CLSA, JPMorgan & Nomura Issue Fresh Targets on Hyundai
Dalal Street began Thursday's session with a flurry of high-impact research notes as marquee global brokerages CLSA, JPMorgan, and Nomura recalibrated their investment stances and price targets across eight prominent Indian equities following second-quarter earnings announcements. The updated advisories reflect nuanced sector trends across automotive manufacturing, metal production, banking, technology, renewable power, and consumer internet platforms. Highlighting a selective risk-reward environment, CLSA assigned bullish Outperform ratings to heavyweights like Vedanta Aluminium, TVS Motor, and newly listed Hyundai Motor India, while striking a more cautious tone on Bandhan Bank and JSW Energy. Concurrently, JPMorgan upgraded its stance on auto-engineering software major KPIT Technologies after a multi-month valuation correction, whereas Nomura initiated contrasting perspectives on new-age tech entities, pitching a strong Buy on CarTrade against a cautionary Reduce call on e-commerce challenger Meesho.
Automotive and Metals in Focus: CLSA Bullish on Hyundai, TVS Motor, and Vedanta Aluminium
Global institutional desk CLSA reiterated an optimistic outlook on the manufacturing and mobility sectors, led by a resounding Outperform recommendation on Vedanta Aluminium with a price target of ₹525 per share. Citing better-than-projected second-quarter earnings driven by aggressive operational cost-cutting, the brokerage noted the producer's ambitious roadmap to reach an annualized EBITDA of $5 billion by the end of fiscal 2027 under prevailing metal prices, alongside plans to expand primary smelting and refining capacity by 3 million tonnes before the close of fiscal 2028. In the automotive basket, CLSA retained its Outperform stance on TVS Motor with a target of ₹4,896, highlighting that the two-wheeler major expanded its quarterly EBITDA margin to 13% by deploying strategic vehicle price hikes, achieving manufacturing scale efficiencies, and leveraging favorable foreign exchange movements to neutralize a 1.9% rise in raw material input costs. Similarly, Hyundai Motor India secured an Outperform rating with a ₹2,300 price target from CLSA, as the automaker’s operating margin widened sequentially to 9.5% on the back of richer product mix realizations, localized cost controls, and rising export volumes, with the brokerage projecting a 13% compound annual growth rate in domestic volumes between FY27 and FY29 alongside a potential margin ascent to 14%.
Financials, Tech & Internet Divide: Upgrades for KPIT and CarTrade vs Headwinds for Bandhan, JSW & Meesho
Across the financial and utility space, CLSA maintained an Outperform rating on Bandhan Bank while slashing its 12-month target price from ₹235 to ₹195, explaining that despite a 4% quarterly net profit beat and stable asset quality marked by 4% annual CASA deposit growth, anticipated revisions in regulatory loan-loss provisioning norms could drive the lender's funding costs higher by 15 to 20 basis points. In power utilities, CLSA downgraded JSW Energy to Hold with a reduced target of ₹522, warning that although second-quarter profits jumped 50% with tax support, core power EBITDA growth slowed to 21%, while long-term power purchase agreements covering 95% of output capped merchant pricing upsides, prompting a 6% to 10% cut in future EPS estimates through FY29. In the technology sector, JPMorgan upgraded KPIT Technologies from Underweight to Neutral with a target of ₹520, citing favorable risk-reward dynamics after the stock plunged 21% over four months even as the benchmark Nifty IT index rallied 22%, with the company logging a 0.5% sequential revenue increase in constant currency terms and an EBITDA margin expansion to 17.7%. In the digital commerce domain, Nomura retained a Reduce rating on Meesho with a ₹167 target, warning that higher overhead expenses eroded contribution margin gains and could reverse in the third quarter of FY27 despite management reaffirming a 25% annual net merchandise value growth target through 2030. Conversely, Nomura issued a high-conviction Buy rating on CarTrade with an ambitious target of ₹3,377, looking past a soft second-quarter consumer revenue print of 4% and a dip in monthly unique visitors to 76 million to bank heavily on the monetization runway and profitability momentum of its newly consolidated OLX auto marketplace.
