Stocks to Watch: CoForge, MRPL, Petronet, JSW Ispat, PNB, Birla Corp, PSBs

Stocks to Watch Today: Aditya Birla Capital, Apollo Tyres, GSPL, HCC, L&T, RBL Bank, Siemens and Tata Motors ahead of Q4 earnings; Prudent Corporate Advisory Services IPO to close on Thursday.

Stocks to Watch Today: Another shaky start awaits the market after US stocks plunged overnight with record high inflation reasserting fears of a faster rate hike by the US Federal Reserve. As of 07:30 AM, the SGX Nifty May futures quoted at 16,016 as against the spot Nifty close of 16,167 on Wednesday.

Primary Market Update

The second largest IPO of the year - Delhivery was off to a slow start, with subscription of just 21 per cent at the end of Day 1 of the offer period. Most of the bids came from retail investors. 

Small sized Venus Pipes & Tubes Rs 165 crore IPO received strong response. The IPO was subscribed 2.36 times at the end of Day 1 of the offer period. Retail investors bid for 4.1 times their allotted quota, while institutional investors portion was almost fully subscribed.

Prudent Corporate Advisory Services Rs 538.61 crore IPO was subscribed up to 57 per cent at the end of Day 2 of the offer period with retail quota fully subscribed.

Meanwhile, following are the stocks that are likely to see some action in trades on Thursday.

Earnings Watch: Aditya Birla Capital, Apollo Tyres, Avanti Feeds, Brigade Enterprises, Creditaccesss Grameen, Ganesh Housing, Genus Power Infra, Greaves Cotton, Gujarat State Petronet, HCC, ICRA, J&K Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Lumax Auto, Mindspace, Orchid Pharma, RBL Bank, Siemens, South Indian Bank, Tata Motors, Tube Investments, Tv Today and Ujjivan Small Finance Bank are some of the notable companies scheduled to announce Q4 results on Thursday.

CoForge: The company, erstwhile NIIT Technologies, reported a solid 63.6 per cent growth in Q4 net at Rs 224.80 crore for the quarter ended March 2022 (Q4FY22) as against Rs 137.40 crore in the same period last year. Total income grew by 38.2 per cent YoY to Rs 1,766.10 crore from Rs 1,278 crore.

Asian Paints: Despite price hikes, volume hit due to Omicron disruption in the early part of the quarter and a higher base, India’s largest paint company reported steady results in the March quarter. However, while analysts expect demand to stay strong, raw material movement/ further price hikes could hit sales/ margins. READ ANALYSIS

MRPL: The ONGC subsidiary reported an over 11-fold jump in Q4 net profit at Rs 3,008.18 crore for the quarter ended March 2022 when compared with Rs 267.51 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Total income rose 35.7 per cent YoY to Rs 28,254 crore from Rs 20,818 crore.

UltraTech Cement: India's largest cement firm has joined the race to acquire the Holcim stake in Ambuja Cements and its subsidiary, ACC. The Aditya Birla Group submitted a non-binding bid on Wednesday. READ MORE

Petronet LNG: The state-run firm reported a 20 per cent jump in Q4FY22 net profit at Rs 750.14 crore when compared with Rs 623.37 crore in Q4FY21. Total income surged 47.5 per cent to Rs 11,245 crore from Rs 7,624.50 crore during the same period.

JSW Ispat Special Products: The company’s Q4 net profit plunged to Rs 10.92 crore for the quarter ended March 2022 when compared with Rs 80.91 crore in the year ago period. Total income, however, was up 15 per cent YoY at Rs 1,703.26 crore.

Cipla: The company which reported a one-time cost of Rs 200 crore for Covid-19 inventory and other charges in the March quarter (Q4), is sitting on inventory of the antibody cocktail drug from Roche, some bulk drug of remdesivir, and some stocks of molnupiravir. The Covid-19 portfolio contributed 5-6 per cent of Cipla’s turnover during peak Covid waves, the firm said. READ MORE

Indiabulls Housing Finance: The company informed BSE that its Asset Management Liability Committee has decided to make an offer to all NCD holders, maturing up  to June 30, 2022, worth Rs 800 crore, to acquire these NCDs on the exchange at par under the negotiated trade and hold them as treasury stock until maturity.

Birla Corporation: The flagship firm of the M P Birla group reported a 55. 5 per cent drop in net profit to Rs 111.08 crore in the March quarter due to a one-off credit adjustment in income tax expense the previous year. The company’s net profit in the year-ago period stood at Rs 249.33 crore. READ MORE

Lakshmi Machine Works: The company reported an over 3-fold jump in profit at Rs 78.63 crore for Q4FY22 as against Rs 25.33 crore in Q4FY21. Total income increased by 43.3 per cent YoY to Rs 983.32 crore from Rs 686.08 crore.

Indian Bank: The banks’ net profit dropped 43 per cent in the fourth quarter of financial year 2021-22 to Rs 984 crore when compared with Rs 1,709 crore in the same period last financial year. Total income was up 9 per cent YoY at Rs 11,405 crore. READ MORE

Punjab National Bank (PNB): The state-run bank’s standalone net profit dropped 66 per cent YoY to Rs 201 crore in January-March period as the lender sets aside Rs 325 crore on account of fraud. Total income was down marginally at Rs 21,095 crore from Rs 21,386 crore. READ MORE

Reliance Capital: Lenders have agreed to extend the deadline to submit bids for the resolution of debt-ridden Reliance Capital by a month till June 30 after bidders' cold response. So far only eight out of 54 Prospective Resolution Applicants (PRAs) have engaged with lenders, sources said.

Canara Bank: The PSU lender plans to invest about Rs 1,000 crore over the next three years for building a digital banking ecosystem including a super app.

Stocks in F&O ban: Indiabulls Housing Finance is the only stock in the F&O ban period on Thursday.