Stock benchmark Nifty went up 4 per cent in April but over half of its stocks were still trading at lower valuations when compared with their 10-year averages. They included ONGC, Tata Steel, Coal India, Apollo Hospitals and Cipla. On the other hand, stocks such as Divi’s Labs, Reliance Industries, Grasim Industries, Nestle India and Britannia Industries were among index constituents that traded at a huge premium over historical averages, a study by Motilal Oswal Securities suggested.
In the case of ONGC, the stock at a PE of 3.3 times trades at 60 per cent discount to its 10-year average of 8.2 times. This is even as shares of this oil refiner jumped 5.26 per cent in April.
Tata Steel shares at 9.6 times PE multiple traded at 51 per cent discount to its 10-year average PE of 19.4 times. This stock was up 3.3 per cent in April. PSU Coal India at 6.7 times, traded at 39 per cent dsicount to a long-term average of 10.9 times; Apollo Hospitals at 51.9 times was at 32 per cent discount and Cipla at 19.9 times was at 28 per cent discount to long-term averages.
IndusInd Bank (44 per cent), Dr Reddy’ s Labs (26 per cent), JSW Steel (24 per cent), Eicher Motors (24 per cent), Sun Pharma (22 per cent) and Hero MotoCorp (19 per cent) were other stocks that traded at huge discounts.
On the flip side, Divi’s Labs (56 per cent), Reliance Industries (44 per cent), Grasim Industries (34 per cent), Nestle India (25 per cent) and Britannia Industries (22 per cent) traded at a huge premium over their historical averages.
Among large caps, Motilal Oswal Securities prefers ICICI Bank, ITC, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Ultratech Cement and ONGC.
"After a flat FY23, Nifty now trades at 18 times one-year forward P/E, which is a decent drop from the level of 21 times seen at the beginning of FY23. Sectors that began the year at elevated valuations – IT, consumer, and select private financials – have seen moderation in the valuation multiples during the year,” Motilal Oswal Securities.
“That said, while absolute valuations are reasonable and well within the range of long period average (LPA) multiples, the relative valuations for MSCI India are still at an 88 per cent premium versus MSCI EM. This compares with the LPA of 70 per cent. We believe the relative equity verus bond valuations are now far more palatable than at the beginning of FY23," the brokearge said.
Here's the list of Nifty stocks such as SBI, and their current and historical valuations:
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