Flat markets with no major triggers

Indian stock markets will see marginal gains with gains in few specific stocks. If inflation is under control, markets will see buying in the mid session. Underperforming sectors like Cement and sugar stocks will shine due positive statements by finance minister.

Global cues: US markets are still in uncertain zone while Asian markets are in positive zone. Crude price is continuing its upward march.

Sector of the day: cement and Sugar (just my intuition).

Positive stock news:

1. Pfizer net profit rose by 7 times from Rs 35 crore to Rs 258 crore.
2. TATA Steel revived Rs 2,500 titanium project. Tata steel shares may bounce back today.
3. TCS is concentrating on Latin-America. It will acquire two IT firms in that region.
4. Infosys may acquire Capgemini.
5. IFCI is planning to sell 26% stake to institutional investors. I have invested in this stock. IFCI will definitely sell its stake at much higher price.
6. IDBI sold 2% stake in NSE.

Negative stock news:

1. SBI will hike home loan EMIs. NPAs will rise due to defaults.

My stock opinion:

1. As I said, Hindalco is returning back. Never invest in a stock just basing on the rumours. Shares of those stocks that rose without fundamentals will not able to sustain those valuations. I suspect the rise behind RPL even though it is a sound stock for long term.

2. Don’t get depressed by seeing the results of wire and wireless. It is a good long term story. Like telecom, investors will have to face losses in the initial stages due to big investments in the infrastructure. If you are a long term investor with 2-3 year horizon, it will be a multibagger. Accumulate this stock. Along with RPL, this stock will be future leaders in their field.

3. Cement companies may not sustain yesterday’s high rise for long term. Monsoon period is generally not good for cement companies.

4. Don’t be fooled by the Pfizer profits. Most of this income is from other sources but not from main businesses.

5. Due to good monsoon, fertiliser stocks will shine in the coming weeks.

6. ITL shares may see some selling pressure due to BSNL GSM equipment order troubles.

7. Religare bought ADK foods. Closely watch this stock as it is a acquisition target.

8. Tata Tea may bounce back on Cadbury buying rumours. Caution advised.

9. TVS Motors will continue to see selling pressure due to poor results.

10. Stay away from current IPOs. There will be good IPOs in the coming weeks.

11. Among entertainment stock, Shree Ahtavinayak is currently available at attractive value.

12. KRBL posted unimpressive results but stock is already bottomed out.

My stock investments in the last 3 days:

1. IFCI- So much value left in this stock.
2. Dhampur sugar mills – Low valuations. Strictly for long term.
3. Wire and Wireless – strictly for long term.
4. TFCI- short to medium term.
5. Hindustan Sanitary ware – with risk.
6. Mastek – Medium to long term.

Please share your opinion on my stock views.

Do you believe in research reports by Stock Analysts?

Outlook Business published a very good article on stock recommendations and research reports by equity analysts. The article raised an interesting point on how leading research stock advisors misguided investors in the Jet Airways IPO. The article listed 39 stock recommendations by leading research houses where innocent investors suffered heavy losses. It is a must read article for every investor.

How to identify best stock recommendations?

My Advice: Read and Listen their advice. Do your own research before entering into that stock. Retail investor is the last person to hear about their recommendations.

Business Today magazine conducted a poll to select best equity analysts in India. It is somewhat better to believe in their stock picks.

SSKI emerged as the leading stock research house in India followed by Kotak Securities.

Best Equity analysts in India:

1. Sanjeev Prasad – Kotak Securities
Sectors: Media, Oil & Gas, Telecom and Chemicals.

2. Shirish Rane – SSKI Securities
Sectors: Cement, Power, Construction and Real Estate.

3. Jesal Shah – JP Morgan
Sectors: Pharma.
Best analyst in the Pharma sector with 13 years experience.

4. Manish Saxena – Deutsche Securities
Sectors: Capital Goods, Cement and Utilities.

5. Prabhat Awasthi – BRICS Securities
Sectors: Media and Auto.

6. Priyanko Panja – Edelweiss Securities
Sectors: Capital Goods, Construction and Telecom.

7. Rahul Singh – City Investment Research
Sectors: Telecom and Oil & Gas

Please share your opinion on research reports of these stock analysts. Do you invest according to their recommendations?

India’s fastest growing companies

Business today magazine published a special article on India’s fastest growing companies. It selected 63 large caps, 29 midcaps and 25 small caps as fastest growing companies. These are safe bets for long term investors. Cement, Construction and Metal companies dominated the listing. You can pick 2-3 future stars if you carefully analyze the data.

Caution: This selection represents the performance of the companies in the past year but not the future growth prospects.

Fastest Growing large cap companies:
1. Hindustan Zinc
2. Welspun Gujarat
3. Unitech
4. Pantaloon Retail
5. Ultratech cement
6. Gujarat Ambuja Cement
7. Nagarjuna Construction
8. Aurobindo Pharma
9. Hindalco
10. United Spirits

Fastest growing Midcap Companies:

1. Kalpataru Power transmission
2. Shree Cement
3. Hindustan Copper
4. Centurion Bank of Punjab
51. Man Industries

Fastest growing small companies:

1. Era Constructions
2. Asian Electronics
3. ICSA
4. ORD Informatics
5. Ansal Housing

If you want more information about these companies, read Business Today dated March 6, 2007.