JM Financial gives ‘buy’ call for ITC, GAIL, M and M Financial, 6 others

The brokerage and investment firm JM Financial has given a 'buy' call for shares such as ITC, GAIL, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial, Welspun India, Apollo Tyres, Blue Star, V Guard Industries, JK Lakshmi Cement and Somany Ceramics.

For ITC stocks, the brokerage has set a target price at Rs 295, as against the current price of Rs Rs 233.6.

"With the government maintaining a benign stance in Budget 2022, we believe the stage is well-set for ITC's FY23E to be one of the stronger years in recent times on growth fronts," the brokerage said.

For GAIL and Mahindra & Mahindra Financial, the target is set at Rs 185 and Rs 200, respectively. On Friday, these two shares settled at Rs 146.65 and Rs 154.15, respectively, data showed.

For Welspun India, Apollo Tyres, Blue Star, V Guard Industries, JK Lakshmi Cement, and Somany Ceramics, the targets are Rs 188, Rs 330, Rs 1,100, Rs 290, and Rs 710, and Rs 1,100, respectively.

For new-age stocks such as Nykaa, Zomato and Policybazaar which declined in the recent sessions, the brokerage believes that the longer-term growth story remains intact with sound company fundamentals and strong balance sheets positioned perfectly to leverage Indian government's focus on digital inclusion.

"We also postulate that the primary impact due to the policy tightening scenario from central banks would be in the form of a rise in cost of capital with growth metrics sustaining thanks to the differentiated positioning carved out by these players in their respective verticals."

It believes that the valuation premiums that these stocks have traded in comparison to their traditional peers as well as global tech peers might decline marginally but will continue to subsist in the medium to longer term period as risk-reward ratio seems to be in favour at current valuations.