.

Citi on TCNS Clothing

• Maintained ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 780, implying a potential upside of 27 percent from the last regular trade.
• September quarter review: Strong margins offset weak SSSG.
• Management said that the demand is improving and December quarter revenues should see a strong uptick.
• Expect margin expansion with SSSG improving into festive season.

Deutsche Bank Research on Whirlpool India

• Maintained ‘Hold’ with a price target of Rs 1,390, implying a potential upside of 2 percent from the last regular trade.
• First Ebitda decline since 2015; weak revenues led the miss.
• Traded goods saw muted performance due to weak summers and excessive inventory.

• Nifty October futures closed trading at 10577, premium of 4 points.
• Nifty November OI down 2.6 percent; Nifty Bank Nov OI up 12.3 percent.
• Max OI for November series at 10,700 Call, OI at 21.8 lakh shares.
• Max OI for November series at 10,000 Put, OI at 51 lakh shares.

Who’s Meeting Whom

• Tata Motors to meet Elara Capital and Harris Associates between Nov. 5-9.
• Mahindra & Mahindra to meet Capital World Investors and other investors between Nov. 14-16.

Insider Trades

• Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals promoter Hindustan Times acquired 1.3 lakh shares on Nov. 1.

(As reported on Nov. 2)

Bulk Deals

• 8K Miles Software Services: IFCI sold 4.23 lakh shares or 1.39 percent equity at Rs 60.2 each.
• CG Power & Industrial Solutions: WGI Emerging Markets Smaller Companies Fund sold 45 lakh shares or 0.72 percent equity at Rs 36.65 each.