Eternal Eyes 62% Upside as Indian Hotels and M&M Finance Flash Strong Buy
Leading institutional brokerages, including CLSA, Citigroup, and Nomura, have issued high-conviction buy calls on frontline Indian equities, spotlighting consumer internet heavyweight Eternal, hospitality market leader Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), and non-banking rural lender Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services. Boosted by accelerating quick-commerce footprint additions, buoyant leisure travel demand, and double-digit loan book expansions, equity research desks project substantial upside potential of up to 62% across these counters. While market watchers acknowledge that aggressive capex and customer acquisition outlays could exert temporary pressure on near-term operating margins in the consumer tech space, sustained expansion into tier-2 and tier-3 urban markets coupled with robust seasonal disbursements offers substantial long-term value for institutional and retail investors navigating the current market cycle.
Eternal Eyes Up to 62% Upside as Blinkit Accelerates Dark Store Rollout
Shares of Eternal closed at ₹312 in the preceding trading session, drawing renewed accumulation calls from both CLSA and Citi, though their respective valuation models reflect contrasting timelines for steady-state operating leverage. CLSA reiterated an Outperform rating with an ambitious price target of ₹506 per share—implying an upside potential of over 62%—noting that overall operational performance remained broadly aligned with street forecasts as food delivery platform Zomato and quick-commerce arm Blinkit continued to register sharp gross order volume expansion. However, higher front-loaded operating costs tied to rapid store additions across non-metro territories led CLSA to trim company earnings forecasts by 38% to 78% across fiscal years 2027 through 2029, shifting the projected timeline for stable corporate profitability from FY2028 to FY2029. Conversely, Citi reaffirmed a Buy rating with a target price of ₹385 per share, highlighting Blinkit’s surging transacting customer base, which expanded to 5.2 million monthly transacting users in the second quarter compared to 4.6 million in the opening quarter. Citi emphasized the aggressive network roadmap, with the company aiming to scale its quick-commerce dark store infrastructure to 3,500 facilities by March 2027 and 5,000 stores by March 2028 to solidify market dominance across suburban India.
Indian Hotels Upgrades Guidance While M&M Finance Delivers 55% Profit Surge
In the hospitality and financial services domains, robust second-quarter balance sheets have catalyzed fresh valuation upgrades from international research houses. Global brokerage Nomura maintained a Buy rating on Tata Group’s Indian Hotels Company Limited with a revised target price of ₹850 per share following an exceptional quarterly performance where net revenue climbed 22% year-on-year and operating profit surged 24%, comfortably exceeding consensus projections by 5% and 3% respectively. Demonstrating operational confidence, IHCL management increased its full-year FY2027 corporate revenue growth guidance from 12-14% to 15-17%, with core enterprise hotel operations expected to compound between 17% and 19%, laying the groundwork for sustained mid-to-high double-digit earnings growth into FY2028. Simultaneously, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services emerged as a high-potential financial pick after logging a stellar 55% year-on-year surge in Q2 net profit, outperforming market expectations despite macroeconomic rural headwinds. Backed by a healthy 97% collection efficiency, improved gross non-performing asset ratios, and a 22% year-on-year rise in fresh disbursements that lifted total assets under management (AUM) by more than 15%, Citi and Nomura issued buy recommendations on M&M Finance with price targets of ₹420 and ₹400 respectively, translating to an upside of up to 40% from its current trading price of ₹300 per share.
