Buy, Sell, Hold: 4 stocks and 1 sector are on analysts’ radar on March 15, 2018

Century Ply, Wipro and FMCG space, among others, are being tracked by investors on Thursday.

   

Strides Shasun

Brokerage: Macquarie | Rating: Outperform | Target: Rs 996

Macquarie said that the firm has received US FDA approval for HIV drug Efavirenz Tablets. Further, it expects Efavirenz to be a decent opportunity as co becomes second entrant post Mylan. It also expects Strides’ earnings momentum to pick up in FY19.

Wipro

Brokerage: Axis Capital | Rating: Hold | Target: Rs 300

Axis Capital said that the firm is in definitive agreement to divest hosted data centre services business to Ensono for $405 m. The firm also believes that divesture of ailing managed data center biz is a step in right direction.

Brokerage: Credit Suisse | Rating: Underperform | Target: Rs 290

The brokerage house said that the deal with Ensono is likely to close by Q1FY19.

Century Ply

Brokerage: CLSA | Rating: Buy | Target: Rs 420

CLSA said that it is seeing a rising preference for medium density fibre (mdf) over plywood. The firm’s MDF plant achieved cash breakeven earlier than expected. It expects to be the key growth driver going forward. It also sees newly-commissioned MDF plant to contribute 17 percent to revenue by FY20.

Shriram Transport

Brokerage: Jefferies

Jefferies believes that the company should benefit from stronger CV volumes. Despite rising bond yields, net interest margin should be stable, it said, adding that credit cost could fall, driving 34% EPS CAGR & 430 bps RoE expansion over FY18-20. The stocks’ valuation appears reasonable, it added.

FMCG

Brokerage: Goldman Sachs

The global investment bank forecasts rural income to grow at an 8.5% CAGR over the next five years. Further, it believes that packaged food and beverage segment will be the biggest beneficiary of increase in consumption spend.

Among stocks, it has a buy call on Britannia, but has downgraded HUL to sell. This is due to limited opportunity to expand its distribution. The brokerage has also downgraded Marico to Sell as it feels Saffola and value added hair oils face competitive pressures. It has upgraded Jubilant Food to buy for continued progress on driving SSSG growth. Colgate and Nestle have been upgraded to neutral post their underperformance.

Meanwhile, it is positive on retailers as the market there formalizes. Its top picks include Avenue Supermarts and Titan with a buy call.

MORE WILL UPDATE SOON!!