Foreign institutional investors have been accumulating at least 29 stocks from sectors such as banks, metals, FMCG and select PSUs, among others, for the past six consecutive quarters. Data showed that overseas investors or FIIs have raised their stake in AU Small Finance Bank to 39.74 per cent for the quarter ended March 2023. Their stake was at 39.61 per cent in December 2022 and 30.59 per cent in September 2020. They have been accumulating the stock for six straight quarters. Of late, AU Small Finance Bank also posted a 22.70 per cent growth in net profit in Q4 FY23.
AU Small Finance Bank has gained 15.73 per cent in the past one year. The lender's shares increased to Rs 765.90 on May 24, 2023 from Rs 661.75 on the same day in 2022. On the other hand, the benchmark BSE Sensex added 14.20 per cent during the same period.
The Great Eastern Shipping Company is next on the list. The latest shareholding of global investors in the company jumped to 25.92 per cent in the March quarter against 25.05 per cent in the preceding quarter ended December 31, 2022 and 19.21 per cent as of September 30, 2020. Of late, the bottom line of The Great Eastern Shipping Company increased 282 per cent YoY to Rs 721.94 crore in Q4FY23 against Rs 188.97 crore in the same quarter last year.
Triveni Turbine, Advanced Enzyme Technologies, Colgate-Palmolive (India), Shanti Educational Initiatives, Rain Industries, Mold-Tek Packaging, Raymond, Axita Cotton, Everest Industries, Hindustan Aeronautics, Chennai Petroleum Corporation, JSW Ispat Special Products, Roto Pumps, Lakshmi Machine Works, Jaiprakash Power Ventures, IG Petrochemicals and Rites stood among other companies in which FIIs raised their stake for the sixth straight quarter as of March 31, 2023.
Dalal Street’s analysts are also bullish on a couple of stocks from the list. For instance, Progressive Share Broker is positive on Triveni Turbine with a target price of Rs 450. The company is a market leader in the 30MW range of steam turbines. Net profit of Triveni Turbine jumped 68 per cent YoY to Rs 55.51 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2023 against Rs 33.01 crore in the same quarter last year. “Triveni Turbine has healthy cash flows from operations, sizeable cash in books, maintains a debt-free status, strong carry forward order book positions and a robust enquiry pipeline to cater for the demand in the near term. We remain positive on the performance of the company in the coming years and revise the target price to Rs 450 (earlier target was Rs 325),” the brokerage said.
Likewise, ICICIdirect is bullish on Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) with a target price of Rs 3,610. HAL, the largest defence PSU in India, is engaged in the design, development, manufacture, repair, overhaul, upgrade and servicing of a wide range of products including, aircraft, helicopters, aero-engines, avionics, accessories and aerospace structures.
“We expect HAL to deliver revenue and EBITDA CAGR of 10.8 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, over FY23-25E. PAT is likely to grow at 6.5 per cent CAGR (FY23-25E). An increase in profitability with strong asset turnover is expected to result in healthy return ratios over FY23-25. We remain positive and retain our ‘Buy’ rating on the stock,” ICICIdirect said in a report.
SMIFS Research sees over 25 per cent upside in IG Petrochemicals against the current market price of Rs 452. “We value the stock on 9 times on FY25 EPS of Rs 63.8 owing to anticipated improvement in spreads, demand pickup and increasing downstream contribution, thereby, arriving at the target price of Rs 576 per share,” the brokerage said in a report.
MM Forgings, which posted over 300 per cent growth in net profit in Q4FY23, also emerged as one of the favourites of FIIs. Overseas investors raised their holding in the company to 1.65 per cent for the quarter ended March 31, 2023 against 1.16 per cent as of December 31 last year. FIIs held a 0.01 per cent stake in the company as of September 30, 2020.
FIIs also raised their stake in Sheela Foam, Tata Coffee, Akzo Nobel India, BASF India, Datamatics Global Services, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, PSP Projects, Honda India Power Products and Hindustan Copper during the same period.