Zensar Technologies: This IT services company’s stock saw a huge uptick in the past three weeks rising nearly 23%. Investors seem to believe that the company will grow at a fair clip despite seeing lower growth compared to its peers from FY16 to FY21. The expected turnaround seems to be hinged on the new CEO's strategy to focus on digital engineering, data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning services  to propel future growth. ICICIDirect expects Zensar’s revenues to grow 12.6% CAGR from  FY21-FY23. Zensar’s client base also increased in Q2FY22 with the number of clients earning over $1 million rising to 85 from 79, those earning over $5 million rising to 26 from 24, and those earning over $10 million rising to 10 from 8. The total number of active clients in Q2FY22 rose to 153 from 135.   ICICIdirect feels the change in company’s management could be one of the contributing factors for the company’s recent uptick in revenue growth.

KPR Mill: This textile company’s stock was the most overbought stock among the Nifty 500 companies according to technical indicators RSI and MFI. Over the past month, this company’s stock rose nearly 42.3% to hit an all-time high of Rs 699 on Tuesday before paring some of the gains. Nearly 11.5% of its gains came in the past week. The up move from the end of November started after the company announced commissioning of its unit with a capacity to produce 42 million garments in Tiruppur. This took its total production capacity to 157 million garments a year. Three analysts who cover the stock maintain a ‘strong buy’ on this stock, according to Trendlyne’s Forecaster. The stock is currently trading above all its simple moving averages.

Radico Khaitan: This spirits maker’s stock hit a new all-time high of Rs 1,248 on Wednesday. The stock gained nearly 16% in the past one week. Some compelling changes are brewing for this liquor company. In Q2FY22, Radico’s prestige and above (P&A) brands' (premium segment) contribution to its total Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) volumes grew by 280 bps YoY to 30.8%. This segment also posted a 17.7% YoY volume growth in Q2. Back in October, the company launched two new premium IMFL products i.e., Magic Moments Dazzle Vodka and Royal Ranthambore Heritage Collection’s Royal Crafted Whisky. The company’s management said these products were received well by customers. Investors expect premium whisky and vodka brands to be primary drivers of earnings growth in H2FY22 as well. Recently, brokerage firm ICICI raised its price target for the company’s stock by 16% to Rs 1,450, implying an upside of 20% from the current levels. The brokerage is bullish on the company due to a number of new launches lined-up in the P&A category over the next two years. It expects Radico Khaitan to generate RoCE of 20% by FY23 and clock earnings growth of over 25% between FY22-FY24.

RBL Bank: On December 27, RBL Bank tanked nearly 18% and hit a new 52-week low of Rs 138 after its Managing Director and CEO Vishwavir Ahuja went on medical leave for six months. Over the previous weekend, RBI appointed Yogesh Dayal as an additional director to the board on December 24. The apex bank previously elected additional directors for banks reeling under corporate governance and compliance issues. This further spooked the investors which caused the interim CEO Rajeev Ahuja to go into damage control mode. However, his claims that all is well on the asset quality front failed to assuage the investor’s concerns. Brokerages like Edelweiss downgraded the stock owing to the presence of unknown business risks and poor performance in the last 18 months. ICICI Securities further highlighted the poor operational performance of RBL bank in the recent past. The bank’s gross NPAs increased by 190 bps YoY to 5.4% in Q2FY22, while its slippages rose by 330 bps to 8.6% between Q4FY21 and Q2FY22 owing to stress in the micro-banking loans segment. The bank also witnessed a fall in its ROE by 140 bps to 1% between H1FY22 end and FY21 end. The brokerage expects the change in the bank’s leadership and to weigh negatively on the stock’s valuation, which could further fall to 0.55 times the FY23 book value from 0.7 times currently.

Bajaj Auto: This two-wheeler maker got investors excited on Wednesday after it announced that it will invest Rs 300 crore to set up an electric vehicle manufacturing unit in its Akurdi plant near Pune. This is the same unit where the company manufactured the electric scooter Chetak. This sent its stock higher by nearly 3% at the end of trade. This up move in the company’s stock comes after it touched a 52-week low of Rs 3,027.05 on December 20 on concerns that the resurgent infections of Covid-19 in India could cause a third wave which would dent sales of the two-wheeler industry again. Bajaj Auto seems finally convinced that after swearing off scooters for many years, electric scooters (and light electric vehicles) is where growth might lie for urban mobility. Its new unit will produce 5 lakh units per year and the first electric vehicle will roll out from June 2022 onwards.