Stocks To Watch: Ashoka Buildcon, DCM Shriram, Strides Shasun

Indian equity benchmarks rose to their highest level since Feb. 5 led by gains in Reliance Industries, HDFC and ICICI Bank.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.48 percent or 165.87 points to 34,616.64 and the NSE Nifty 50 index advanced 0.28 percent or 29.65 points to 10,614.35.

Here Are The Stocks To Watch Today

• Fortis says TPG-Manipal Healthcare consortium revised bid, values hospital chain operator at Rs 6,322 crore. This after IHH Healthcare (read here) and KKR-backed Radiant Life Care (read here) too revised their bids.
• Ashoka Buildcon executes concession pact for Karnataka road project.
• Strides to divest holding in remaining API assets to Solara for Rs 131 crore.
• DCM Shriram Board approves expansion of PVC capacity for Rs 32 crore.
• GATI board meeting on April 26 to consider new financial/strategic partner.
• Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys says operations at Therubali plant suspended due to protests.
• Gokaldas Exports board approved opening of QIP issue at floor price of Rs 90.94 per share.
• Radiant Life revises offer for Fortis Healthcare.
• Zensar Board approves stock split of equity shares in the ratio 5:1.
• Raymond board approves Rs 300 crore development plan for 20 acres land at Thane.
• HIL Ltd starts commercial production at Gujarat plant.
• Autoline Industries in pact with Tae Sung, Korea.
• MPS to acquire Tata Interactive Systems.
• Hero MotoCorp hikes two-wheeler prices by up to Rs 625 to offset rising input cost.

F&O Setup

• Nifty April futures closed trading at 10,617.9 with a premium of 3.6 points versus 1.45 points
• Nifty May futures closed trading at 10,642 with premium of 27.7 points versus 28.8 points
• Nifty Rollover at 28 percent, Bank Nifty Rollover at 31 percent
• All series-Nifty open interest down 3 percent, Bank Nifty OI up 7 percent
• India VIX ended at 11.8, down 9.5 percent
• Max open interest for April series at 10,700 (open interest at 44.9 lakh, down 7.5 percent
• Max open interest for April series shifts to 10,500 (open interest at 49.5 lakh, down 14 percent)

F&O Ban

• In Ban: Balrampur Chini, Dewan Housing, GMR Infra, Wockhardt
• New in Ban: Wockhardt
• Out of Ban: Jet Airways, JP Associates, TV18 Broadcast

Only intraday positions can be taken in stocks which are in F&O ban. There is a penalty in case of a rollover of these positions.

Active Stock Futures

Bulk Deals

• Hathway Cable: CLSA Global Markets Pte. Ltd sold 2.55 crore shares or 3.1 percent equity at Rs 35.99 each.
• Associated Alcohols & Breweries: Garnet Tradelink Pvt Ltd sold 1.10 lakh shares or 0.6 percent equity at Rs 384.64 each.

Advanced Enzyme

• HDFC MF bought 22 lakh shares or 2 percent equity at Rs 226 each.
• Promoter Chandrakant Rathi Innovations and Projects Private sold 23.30 lakh shares or 2.1 percent equity at Rs 226.03 each.

Ajmera Realty

• ARIIL Trust bought 5 lakh shares or 1.4 percent equity at Rs 275.4 each.
• Promoter Rajnikant Ajmera sold 5 lakh shares or 1.4 percent equity at Rs 275.4 each.

Insider Trades

• Chaman Lal Setia promoters sold 4,667 shares from April 19– 20.
• Divis Lab promoter Madhusudana Rao Divi sold 1,800 shares on April 20.

Trading Tweaks

• Bhushan Steel circuit filter revised to 10 percent.
• NBCC ex date for 2:1 stock split. F&O lot size revised to 6,000.

Earnings To Watch

• Wipro
• Ultratech Cement

Other Earnings To Watch

• Bajaj Corp
• Future Supply Chain
• ICICI Lombard General
• Indiabulls Real Estate
• Jindal Stainless
• Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services
• Reliance Nippon Life AMC
• Syngene International
• Agro Tech Foods
• GHCL
• Khaitan Electricals
• KSB Pumps
• Meera Industries
• Miven Machine Tools
• Soril Holdings And Ventures
• Sterlite Technologies
• Wendt

Earnings Reactions To Watch

Bharti Airtel (Q4, QoQ)

• Revenue down 3 percent at Rs 19,634 crore.
• Net profit down 73 percent at Rs 83 crore.
• Ebitda down 7 percent at Rs 6,930 crore.
• Margins at 35.3 percent vs 36.8 percent.
• ARPU down 6 percent at Rs 116.

