Brokerage Views: Jefferies, Nuvama On Kotak Bank, Motilal Oswal On MRF And More

Brokerages from Bernstein to Nuvama and Jefferies are keen on Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., MRF Ltd., and Avenue Supermarts Ltd. following the release of these companies' fourth-quarter earnings.

NDTV Profit tracks what the brokerages are putting out on specific stocks. Here are all the top calls from the brokerages that you need to know about on Monday.

Bernstein On Kotak Mahindra Bank

Bernstein rates Kotak Mahindra Bank 'market perform' with a target price of Rs 1,650 apiece.
Healthy loan growth and shift to unsecured segments continue.
Solid deposit growth, even if led by term deposits
NIM improves six basis points quarter-on-quarter.
Opex growth: no surprises
Asset quality remains healthy.
A stellar quarter, if only numbers mattered.

Nuvama On Kotak Mahindra Bank

Nuvama maintains 'reduce' on Kotak Mahindra Bank, with a target price of Rs 1,530 apiece.
There are many one-offs; core NIM declines; LCR deposit grows 3% quarter-on-quarter.
CEO gives colour on digital ban; some questions go unanswered.
The digital ban resulted in a low net profit before tax impact of Rs 4.5 billion.
It is unclear how the ban will impact customer acquisition, yields, asset growth, opex, and tech spends.
Valuation based on 1.8x FY25E PBV

Also Read: Kotak Mahindra Bank Q4 Results: Profit Up 17.6% On Higher Other Income

JPMorgan On Kotak Mahindra Bank

JPMorgan upgrades Kotak Mahindra Bank to 'overweight' with a target price of Rs 2,070 apiece.
Impact of RBI actions on FY25/26 growth should be minimal.
Impact of RBI action should be 2% of FY26 profit-before-tax.
Expect earnings CAGR of 16-17% in the next 2 years.
Valuations of 10x FY26E PE are compelling.

Jefferies On Kotak Mahindra Bank

Jefferies retains a 'hold' rating on Kotak Mahindra Bank with a target price of Rs 1,790 apiece.
Profit was ahead of estimates, adjusted for one-timers, and grew 5%.
Slippages and credit costs are normalising.
Valuations based on 1.9x June 2026 adjusted PBV

Also Read: 'More Worried About Reputational Impact Than Financial Impact,' Says Kotak Mahindra Bank CEO On RBI Curbs

Motilal Oswal On MRF

Motilal Oswal retains 'sell' on MRF with a target price of Rs 92,000 apiece.
Combined with rising raw material costs, this could hurt Ebitda margins in the upcoming quarters.
Lower FY25E/FY26E earnings per share by 12%/10% to factor in commodity headwind and EPR provisions.
Stock trades at 25x FY26E EPS above its 10-year LPA of 22-times.
Believe this does not reflect a weakening competitive position or a deteriorating return profile.

Nuvama On Avenue Supermarts

Nuvama maintains a 'hold' on Avenue Supermarts with a target price of Rs 4,821 apiece.
The commentary highlights the increasing share of general merchandise and apparel.
This resulted in 30 basis points. year-on-year improvement in gross margins
DMart Ready's steady performance, now present in 23 cities
Factoring in 41 stores, a robust addition and a runway for similar additions in the coming years
Increase earnings multiple to pre-Covid average of 75x PE versus 70x earlier

Also Read: Avenue Supermarts Q4 Update: Revenue Estimated To Rise 20%

Motilal Oswal On Avenue Supermarts

Motilal Oswal reiterated 'buy' on Avenue Supermarts with a target price of Rs 5,310 apiece.
Indicating an improvement in the share of large format stores, a positive trend
Healthy cost efficiencies and a recovery in discretionary demand are likely to drive growth.

Kotak Securities On MRF

The brokerage retains 'sell' rating with a target price of Rs 87,000 per share, implying a downside of 32% from previous close.
4Q FY24 Ebitda came in 14% below their estimates.
Stock is currently trading at 30 times FY2025 consolidated earnings per share.
Cuts FY2025-26 consolidated EPS estimates by 6-10%.
Lower Ebitda margin assumptions and higher depreciation expense.
Aggressive pricing, raw materials uptick and expected price range to affect margins.

Kotak Securities On Godrej Properties

The brokerage maintains 'sell' with a target price of Rs Rs 1,780 per share, implying a 30.7% downside from the previous close.
Revenues and profit after tax for FY2024 in line with the given guidance.,
FY2025 guidance remains strong, sees 20% pre-sales growth.
The company would continue to be the development manager for the Vikhroli land.
Godrej and Boyce can acquire new land for the real estate business after six years.
Post settlement Godrej and Boyce will operate without the Godrej brand.
Believes all positives captured in the current market price.

Kotak Securities On CEAT

The brokerage maintains a maintain 'sell' with a target price Rs 1,850 per share, implying a downside of 27% from the previous close.
Ebitda in line due to higher gross margins
Expect the raw material basket to inch up sequentially
expected price range-related provisions and uptick in rubber prices
Maintain 12 times June 2026E consolidated earnings per share.

Nomura On Ambuja Cement

Nomura maintains 'reduce' with a target price of Rs 500 apiece, implying a 19% downside from the previous close.
Lower than-expected realization led to Q4 Ebitda miss.
Ebitda/tonne of Rs 840 per tonne missed estimates by 10%.
Management targets to become lowest cost producer by FY28.
Green power to drive cost saving of Rs 100/tonne as per management.

IIFL On PSU Bank

RBI issued draft harmonised prudential framework for lenders
Tighten certain lending criteria, which should improve the project viability in our view
Phased increase standard asset provisioning to 1-5% of loans from current 0.4%
Additional provisioning requirement to be 0.5-3% of banks’ networth
No Return on equity impact on power financiers - can hurt Tier1,2 ratios and weigh valuations.

Bernstein On Lenders

Proposed guidelines suggest 5% of standard provisions to be set aside for under-construction project finance advances
Sharp increase from the current standard provisioning requirement of 0.4%
Provisioning requirement only gradually reduces to 2.5% and then 1%
Will increase provisioning requirements significantly; reduce profitability by as much as 50%
Organic equity accrual is severely impaired.

Morgan Stanley On Deepak Nitrite

Morgan Stanley upgrades Deepak Nitrite to 'overweight' and raises target price to Rs 1625 from Rs 2985
Expects New investment cycle to drive next leg of rerating
Multi-year investment cycle of $1billion+; double earnings by 2028
Three cases of 2x+ rerating in last decade, in anticipation of earnings upgrades
Triggers-Base earnings improvements are, project start-ups and new investments.