HSBC, Nomura, and Citi Issue Strong Buy Calls with Up to 36% Upside

Consumer internet heavyweight Info Edge (India) Limited—the parent entity behind marquee digital platforms Naukri.com and 99acres—has drawn unanimous bullish backing from three premier global brokerage houses: HSBC, Nomura, and Citi. All three international investment firms have reaffirmed a high-conviction "Buy" rating on the stock, projecting substantial upside potential ranging between 24% and 36% over Thursday's closing price. The positive revisions follow the disclosure of the company's financial scorecard for the second quarter of FY2027, where total billings expanded 12.8% year-on-year, driven by operational resilience in recruitment and an exceptional outperformance across the real estate vertical, despite pockets of moderation in education and matrimony portfolios.

HSBC Sets Street-High ₹1,625 Target on Core Recruitment Normalization

Issuing the most aggressive projection across Dalal Street, HSBC assigned a "Buy" recommendation with a peak target price of ₹1,625 per share, representing an upside headroom of roughly 36%. The brokerage highlighted that the company's total billings advanced 12.8% year-on-year in Q2 FY2027, anchoring an aggregate 13.5% billing expansion during the first half of the financial year. While headline billing growth in the flagship recruitment solutions division came in at 12.6% year-on-year, HSBC's technical analysis emphasizes that when normalizing for corporate renewal timing discrepancies, underlying billing momentum actually tracked between 14% and 15%. This suggests that operational demand in lateral and specialized tech hiring remains structurally sound beneath surface calendar fluctuations.

Nomura Targets ₹1,480 as 99acres Outperforms While Matrimony Lags

Japanese brokerage Nomura maintained its decisive "Buy" stance on Info Edge with a target price of ₹1,480 per share. Nomura noted that total Q2 billings growth of 12.8% trailed its baseline projection of 14.2%, primarily due to Naukri's recruitment billings rising 12.6% against a Street estimate of 15%, reflecting a sequential deceleration from the 17.5% pace recorded in the first quarter. Counterbalancing this moderation, real estate portal 99acres emerged as a primary growth engine, delivering a stellar 21.2% billing expansion against general market expectations of 15%. In contrast, the company's non-core education and Jeevansathi matrimony businesses experienced slight pressure, contracting 2.3% in billings against projected growth of 5%.

Citi Assigns ₹1,510 Target Forecasting Sturdy 28% EBITDA Expansion

Wall Street major Citi reiterated a "Buy" rating with an ambitious target price of ₹1,510 per share, underscoring sequential durability in the recruitment landscape. Citi observed that the recruitment business's 12.6% year-on-year billing expansion in Q2, while lower than Q1's 17.5%, represents a substantial recovery compared to the 9.5% clip recorded in the fourth quarter of FY2026. Aligned with management's adjusted underlying billing trajectory of 14% to 15%, Citi models a 13.6% annual revenue increase for the recruitment vertical and a 13% expansion in overall corporate top-line. Furthermore, Citi projects operating leverage to drive a sharp 28% year-on-year jump in consolidated EBITDA to ₹380 crore, reinforcing strong structural earnings strength across Info Edge's diversified internet franchise.