Zomato, Paytm, Policybazaar: These stocks have jumped up to 144% in 2023

Railway-related stocks coupled with new-age technology firms are at the forefront in the large-cap and mid-cap space amid the ongoing rally on Dalal Street since the beginning of the calendar year. Data shows that Rail Vikas Nigam has climbed the most 144 per cent on a year-to-date basis. Shares of the company have advanced to Rs 166.25 on September 28, 2023 from Rs 68.25 on December 30, 2022.

REC (up 141 per cent), Indian Railway Finance Corporation (up 130 per cent) and Power Finance Corporation (up 117 per cent) emerged as other top gainers in the list. Polycab India, Tata Motors DVR and Aurobindo Pharma have also rallied over 100 per cent YTD. Analysts are also bullish on a couple of stocks from the list of top 20 gainers.

Sharing his views on the railway sector, Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart in an earlier interaction with Business Today said, “Railway industry is currently witnessing a noteworthy upswing, primarily driven by substantial capital expenditure (capex) commitments. Businesses in this sector continually secure substantial contracts, laying the foundation for promising future profits.”

Data further highlighted that new-age technology companies including Policybazaar parent PB Fintech, food delivery firm Zomato and digital payments platform One97 Communications (Paytm) have also gained 70 per cent, 68 per cent and 61 per cent during the same period.

Commenting on the food delivery sector, Nuvama Institutional Equities said, “The state of play for global food delivery players is rapidly evolving. We deep dive into the current dynamics of this space and understand the ruling trends. Four key themes stand out: Advertising, albeit a small contributor, is increasingly becoming a growing and important additional revenue stream. Scale in delivery volumes, lower sales and marketing costs and operating efficiencies have translated into accelerated profitability. The ‘non-restaurant’ category is gaining prominence in terms of driving growth in the platform user base. Membership programs drive higher spending and higher retention rates.”

“We believe the above trends are either already playing out, or shall play out in the medium-term for Zomato,” Nuvama added.

Jindal Stainless, Linde India, and ZF Commercial Vehicle Control Systems India have also gained 98 per cent, 74 per cent and 71 per cent, respectively, on a year-to-date basis.

Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company, Supreme Industries, KPIT Technologies, CG Power and Industrial Solutions, IDFC First Bank, Bharat Heavy Electricals and Tata Motors also gained somewhere between 58 per cent and 70 per cent since December 2022.

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Nomura is positive on Tata Motors with a target price of Rs 786. “The stock is currently trading at around 4x FY25 EBITDA which we believe is attractive,” the global brokerage firm said in a report on September 14.

The benchmark equity index BSE Sensex has gained nearly 8 per cent during the same period, while the broader BSE Midcap index jumped 26 per cent during the same period.

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