Also Read: Bharti Airtel’s Profit Declines 73% In March Quarter

GIC Housing Finance (Q4, YoY)

• Revenue up 11 percent at Rs.297 crore.
• Net profit up 28 percent at Rs 60 crore.

Persistent Systems (Q4, QoQ)

• Revenue down 5.1 percent at Rs 752 crore.
• Net profit down 20 percent at Rs 73.7 crore.
• EBIT down 32.7 percent at Rs 66 crore.
• EBIT margins at 8.8 percent vs 12.4 percent.

DCM Shriram (Q4, YoY)

• Revenue down 3 percent at Rs 1,566 crore.
• Net profit down 67 percent at Rs 51 crore.
• Ebitda down 62 percent at Rs 85 crore.
• Margins at 5.4 percent.

IDFC Bank (Q4, YoY)

• Net Interest Income down 10 percent at Rs 453 crore.
• Net profit down 76 percent at Rs 42 crore.
• Provisions up 122 percent at Rs 242.5 crore.
• GNPA at 3.31 percent vs 5.62 percent (QoQ).
• NNPA at 1.69 percent vs 2.52 percent (QoQ).

Oberoi Realty (Q4, YoY)

• Revenue up 19 percent at Rs 345 crore.
• Net profit up 40 percent at Rs 143 crore.
• Ebitda up 22 percent at Rs 184 crore.
• Margins at 53.3 percent vs 52.1 percent.

Raymond (Q4, YoY)

• Revenue up 11 percent at Rs 1,630 crore.
• Net profit up 61 percent at Rs 53 crore.
• Ebitda up 32.5 percent at Rs 151 crore.
• Margins at 9.3 percent vs 7.7 percent.

Zensar Tech (Q4, QoQ)

• Revenue up 3 percent at Rs 815 crore.
• Net profit up 24 percent at Rs 73 crore.
• Other income of Rs 27 crore in the current quarter.
• EBIT down 8 percent at Rs 83 crore vs Rs 90 crore.
• Margins at 10.2 percent vs 11.3 percent.

Supreme Petrochem (Q4, YoY)

• Revenue up 3 percent at Rs 888 crore.
• Net profit down 41 percent at Rs 41 crore.
• Ebitda down 38 percent at Rs 69 crore.
• Margins at 7.8 percent vs 12.9 percent.

Brokerage Radar

Morgan Stanley on Telecom Subscribers Data

• Jio continues to see highest net adds.
• Top incumbents continued to gain from smaller operators.
• Airtel’s strong traction in data subscriber to be ARPU accretive.
• Idea-Vodafone: Subscriber addition strong; Data subscriber addition slowed.

BNP Paribas on Telecom Subscribers Data

• JioPhone gaining traction in rural markets.
• Jio's active subscribers catching up with those of incumbents.
• Broadband adds: Jio continues to lead; Good month for Airtel.
• Timing of recovery remains uncertain; Worst of down-trading seems behind.

Credit Suisse on ICICI Prudential

• Maintained ‘Outperform’; raised price target to Rs 515 from Rs 495.
• March quarter was strong; Sharp rise seen in margins and RoEV.
• Margin driven by product mix and cost saving.
• Improvement seen in persistency ratio.
• ICICI Prudential remains top pick in life insurance.

Credit Suisse on Persistent Systems

• Maintained ‘Outperform’ with a price target of Rs 960.
• March quarter remained weak, but better than estimates
• IBM alliance likely to grow in the current financial year.
• Double-digit growth looks possible in the current financial year.
• Believe there is scope for margins to expand.
• Persistent trades at attractive valuations.

Citi on Persistent Systems

• Maintained ‘Sell’ with a price target of Rs 655
• March quarter was weak, largely inline given the profit warning
• Management expects growth to be better in the current financial year.
• Persistent’s growth continues to lag peers despite an early start in digital.
• Improved execution is the key from here on.

Credit Suisse on M&M

• Maintained ‘Outperform’; raised price target to Rs 970 from Rs 940.
• Tractor momentum to remain strong with normal monsoon forecast.
• CV segment continues to do well; Segment also reaching break-even.
• Increase in price target driven by rise in subsidiary valuation.

Edelweiss Investment on Avanti Feeds

• Initiated ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 3,306.
• Royalty among shrimp feed produces.
• Healthy industry tailwinds coupled with rising demand for shrimp augur well for the company.
• Augmenting capacity to become largest shrimp processer in India.
• Shrimp feed and Processes shrimp demand to compound at 25 percent and 91 percent over the fiscal 2017-2020.
• Expect revenue and net profit to compound at 33 percent and 16 percent respectively over the fiscal 2018-2020.