Max Financial: Investors should shift attention to fundamentals

With 72 per cent gains in six months, the stock is an outperformer in the pack; monthly premium numbers don't provide comfort

The year has belonged to insurance stocks so far, particularly life insurers. Among the lot, Max Financial Services, the holding company of Max Life Insurance (MLI), is the clear winner with gains of 72 per cent in six months. Thus far, its deal with Axis Bank, first announced in February, has kept the interest alive. In fact, with revised terms of the merger, analysts at CLSA, Emkay Global, Sharekhan, and Investec Securities say the deal is more or less done. CLSA says regulatory uncertainties are less likely.

However, trading at Rs 618.1 a share and despite its benign valuations of 1.8x