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.

Business world issue on India’s most respected companies

Business world magazine has released special issue on India’s most respected companies. Investors should read this magazine as it gives an idea about the various companies from insiders.
Most respected companies:

1. Automobiles – Maruti Udyog, Tata Motors
2. Auto Ancillaries – MRF, Bharat Forge
3. Banking – ICICI Bank, Citibank
4. BPO – IBM Daksh, Infosys BPO
5. Consumer durables – Nokia, LG
6. FMCG – HLL, Britannia
7. Food Retail – Mc Donald’s, Café Coffee Day
8. Infrastructure – Tata Steel, L&T
9. Insurance – LIC, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance
10. Information technology – Infosys, Microsoft India
11. Media & Entertainment – NDTV, Bennett, Colemon & Co
12. Petroleum – Castrol, HPCL
13. Pharma – Ranbaxy, Cipla
14. Retail – Shopper’s Stop, Reliance Retail
15. Telecom – Bharti Airtel, Reliance Infocomm
16. Textiles – Raymond, Arvind Mills
17. Travel – Indian hotels, ITC Hotels

Long term investors may invest in the following companies:

Apollo Tyres, Castrol, Cipla,
Dabur India, TATA Teleservices

NDTV, Arvind Mills, Ranbaxy
Indian Hotels and TATA Motors.

Shares like Arvind Mills are quoting at attractive prices.

Most respected companies list provides an insight into what is happening in corporate India. These companies are rated high by the insiders. It is a measure of their credibility which is vital for the long term growth of the companies.

Magazine highlighted the fact that these companies will find it easy to hire the best talent. Their customers feel secure buying their products; their employees feel proud working for them. These attributes are necessary for the growth of any company.

Read more.

Smoking effects on fanancial health

Money today magazine published an interesting article on smoking expenses.

If a 35 year-old quits smoking,he can save up to Rs.12 lakh by the time he retires excluding medical expenses.

A cigarette pack: Rs 40
Monthly cost =Rs 1,200
Yearly cost =Rs 14,400

If that money was invested in a scheme that gave a 10% return annually,it would grow to Rs 12 lakh in 23 years. Interesting fiancial calculation.

If you want more information, visit http://www.moneytoday.in

Smoking is injurious to financial health. GIVEUP SMOKING.