Institutional Activity

ICICI Securities has recommended a buy on Bharat Petroleum at Rs 189. The company's retail sales are growing faster than its peers and it is well geared-up for the deregulation in the market. Acquisition of a majority stake in Kochi Refineries is a positive development. Moreover, it is currently trading at a discount to HPCL and IOC on EV/retail sales basis.

HSBC Securities has downgraded Hughes Software to hold at Rs 708 expecting a low sequential growth due to slower product sales. The company has indicated slowdown in product sales as the telecom investments/roll out by customers are getting delayed. Product revenues accounted for 29 per cent of total revenues for Hughes in Q4FY01.

HDFC Securities has initiated coverage on Larsen & Turbro (L&T) with an outperformer recommendation. The company's engineering & construction (E&C) business is on a steady recovery trajectory with a healthy order backlog of Rs 970 crore in the current fiscal.

E&C revenues to are expected to grow by 12.5 per cent CAGR over the next two years, higher than the growth rate of 5.5 per cent recorded

in FY00.

On an intermediate term, Merrill Lynch has upgraded Hero Honda Motors to accumulate at Rs 142. It maintains its recommendation at neutral on the long term perspective.

The market appears to have over discounted the concerns related to increase in competition and fears of Honda setting up its own 100 per cent subsidiary.

Moreover, the hike in import duty from 35 per cent to 60 per cent will partly address concerns of dumping from importers, especially from China.

Refco-Sify Securities has recommended a buy on Tata Telecom at Rs 66. Recent initiatives such as hiving off the loss making Tatafone division, making a transition from manufacturing to solutions, expanding its product basket and tying up with other companies with an aim to become a comprehensive networking solutions provider augurs well for the company.