Thissoftware & services firm surged 6% on Tuesday after announcing that its arm, Firstsource Solutions UK, had acquired a UK-based customer service company, Ascensos, for Rs 469 crore. Chairman, Sanjiv Goenka, said, “This acquisition will help us expand in the retail segment which is a $28 billion market globally.” On September 16, the company alsoannounced a collaboration with Microsoft to provide digital transformation services using Azure OpenAI services.
Revenue in Q1 rose 17.1% YoY to Rs 1,793 crore, beating Forecaster estimates by 2.1%. While net profit surged 7.4% YoY to Rs 135 crore, it missed estimates by 4.8%. Trendlyne’s Forecaster estimates revenue growth of 18% on a YoY basis in Q2FY25, with net profit growth of 8.7% YoY. The company appears in ascreener of stocks where mutual funds increased their shareholding in the last quarter.
The miss in net profit was mainly because of marginal growth in its banking & financial services (BFS) segment, which is around 36% of the total revenue.Revenue mix shows that its healthcare services segment has outperformed other segments over the past year, contributing 36% to the revenue in Q1FY25, compared to 32% a year ago during the same period.
The healthcare vertical was the best-performing segment in the past quarter with revenue growth of 26% on a YoY basis. MD & CEO, Ritesh Idani,said, “Medicare utilisation has been on the rise in the US, putting pressure on the margins of healthcare insurers.” He highlights that this has led to insurers seeking optimizations in their cost structure, resulting in a stronger deal pipeline for Firstsource.
ICICI Securitiesmaintains a ‘Buy’ rating on Firstsource, with an upgraded target price of Rs 360, which implies a potential upside of 12.8%. This comes as management forecasts higher annual revenue growth of 11.5% to 13.5% for FY25, which is 8.7% higher growth than their previous guidance. The brokerage is optimistic as the company is diversifying from the BFS segment, and looking forward to broad-based growth in healthcare, communications and other segments.
Thistelecom service provider plunged 19.5% on September 19 following the Supreme Court’srejection of its petition seeking a re-evaluation of its adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues. The ruling mandates that the company must pay the full amount of its AGR liabilities, approximately Rs 70,320 crore, as per the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). This adds to the company's existing burden of Rs 1.4 lakh crore in deferred spectrum payment obligations, bringing the total outstanding dues to Rs 2.1 lakh crore.
The government calculates this amount based on the total revenue of telecom companies, including income from non-telecom activities. The companies contend that this calculation is unfair and that they should be liable only for revenue directly related to telecom services. While Vodafone Idea seeks relief measures, such as the correction of calculation errors and reduction of penalties, the Indian government insists on its position on the full payment of the dues.
Akshaya Moondra, chief executive officer (CEO) of Vodafone Idea,said, “We've initiated new talks with the government to resolve AGR dues. While a favorable outcome would ease our liability, our long-term plans and revival strategy remain unchanged. This result doesn't affect our cash flows or business plans.” These ongoing discussions with the government are crucial, as a positive outcome could potentially influence how similar AGR dues issues are addressed for other telecom operators within the industry.
Despite these challenges, on September 22 Vodafone Idea announced adeal worth $3.6 billion (approx. Rs 26,784 crore) with global equipment vendors Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung. This investment, part of the company's three-year capital expenditure plan, aims to expand its 4G population coverage, launch 5G services, and improve network capacity.
Goldman Sachsmaintains a 'sell' rating on Vodafone Idea with a target price of Rs 2.5. The brokerage expressed concerns about Vi's ability to raise tariffs to address its free cash flow gap and predicted larger market share gains for competitors like Bharti Airtel and Jio at Vodafone’s expense.
This electric utilities company has risen by 5.8% over the past week, and touched a new 52-week high of Rs 366.2 on Wednesday. The rise comes after it secured an order to establish an inter-state transmission system at Khavda Pooling Station 1 (KPS1) and Khavda Pooling Station 3 (KPS3) in Gujarat on a build, own, operate, and transfer (BOOT) basis. In addition, Goldman Sachs reiterated its ‘Buy’ stance on the company with a target price of Rs 370 per share. This is the highest target in the consensus – the average target from analysts on Power Grid according to Trendlyne’s Forecaster is Rs 328.
Khavda is the world’s largest renewable energy park, and is expected to significantly contribute to India's target of achieving 500 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by 2030.
Analysts predict that the Indian power sector will see significant investments exceeding Rs 40 lakh crore, driven by modernisation, growing energy demand and a transition towards renewable sources. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs notes that the Centre has upgraded the transmission capex estimate to $110 billion and believes Power Grid is poised to benefit from this. The company derives significant revenue (over 98%) from its transmission segment.
During Q1FY25, the total value of transmission projects under execution rose sharply to over Rs 1.1 lakh crore from around Rs 50,000 crore in Q1FY24. As a result, the company raised its capex target for FY25 to Rs 18,000 crore. RK Tyagi, CMD of the company said “Last time we said that our capex plan is, say, 15,000 crore but we have since added six more projects. The completion schedule for these projects is 18-21 months, so we have increased the capex target to meet the deadlines”. The company reported a 3.5% YoY increase in net profit to Rs 3,723.9 during Q1FY25, while revenue declined marginally by 0.4% YoY to Rs 11,006.2.
