Budget Review 2024-25 by ICICI Direct

The spotlight of the Union Budget 2024-25 was anchored on pillars of a) Youth skilling and Job creation, b) Tax simplification, c) Consistent capex momentum & d) Smooth and Efficient accessibility of credit to MSME. On a broader level, fiscal deficit of 4.9% and 4.5% for FY25E and FY26E, respectively, signifies government’s prerogative to carve out a sustained economic model of inclusive growth and development. To sum up, the Union Budget reflects a realistic set of measure to drive long term growth ahead. Nonetheless, market would await long term roadmap for specific growth pockets

Pre Budget Expectations 2024-25 by HDFC Securities

We think that any correction post the Budget may be short lived unless impacted by some other trigger. However, retail investors will do well to review their asset allocation and equity portfolio and rebalance their excess holdings in equities (due to the rise in values) into other asset classes and in the process take some profits out of stocks that have run up much ahead of their fundamentals in the past few months

Piramal Pharma is at critical inflection point and expect overall improvement as the CDMO momentum continues. BUY for target price of ₹210 (42% upside): ICICI Direct

Piramal Pharma Limited (PPL) is a carved-out Pharma entity from Piramal Enterprises limited and is a part of Piramal group of companies. The company operates in 3 major segments.

L&T Finance Earnings in line; strong retail momentum continues NIM improves ~15bp QoQ; asset quality stable. Target Price ₹230 (25% upside): Motilal Oswal

LTF has invested in process automation, security, and customer journeys. This, along with partnerships with e-aggregators, should lead to a stronger and more sustainable retail loan growth. Over the past few quarters, the company has consistently delivered strong growth in its retail loan book.

Downgrade Defence Sector on Super Rich Valuations: Nirmal Bang

The Defence stocks within our coverage universe have delivered 58% returns in the last three months, 75% returns in the last six months, 148% returns in the last 12 months and 776% returns in the last three years, buoyed by healthy order books, revenue expansion and the government’s major push for indigenization in the Defence secto

JB Pharma offers a healthy cocktail of a robust domestic franchise, niche CMO presence and measured exports strategy, Buy for target price of ₹2025 (15% upside): Kotak Securities

JB Pharma offers a healthy cocktail of a robust domestic franchise, niche CMO presence and measured exports strategy, aided by peerless execution. Having primarily grown organically until FY2022 and later on aided by benefits from acquired brands, JB has handsomely outperformed the IPM in the past decade by ~600 bps and currently ranks 22 in the IPM. Backed by improved MR productivity in India amid a healthy CMO order book and steady exports traction, we expect strong 17%/19% EBITDA/PAT CAGRs over FY2024-27E for JB. We initiate coverage on JB with BUY and FV of Rs2,025 (36X Sep 2026E EPS), implying a 15% upside to CMP

Top Bank Stocks with a strong balance sheet and formidable retail deposit franchise To Buy Now: HDFC Sec

We reiterate our conviction on banks with a strong balance sheet and formidable retail deposit franchise, which are likely to continue gaining market share, with ICICIBC (BUY, TP: INR 1,325), SBIN (BUY, TP: INR 1,040), and KMB (BUY, TP: INR 2,025) being our top picks amongst large banks

Gabriel India has ambition to grow ahead of industry & has given double digit margin guidance. Buy for target price of ₹600 (20% uppside): ICICI Direct

We maintain our BUY rating on Gabriel India led by double digit margin guidance in medium term, ambition to grow ahead of industry, presence with top EV players such as Ola Electric, healthy RoCE profile (20%+) and cash positive B/S. We expect Sales/PAT at GIL to grow at 9%/24% CAGR over FY24-26E. We value Gabriel India at ₹600 i.e. 30x P/E on FY26E

Top 13 stock picks for the Budget by Anand Rathi

Focusing on boosting growth and on stability through continuing emphasis on infra and consumption inducing measures, the Budget is likely to be positive for Indian equity. Consumer and infra/capital goods sectors are likely to be the main beneficiaries. Despite the likely acceleration of revenue spending and the continued high growth in public capex, with favourable receipts, fiscal consolidation is likely to continue. We expect the FY25 fiscal deficit to be 5% of GDP. There is little reason to expect a populist budget

List of Large cap stocks with significant re-rating by HDFC Securities

After a meteoric rise of benchmark indices in FY24, the bull run continues unabated in FY25, notwithstanding general election-led market volatilities. So far in FY25, the benchmark indices Nifty 50, Nifty midcap 100 and Nifty Small cap 100 have delivered remarkable returns of 9%, 18% and 23% respectively. These performances follow massive returns of 29%,60% and 70% respectively generated by these indices in FY24. Against the backdrop of these unprecedented returns, it becomes imperative to analyse if these are driven by earnings upgrades of companies or simply valuation expansion.