Brokerage Views: Morgan Stanley On BrainBees Solutions, HSBC On ONGC, Citi On Exide And More

Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on FirstCry-parent brand BrainBees Solutions. Citi maintained a 'buy' on Exide Industries Ltd. and HDFC Bank Ltd., while Jefferies remained bullish on Godrej Properties Ltd. Jefferies is also positive on Adani Energy Solutions Ltd., while Kotak has a negative outlook on HCL Technologies Ltd.

NDTV Profit tracks what brokerages are putting out on stocks and sectors. Here are all the top calls from analysts you need to know about on Thursday.

Morgan Stanley On BrainBees Solutions

Initiates coverage with 'overweight' rating on BrainBees with a target price of Rs 818 per share, indicating a 28% upside.
BrainBees is well placed to capitalise on India's growing childcare market through its FirstCry brand.
Multiple levers of growth and profitability improvement are in place.
India remains in a sweet spot when it comes to demographics.
Consumer shift towards online and organised retailing, augers well for demand for childcare products.
FirstCry is a multi-channel play on the childcare ecosystem with strong distribution, large portfolio of home brands and strong back end supply-chain capabilities.
Estimates GlobalBees' revenue will accelerate at a 17% CAGR over fiscals 2024 to 2027.
Current valuations indicate further upside.

Citi On Exide Industries

Maintained a 'buy' rating on the stock, with a target price of Rs 560 per share, indicating a potential upside of 19%.
Sluggishness in auto original equipment manufacturers' volumes likely to impact revenue growth.
Exide cannot remain unscathed from this moderation in CV/PV volumes.
Company is expected to benefit from the growth in OEM sales from two to three years ago.
These vehicles sold in fiscals 2022-2023 will enter their first battery-replacement cycle in fiscal 2025.
Cut earnings to reflect lower margins and lower operating leverage.
Could get incremental news-flow on new orders or customers for EV battery business.
Cut earnings estimates by 12% in fiscal 2025 and 9% each in fiscals 2026 and 2027.

Also Read: Exide Industries Invests Rs 100 Crore In Subsidiary

Macquarie On Rate Cut Beneficiaries

Apart from a potential long in non-bank financials, we find no obvious Fed rate cut trade in India.
Performance of banks has been mixed; 12-months post the first rate cut have been negative.
No clear inference here as aspects like NPL cycles and liquidity conditions matter.
Insurance companies don't have sufficient listing history to conclude.
NBFCs should be potential beneficiaries due to easing environment.
But there weren't many large NBFCs pre-2008; can't make general conclusion based on past track, it said.
Unlike 2001, 2007 and 2019, this time IT spending has already been very constrained.
Expects services demand to pick up about 3-6 months after the first-rate cut.

Jefferies On Godrej Properties

Maintained a 'buy' rating with a price target of Rs 3,725 per share, indicating a potential upside of 30%.
Residential upcycle to be structural in nature, could last over a decade.
Expects the company to deliver on fiscal 2025 guidance, continue momentum over fiscals 2026 and 2027.
Rising take rates, improving mix and pricing should reflect in higher profitability by fiscals 2026 and 2027.

Also Read: NTPC Green Energy Files Draft Papers For Rs 10,000-Crore IPO

Citi On HDFC Bank

Maintained a 'buy' rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 2,020 per share, implying a potential upside of 19%.
Expect stable NIMs in the near term with gradual improvement levers available.
Targets 3-5% higher deposits growth than system average.
Focus on profitable growth to drag advances growth below system average, as well as deposits growth.
Comfortable on retail asset quality with adequate provisioning buffer to contain credit cost.

Jefferies On Adani Energy Solutions

Maintained a 'buy' rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 1,365 apiece, indicating a potential upside of 38%.
Possess 17% market share in transmission competitive bids.
Smart meters an interesting opportunity with opportunity of 12 crore meters by 2026.
Debt being refinanced to match life of asset at fixed rate.
Vendor back to back arrangements to limit impact of commodity price.
Risks include inability to maintain interest rate and market share loss.

Also Read: Adani Green Energy Poised To Grow Over Five Times In Six Years, Says Investec

Kotak Securities On HCL Technologies

Downgraded rating to 'reduce' from 'add', with a target price of Rs 1,740 apiece, indicating a potential downside of 1%.
Stock rallied 22% in past three months.
Trades at full valuations of 26 times fiscal 2026 earnings. Brokerage suggests awaiting a better entry point.
Headwinds include modest deal wins over the past few quarters and lesser ideal visibility for growth in fiscal 2026.

Also Read: Stock Market Today: Nifty, Sensex End At Record Highs As Private Bank Stocks Lead

Kotak Securities On Economy

Federal Reserve began its rate cut cycle with a 50 basis point rate cut.
Markets had been expecting 125 bps cut in 2024 and further 100 bps cut in 2025.
Sentiments hinge on whether US can manage a soft landing.
Markets will start focusing more on the Bank of Japan.
Risk-off due to large FX moves will percolate to other asset classes too.
Monetary policy divergence will remain key concern for EMs (including India).
The Fed should cut by 25 bps each in the next two policies, the brokerage said.
Larger rate cuts could be triggered by sharper-than-expected disinflation, weaker-than-expected labour data.
Maintained call of shallow rate-cut cycle in India (75-100 bps) starting in December, as inflation moves toward 4% in fiscal 2026.

HSBC On ONGC

Downgraded the stock to a 'reduce' rating and raised target price to Rs 230 per share, indicating a potential 21.9% downside.
Oil prices below $75 exposes more downside risk for company.
Falling oil prices to impact earnings and IRRs.
Falling oil prices often affect viability for greenfield, oil recovery projects.
Production track record of growth remains uninspiring.
Most promising KG field seeing delays, lower output guidance.
Weaker performance of subsidiaries HPCL, MRPL can impact dividend.
Cut fiscal 2024 and 2025 earnings estimates by 4-6% on lower production volumes.

Bank Of America On InfoEdge

Upgraded rating to 'buy', with a target price of Rs 9,000 per share from Rs 5,185 apiece, indicating a potential upside of 16.5%.
Naukri has dominant position in industry. Brokerage does not foresee any major risks of disruption.
Expects steady recovery in IT hiring. Sees room for margin improvement as well.
Expects good momentum from Zomato and PB Fintech on the back of fundamentals.
Zomato and PB Fintech contribute to 33% of SOTP based target.
Not factoring any recovery in real estate, matrimony and education business.
Does not expect any material unlocking from start up investments.

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