Stocks to Watch: HUL, Bajaj Auto, Mastek, Ceat, OFSS, SBI, M&M, RBL Bank

Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Holdings, Biocon, Century Textiles, Havells India, Hindustan Unilever, Bank of Maharashtra, MphasiS, Persistent Systems and Shoppers Stop to announce results today.

Mirroring the global sentiment, the NSE Nifty is likely to start trade on a negative note this morning. As of 08:00 AM, the SGX Nifty January futures quoted at 17,905 as against the spot Nifty 50 close of 17,938.

Meanwhile, here are the top stocks in focus for trade today.

Earnings Watch: Asian Paints, Agro Tech Foods, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Holdings, Banaras Beads, Beeyu Overseas, Biocon, Century Textiles, Container Corporation of India, Cyient, Datamatics Global Solutions, Doodla Dairy, Hatsun Agro Products, Havells India, Hindustan Unilever, Hi Tech Pipes, Khaitan Chemicals, Lyka Labs, Bank of Maharashtra, MphasiS, National Steel & Agro Industries, Persistent Systems, PNB Housing Finance, Reliance Industrial Infrastructure, Sasken Technologies, Shoppers Stop, South Indian Bank, Vimta Labs and VST Industries are some of the companies to announce December quarter results today.

Bajaj Auto: The two-wheller marker reported 22 per cent YoY fall in net profit at Rs 1,214 crore for the quarter ended December 2021 from Rs 1,556 crore in the corresponding quarter of FY21. Net sales, however, rose marginally to Rs 9,022 crore from Rs 8,910 crore. READ MORE

ICICI Lombard General: The country’s largest private sector general insurer, reported a marginal 1.28 per cent YoY increase in net profit at Rs 318 crore in the October–December quarter (Q3FY22), missing street estimates. Sequentially, the net profit was down 29 per cent. It’s gross direct premium income rose 16 per cent to Rs 4,699 crore. READ MORE

JSW Energy: The company’s net profit more than doubled to Rs 320 crore for the third quarter of the current fiscal when compared to the same quarter last fiscal. Total revenue also increased to Rs 1,984 crore from Rs 1,659 crore. JSW said the increase in revenue was primarily due to “increase in short term sales and realisation”. READ MORE

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M): India’s largest electric two-wheeler maker, Hero Electric has entered into a 5-year strategic partnership with the Mahindra Group, with an aim to more than double capacity to 1 million units by 2022. Meanwhile, M&M is likely to benefit by way of extra revenue in the range of Rs 140-150 crore over the contract period. READ MORE

SBI: The Centre on Wednesday approved an additional payment of about Rs 973 crore to SBI on account of pending claims for government’s compound interest waiver scheme that reimbursed ‘interest-on-interest’ charged on small ticket loans of up to Rs 2 crore. READ MORE

RBL Bank: The crisis-hit private lender seeks to raise new capital in a bid to allay investor concerns over its financial health. According to sources, the bank is looking to raise as much as Rs 1,500 crore. READ MORE

Mastek: The company reported 2.4 per cent QoQ and 18.7 per cent YoY growth in Q3FY22 net profit at Rs 83.50 crore on the back of a 3 per cent QoQ and 24.8 per cent YoY jump in Total income to Rs 557.70 crore for the quarter ended December 2021.

Syngene International: The company reported a 1.6 per cent YoY rise in Q3 net at Rs 103.40 crore, and a 8.5 per cent YoY increase in total income at Rs 652.40 crore for the quarter ended December 2021.

Oracle Financial Services (OFSS): The IT company reported a flattish growth in Q3 net and total income for the quarter ended December 2021 on a YoY basis. Net profit was up 1.3 per cent at Rs 435.34 crore, and total income was up 3.3 per cent at Rs 1,301.94 crore.

Ceat: The tyre maker reported a dismal set of numbers. It reported a net loss of Rs 20.18 crore for Q3FY22 as against a net profit of Rs 132.34 crore in Q3FY21. Total income, however, was up  8.6 per cent at Rs 2,416.44 crore from Rs 2,225.30 crore.

Stocks in F&O ban: BHEL, Escorts, Granules India, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Vodafone Idea and SAIL are the stocks in the F&O ban period on Thursday.