Brokerage Views: Citi On Adani Ports, Coal India, Ambuja Cements And More

Brokerages have Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd., Coal India Ltd. and Ambuja Cements Ltd. on their radar following the release of these companies' fourth-quarter earnings.

NDTV Profit is tracking 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 Friday.

Citi Research On Ambuja Cements

Citi downgrades Ambuja Cements to 'neutral' and has a target at Rs 675 apiece.
Q4 standalone Ebitda below estimates on lower realisations, higher costs.
Management expects utilisation to rise, stable/higher pricing.
Stock drivers largely priced; stock's 60% up move in the past year.
Hikes FY25/26 consolidation Ebitda estimates by 5%/9% on lower costs, management commentary.

Nuvama On Ambuja Cements

Nuvama retains 'buy' on Ambuja Cements at Rs 767 apiece target price.
Positive due to healthy capex plans which will sustain volume growth
Q4 Ebitda 12% lower than brokerage estimates on weak realisation
Company's capex program to be funded via internal accruals and operating cash flows.

Emkay Global Research On Coal India

Emkay maintains 'buy' on Coal India with an unchanged target price of Rs 550 apiece.
E-Auction premiums for Q4 averaged at 65.7%, beating expectations of 45–50%
Full-year employee cost came in at Rs 48,800 crore, higher than Mgmt guidance
Expect concerns around declining premiums alleviating to some extent

Citi Research On Coal India

Citi Research maintains 'neutral' on Coal India and has a target price of Rs 460 apiece.
The research firm has a negative catalyst watch open on Coal India.
Ebitda seems to be below estimates on lower e-auction volumes and higher employee expenses.
Company changed the accounting policy on stripping activity.
E-auction prices may be range-bound despite rising temperatures on adequate coal inventory.
Assumes wage inflation through FY23–26 at 5% and a compound annual growth rate of 2% for fuel-supply-agreement price.

Also Read: Coal India Q4 Results: Profit Up 26%, Beats Estimates

Nuvama On Coal India

Nuvama retains 'buy' on Coal India with a target price of Rs 537 apiece.
Lower e-auction prices and higher operating cost offset higher volume
Higher working capital led net cash to fall to Rs 27,200 crore from Rs 42,300 crore in H1FY24
Employee cost to normalise in FY25
Expect 5% volume CAGR on improving power demand in FY24–26e
Cut FY25e Ebitda by 2% on higher employee cost

Citi Research Adani Ports

Citi Research maintains 'buy' on Adani Ports. Price target increased to Rs 1,782 apiece.
Strong FY25 capital-expenditure guidance implies medium-term growth acceleration.
Results show strong traction in the logistics business.
Remains as top pick despite stock outperformance.

Also Read: Adani Ports Q4 Results: Profit Rises 77%; Revenue To Grow 16% In FY25

Nuvama On Adani Ports

Nuvama retains 'buy' on Adani Ports and raises target price to Rs 1,574 apiece.
Ten ports reported lifetime high cargo volumes for FY24
Expect revenue/Ebitda/net profit growth of 12%/17%/21% over FY24–26
Mundra port volumes likely to surpass 200 MMT in FY25.

Bernstein On Adani Ports

Bernstein rates Adani Ports with an 'outperform' and sets target price of Rs 1,500 apiece.
Beat its guidance on all the metrics
Handles half of container volume, continues to deliver strong volume growth
Company guidance for FY25 broadly in line with estimates.

Citi Research On Bajaj Finance

Citi Research maintains 'buy' on Bajaj Finance Ltd. with a target price of Rs 8,675 apiece.
Restrictions on Bajaj Finance lifted, Bajaj Finance to resume lending in ECom and Insta-EMI Card
New loans booked were lower by 0.8mn/1.2 million in Q4 and the earnings were impacted 4%.
Rectification of deficiencies and ensuring lifting of restrictions in a span of five months is commendable.
Withdrawal in May itself, raises visible towards upper end of guidance

Emkay On Bajaj Finance

Emkay re-iterates 'buy' on Bajaj Finance, with a target price of Rs 9,000 apiece.
Lifting of RBI embargo earlier than expected, a positive surprise; boosts FY25 outlook
Restriction led to lower profit-before tax by 4% in Q4FY24
New loan book was lower by 8 lakh in Q4 and by 12 lakh in FY24
Lifting of this ban would result in higher customer acquisition, along with improved fee income
Removal of restrictions comes on expected lines
Management in its Q4FY24 call had communicated that it has addressed RBI concerns

Citi Research On Auto Sales Number

Mahindra & Mahindra

Maintains 'buy' with target price of Rs 1,890 apiece.
Tractor volumes aided by a shift in festive season; UVs stay steady.
Tractor volumes up 47% monthly due to a shift in festive season.
Good cash flows from rabi harvest are likely to boost tractor demand.
Peer Escorts reported 11% monthly decline, with commentary on demand weakness due to elections.
Expects the recently launched XUV 3XO to support near-term volumes for M&M.

Ashok Leyland

Maintains 'buy' with target price of Rs 215 apiece.
Volumes a tad underwhelming, especially when compared to Tata Motors.
Medium-and-heavy-commercial-vehicle truck volumes declined 2%YoY and 44% monthly.
Bus volumes were up 171% YoY on a weak base but down 24% monthly.
Light commercial vehicle up 2% YoY but decline 29% monthly.
Overall. 10% YoY rise but declined 38% monthly.

Also Read: Stock Market Today: All You Need To Know Going Into Trade On May 3

Citi Research On Dabur

Citi maintains 'sell' on Dabur, rolls forward target price to Rs 515 apiece.
India business growth was driven by oral care (+22% YoY)
Margins were below pre-Covid 4Q levels due to negative operating leverage
Believes stock performance and valuation multiples will depend on demand acceleration, growth trends across categories, and sustained margin.