The market opened in the red on Monday after inflation in the US came in hot at 8.6%, a 40 year high. In this volatile market with rising interest rates, analysts are moving towards relatively safer sectors like energy and financials in their picks, as well as sectors with beaten down valuations like hotels.  

Here are five analyst picks that outperformed the Nifty 50 over the month and have a buy call.

1. Oil India: Prabhudas Lilladher retains its ‘Buy’ call on this oil explorer, with a target price of Rs 344. This indicates an upside of 19.1%. This stock outperformed the Nifty 50 index by 37.5% over the past month. 

“Oil India has aggressive growth plans as it expects a 30% increase in oil volumes to 4 million tonnes per annum by FY25, with the commencement of brownfield expansion projects in Assam,” says analyst Avishek Datta. The company doesn’t expect any cap on gas prices and remains hopeful of another price hike in October 2022. The Numaligarh Refinery (NRL) (Oil India has a 69% stake in the crude oil refiner) is a highly complex refinery and is a prized asset for Oil India, according to the analyst. In FY22, NRL posted an EBITDA of Rs 5,050 crore (up 16% YoY) and profit of Rs 3,560 crore (up 17% YoY).

Datta added that the company invested $990 million in Russian oil and gas fields in CY16. Till the end of FY22, the company received $660 million in dividends from its investment in these fields. The company spent Rs 4,280 crore on capex in FY22 and Datta expects a similar capex in FY22.

2. City Union Bank: HDFC Securities maintains its ‘Buy’ call on this bank’s stock with a target price of Rs 218, indicating an upside of 62.6%. This stock outperformed the Nifty 50 index by 13.2% over the past month. 

“Despite a higher credit cost (1.8% annualized), City Union Bank’s Q4FY22 earnings were 8% ahead of our estimates on account of higher recoveries from written-off accounts and lower employee costs,” say analysts Krishnan ASV, Deepak Shinde and Neelam Bhatia. The bank’s net interest income grew 16.8% YoY to Rs 500 crore in Q4FY22. The analysts added that “on the back of healthy repayment trends and a highly-secured loan book (99% of loans), the management has guided for higher recoveries and lower credit costs.”

The bank’s gross non-performing assets and net non-performing assets improved QoQ in Q4FY22 to 4.7% and 2.9% (from 5.2% and 3.4%), respectively.  They conclude that  “with credit costs gradually reducing, a stable margin outlook, sustained market share gains will remain a key monitorable for the bank”.  

3. HDFC Life Insurance: Geojit BNP Paribas reiterates its ‘Buy’ call on this life insurer with a target price of Rs 750, indicating an upside of 29.1%. The company outperformed the Nifty 50 index by 6.8% over the past month. 

In Q4FY22, the company’s gross premium income rose 11.7% YoY to Rs 1,442 crore, (vs. 11.1% industry growth). This, according to the brokerage, was driven mainly by growth in renewal premium (up 15.6% YoY to Rs 734 crore) and first-year premium (up 7.8% YoY to Rs 257 crore). 

The brokerage feels that the “macro drivers for the life insurance sector remain positive, and growth can be witnessed in the significantly under-penetrated prosperous middle class for life insurance in India. Favourable regulatory environment and rapid digitalization initiatives could boost the product mix in the protection business”

4. Bharat Electronics (BEL): ICICI Direct maintains a ‘Buy’ rating on this defence electronics maker with a target price of Rs 290, indicating an upside of 21.8%. The company outperformed the Nifty 50 index by 9.8% over the past month.

Analysts Chirag Shah and Vijay Goel expect the company’s revenue growth to be driven by growth in orders, a robust balance sheet, and a strong order book. They added that the strategy to diversify into non-defence areas, and a focus on improving exports and services share in revenue would boost long-term revenue growth and reduce risk in its business. The company plans to increase the revenue contribution of the non-defence segment to 20% in 2-3 years from 12% at present, they noted.

BEL bagged orders worth Rs 19,200 crore in FY22, taking its total order backlog to Rs 57,750 crore as of March 2022  The company received export orders worth $179 million in FY22, and the analysts expect the company’s revenue to grow at a 16.8% CAGR over FY22-24.

5. Lemon Tree Hotels: ICICI Securities maintains a ‘Buy’ rating on this hotel chain and increases its target price to Rs 84 from Rs 80, indicating an upside of 32.8%. The company outperformed the Nifty 50 index by 11.3% over the past month.

The analyst Adhidev Chattopadhyay increased his target price for the stock “owing to the better-than-expected average room rates (ARRs) and occupancies across assets.” According to the analyst, in Q4FY22 ARR grew 54% YoY to Rs 4,093 and in March 2022 occupancies rose to 60%. He added that a strong recovery in business travel and resumption of international flights led to the improvement in occupancy rates in Q4FY22.

Chattopadhyay noted, “based on the strong recovery in demand between March and May 2022, the company now expects FY23 consolidated revenue to grow 100% YoY to Rs 800 crore”. He expects the company’s occupancy rate and ARR to increase further during H1FY23 led by an uptick in business travel. He estimates the company’s revenue to grow at a 52.5% CAGR over FY22-24.

Note: These recommendations are from various analysts and are not recommendations by Trendlyne