Swiggy, Colgate and Havells Get Fresh Targets as Global Analysts Bet on 8 Stocks
Ahead of the opening bell on Friday, October 23, 2026, leading global brokerage institutions—including Jefferies, Nomura, CLSA, and HSBC—released an extensive series of research reports recalibrating investment ratings and target prices across eight prominent Indian equities. The institutional coverage initiated actionable buy calls on high-profile counters such as Swiggy, Colgate-Palmolive, Havells India, Nippon Life India Asset Management, SRF, KEI Industries, and CreditAccess Grameen, even as analysts trimmed target levels on three specific stocks to account for near-term margin compressions. Conversely, state-run oil marketing heavyweight Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) stood out with an underperform rating from CLSA, highlighting diverging institutional sentiment across consumer tech, industrial manufacturing, microfinance, and energy segments.
Consumer Tech and FMCG Under Review: Swiggy’s Quick Commerce Drag and Colgate’s Ad Spend Strain
In the consumer internet segment, food and grocery delivery major Swiggy witnessed synchronized target price reductions despite maintaining favorable long-term ratings. Jefferies retained a Buy rating while cutting its target price to ₹330, Nomura downgraded its price target to ₹300 while maintaining a Buy call, and CLSA initiated an Outperform stance with a target of ₹262. While Swiggy's core restaurant food delivery vertical continues to deliver stable unit economics, institutional analysts flagged mounting losses and heightened cash burn within its quick commerce arm as a primary headwind, with Jefferies noting that narrowing dark-store operating losses remains critical to unlocking equity value. In traditional FMCG, Jefferies maintained a Buy recommendation on oral care leader Colgate-Palmolive India but lowered its target price to ₹2,000, citing muted volume growth and elevated advertising expenditures that have squeezed near-term operating margins, emphasizing that sustained volume revival and overhead cost discipline will determine future earnings trajectory.
Industrials and Financials: Havells Planned Price Hikes, Nippon Life AMC and CreditAccess Momentum
Within the consumer electricals space, HSBC reaffirmed a Buy call on Havells India with a target price of ₹1,400 following better-than-expected revenue performance and in-line net profit. With raw material costs exerting persistent margin pressure across the cables and wires vertical, company management signaled plans to implement price hikes of 5 to 7 percent during the December quarter to restore profitability. In asset management, Nomura issued a Buy call on Nippon Life India AMC with a target of ₹1,230, highlighting consistent market share gains in high-margin equity assets under management (AUM), though noting that elevated valuations necessitate strong operational delivery following a quarter weighed down by lower treasury yields and one-off expenses. Meanwhile, rural micro-lender CreditAccess Grameen received widespread institutional backing, with Nomura issuing a Buy rating at a target of ₹1,700, CLSA recommending Outperform at ₹1,600, and HSBC reiterating Buy at ₹1,400 on the back of an operational profit beat and 19 percent AUM expansion, despite structural risks surrounding localized agricultural drought and prospective changes to micro-insurance regulations.
Manufacturing and Energy: SRF Growth Channels, KEI's 25% Guidance and CLSA's Caution on HPCL
Diversified chemicals and industrial conglomerate SRF secured a Buy recommendation from HSBC with a price target of ₹3,275, as analysts pointed to robust multi-vertical revenue traction and substantial expansion runway across six emerging business segments, provided operational cost containment restores operating margins. In the infrastructure cabling domain, CLSA upgraded KEI Industries to Outperform while marginally recalibrating its target price to ₹4,845; the brokerage noted that despite a modest quarterly earnings miss driven by raw material inflation, the company firmly reiterated its ambitious 25 percent revenue CAGR guidance for FY2027, backed by aggressive medium-term manufacturing capacity additions. In contrast, CLSA maintained a skeptical Underperform view on HPCL with a price target of ₹330 despite an earnings beat fueled by improved marketing and refining margins, reduced LPG under-recoveries, retail market share gains in diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF), and an impressive $800 million sequential reduction in standalone debt, reflecting persistent institutional caution over long-term refining margins and valuation headroom.