Over the past year, Power Grid has risen over 78.6% outperforming the benchmark index Nifty 50 index which has gained around 33.2%. The company is currently trading the Strong Sell Zone, indicating that it is currently trading above its historical PE.
This heavy electrical equipment manufacturer has risen 11.8% in the past week after receiving a Rs 6,100 crore engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) order from NTPC for an 800 MW unit at the Sipat Supercritical Thermal Power Project in Chhattisgarh. The company appears in a screener of stocks outperforming their industry over the past week.
Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) signed an agreement in August worth Rs 11,000 crore with Adani Power and its subsidiary Mahan Energen to set up three 2x800 MW supercritical thermal power projects in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, expected to be completed in 49 to 55 months.
BHEL has recorded an order inflow of Rs 34,100 crore in FY25 so far and appeared as the lowest bidder for another 3GW project worth Rs 21,000 crore, leading to a bulging order book of Rs 1.6 lakh crore, up from Rs 1.3 lakh crore in FY24. Despite this, there has been no major improvement in delayed orders, with its outstanding order book remaining at Rs 1,35,000 crore as of Q1FY25. Chairman and Managing Director, K. Sadashiv Murthy, mentioned that to ramp up execution, BHEL plans to revise its policies to attract new vendors and re-engage those who had left. This effort, if successful, is expected to help improve gross margins as well, which declined by 32% over the past six years.
The company has a 70:30 order distribution ratio, receiving 70-75% of orders from the power segment and 25-30% from the industry segment. In FY24, it secured a Vande Bharat order worth Rs 23,500 crore, partnering with Titagarh Wagons to supply 80 trainsets, of which BHEL's share is Rs 15,000 crore, and it anticipates a rise in orders from this industry segment in the future. Murthy said, "We expect more Vande Bharat orders in the next two to three years and aim for a long-term distribution of 50% from each segment."
ICICI Securities maintains a ‘Buy’ rating on BHEL, anticipating an order inflow of Rs 80,000 crore in FY25. The brokerage is optimistic about the outlook for coal-based capacity addition from the government and NTPC.
This department stores company rose by over 6% in the past week as it is set to be included in the NIfty 50 on September 30th in the index’s semi-annual rejig. Analysts expect the company to attract a total of $495 million ( Rs 4,141.5 crore) inflows due to this inclusion. In May 2024, the company entered into a joint venture (JV) with Singapore-based MAS Amity for designing, developing and manufacturing intimate apparel and other related products in India.
For Q1FY25, the company’s net profit had surged by 126.3% YoY to 392.6 crore, while revenue rose by 54.8% YoY, driven by increased footfalls and strong performance across brands, concepts, categories, and channels. The firm beat Trendlyne’s Forecaster estimates for revenue by 7.6%, but missed the net profit estimate by 0.1% due to subdued market sentiment and heightened competitive intensity. The stock appears in a screener for stocks with strong momentum.
In Q1FY25 the company opened 6 new stores in Westside and added 14 stores in Zudio on a QoQ basis. Trent now operates 228 Westside stores and 559 Zudio stores across 178 cities in India. It has increased the average store area by approximately 16% and 19% YoY, reaching 19,400 sq. ft. for Westside and 9,200 sq. ft. for Zudio. Revenue from Star Bazaar, the company's grocery store brand, grew by 21% YoY to Rs 2,200 crore, primarily driven by a 27% like-for-like (LFL) growth. Zara's revenue increased by 8% YoY, supported by a 15% rise in store count (+3 new stores). Average revenue per Zara store also rose by 3% YoY.
Analysts estimate India's retail market size to grow 18% YoY to $4.5 trillion (Rs 37,639.6 crore) by 2030 vs. $1.4 trillion (Rs 11,710.1 crore) in 2023. Along with this they estimate India's fashion and lifestyle market to be Rs 6.5 lakh crore in 2024, with organized players accounting for 40% of this total. Trent's market share in the organized segment was 4.6% in FY24. Analysts observe that retailer-owned brands have gained significance recently, as they provide shoppers with better value for money while allowing retailers to achieve higher margins. These brands have the potential to evolve into self-sustaining propositions.
Citi has initiated a ‘Buy’ rating on Trent with a target price of Rs 9,250, citing growth from transformation to a multi-format and commodity player. The brokerage notes the company is utilizing its supply chain and turning around its Star Bazaar business. It believes the company is well-placed to grow its other pilot projects, including MISBU (the company’s fashion brand) and its JV with MAS Amity. The brokerage sees a revenue/EBITDA/PAT CAGR of 41/44/56% in FY25-27.
Trendlyne's analysts identify stocks that are seeing interesting price movements, analyst calls, or new developments. These are not buy recommendations.
