Brokerage Views: Citi On L&T, Nuvama On Axis Bank, Petronet LNG And More

Nuvama Institutional Equities has Axis Bank Ltd., Petronet LNG Ltd., Suzlon Energy Ltd. and CG Power & Industrial Solutions Ltd. on its radar. Citi Research, Nuvama and Bernstein Private Wealth Management have shared their take on Larsen & Toubro Ltd. after it announced its financial results for the first quarter of the current financial year.

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

Nuvama On Axis Bank

Retains a 'buy' rating on the stock and lowers target price to Rs 1,430 apiece from earlier Rs 1,500, implying a potential upside of 15% from the previous close.
Axis Bank continues to trade at a discount to peers.
Company missed to deliver on core income.
Non-institutional investor ex-tax refund was up 1% QoQ.
Net interest margin adjusted for tax refund is 3.99%.
Credit cost rose to 1% from 50 basis points YoY.
Quarter of lower recoveries and higher provisions on unsecured loans.

Bernstein On Axis Bank

Maintains an ‘outperform’ rating on the stock and a target price of Rs 1,250 apiece, implying a potential upside of 1% from the previous close.
Lower operational expenses growth to offset credit cost normalisation.
Estimates an increase in credit cost by 10-15 basis points for the next two years.
Marginally reduce our opex growth by about 1% for fiscal 2025 and 2026.
Lesser than 2% impact on earnings per share in fiscal 2025 and 2026.

Also Read: Axis Bank Q1 Results Review: Fast Growth In Unsecured Loans Should Be Monitored, Say Analysts

Bernstein On L&T

Maintains an 'outperform' rating on the stock and a target price of Rs 3,800 apiece, implying a potential upside of 8% from the previous close.
Order inflow growth of 8% higher than expectations despite elections.
Order inflow and margins in line to meet full year guidance.
Soft order prospects pipeline of Rs 9.07 lakh crore versus June 2023.
Remains positive in the medium term on back of capital expenditure in India and the Middle East.

Citi On L&T

Maintains a 'buy' rating on the stock and a target price of Rs 4,396 apiece, implying a potential upside of 24.9% from the previous close.
Company remains the top pick.
Good-quality order book with less than 1% being slow-moving.
Decline in prospects pipeline due to decline in hydrocarbon prospects.
Maintains FY25 order-inflow guidance of 10% YoY.
Consolidated revenue/Ebitda/PAT growth of 15%/15%/12% remained in line.

Nuvama On L&T

Maintains a 'hold' rating on the stock and a target price of Rs 4,040 apiece, implying a potential upside of 14.8% from the previous close.
In the first nine months of FY25, pipeline fell 10% to Rs 9.07 lakh crore due to slower hydrocarbon capex.
L&T faces headwinds of a large order-book base.
Management highlighted skilled-labour challenges in the first half of FY25.
Limited scope for margin surprise in near term.

Also Read: L&T Warns Of Infrastructure Slowdown Amid Skilled Labour Shortage

Nuvama On Petronet LNG

Maintains a 'buy' rating on the stock and raises target price to Rs 412 apiece, implying a potential upside of 18% from the previous close.
First-quarter Ebitda grew 32% YoY, beat brokerage consensus estimates 17–20%.
Volumes grew 14% YoY to 5.1 MMT, led by higher third-party sales.
⁠Utilisation likely to remain elevated at 100% in FY25.
⁠Management aims to add 4 million tonnes per annum in floating storage regasification unit terminals at Rs 2,300 crore in Gopalpur by FY27.
Dahej terminal expansion project to be value accretive.
⁠Domestic liquefied natural gas demand set to rise if India follows China with LNG trucks driving 40% YoY growth.
Raises FY25/26 Ebitda estimates by 1%/6%.

Also Read: Petronet LNG Q1 Results: Profit Rises 44.6%

Nuvama On Suzlon Energy

Downgrades to a 'hold' rating on the stock at a target price of Rs 64 apiece, implying a potential upside of 5% from the previous close.
⁠Company posted strong first-quarter earnings with operating margins surpassing estimates.
⁠Ramped up in execution to 274 megawatts aided 50% YoY top-line growth.
⁠Remains long-term positive, but uptick in orders and profits factored in valuations.
⁠Expects execution at 1.4/2.4/3 gigawatts for FY25/26/27.

Also Read: Trade Setup For July 25: Nifty To Find Support In 24,070-24,000 Range, Say Analysts

Nuvama On CG Power & Industrial Solutions

Nuvama maintains 'buy' on CG Power, raises target to Rs 820 target (17% upside)
Maintains a 'buy' rating on the stock and raises target price to Rs 820 apiece, implying a potential upside of 17% from the previous close.
First-quarter Ebitda/profit after tax beat Street estimates by 8%/6%.
⁠Beat led by stellar growth in the power segment.
⁠Power and railways continue to be high-growth areas, whereas motors have been weak since the fourth quarter of FY24.
Company one of the few suppliers of high-voltage transformers.
Key variables to watch out for include destocking impact, which is expected to diminish in the second half of FY25.
⁠Entry in new forays, such as outsourced semiconductor assembly and test and Kavach, remains positive and margin accretive.

Also Read: Stock Market Today: Nifty, Sensex End With Little Change After A Volatile Session; Axis Bank, ICICI Bank Drag

Nomura On SBI Life Insurance

Retains a ‘buy’ rating on the stock and a target price of Rs 1,835 apiece, implying a potential upside of 12% from the previous close.
Margin compression in first quarter of FY25 attributed to a decline in margins in non-participating insurance plans, lower than expected growth in protection business and higher growth in unit linked insurance plans.
Maintained its annual premium equivalent growth guidance of 18-20%.
Maintained margins guidance at approximately 28% over FY25.
Estimate the company’s APE and value of new business to post 17% and 15% compound annual growth rates, respectively, for FY24-26.
Value it at 2.2x the enterprise value for FY26.

Nomura On Tata Motors

Upgrades to a ‘buy’ rating on the stock and raises target price to Rs 1,294 apiece from earlier Rs 1,191, implying a potential upside of 26% from the previous close.
Jaguar Land Rover’s execution can lead to significant upsides.
JLR earnings growth can be stronger due to a rise in automotive service products and margins.
Expect JLR's EBIT margins to rise to 8.5% in FY25 versus 7.8% YoY.
Supported by JLR's electric vehicle transition and Range Rover premium push.
Raise target multiple for JLR to 3.5x EV/Ebitda from 2.75x.
Launches of Tata Curvv on Aug. 7 and Harrier EV in FY25F should support India volumes.