Reliance Industries, ITC, ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki among largecap shares that analysts like post Q4 results

Corporate earnings beat consensus estimates in the March quarter, even as analysts remained unimpressed with the quality of beat. Analysts noted that the Dalal Street is factoring in 21 per cent earnings growth in FY24 and 14.5 per cent in FY25 for the Nifty 100 universe. This is after an 8.8 per cent earnings growth in FY23. ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and Sun Pharma are among common stocks that are on brokerages' buy list post Q4 results.

Financials, autos and oil & gas sectors are seen as key drivers of aggregate earnings, accounting for 55 per cent of the incremental earnings over FY23-25. The profitability metrics are close to historical highs across many sectors, as per current estimates, analysts said.

"We prefer domestic economy-focused companies/sectors and where earnings risk is limited to a possible slowdown. We are OW on financials, consumer staples, infra/construction, oil & gas and healthcare. We are underweight on IT services, autos, durables, capital goods and metals," it said while suggesting a March 2024 Nifty target of 19,872.

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Among large cap stocks, Nomura India likes ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Industries. Its least preferred largecap stocks included Maruti Suzuki, TCS, Eicher Motors and Bajaj Finance.

ITC, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, HCL Technologies, Titan Company, Sun Pharma, ONGC, M&M and UltraTech Cement are among stocks that Motilal Oswal Securities prefer in the largecap pack.

Phillip Capital has upgraded stocks such as Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp, NMDC and Sun Pharma to buy; it upgraded JSW Energy to neutral.

Of the 46 Nifty companies (ex-Bajaj Finserv, Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports and Apollo Hospitals), 13 beat revenue estimates while 27 others reported in-line results, Phillip Capital said. A total of 20 exceeded Ebitda and 24 exceeded earnings expectations. A total of six missed revenue, 15 Ebitda and 14 earnings estimates, Phillip Capital said.

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"We expect auto and cement to continue benefit from falling cost of input commodities, setting the stage for sustained earnings growth. Our outlook for NBFC remains positive, driven by robust loan growth and benign credit cost," Elara Securities said.

Nuvama Institutional Equities said it is overweight on sectors with margin tailwinds such as FMCG, pharma, cement domestic autos, IT, Telecom and internet) and underweight on cyclicals such as banking and financials, industrials and metals.

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