Adani Ports shares in focus on Monday amid rising geopolitical concerns. Here's why

Shares of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (Adani Ports) will be in focus on Monday amid heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.  Adani Ports operates the Haifa ports in the Northern Israel and any escalation between Israel and Iran conflict, following recent drones and missile attacks by Iran, could be of concern.  

The Port of Haifa is Israel's second largest in in terms of shipping containers. It is Israel's biggest in shipping tourist cruise ships. That said, the overall contribution of Haifa in Adani Port's numbers is still relatively small in terms of  total cargo volume.

Recently, the Iraqi Resistance launched an operation against oil refineries in the port city of Haifa by using drones.  Adani Group completed the purchase of Haifa Ports for about $1.03 billion in January 2024 and operates the port with a local partner.

Shares of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone settled at Rs 1,352.50 on Friday, falling 0.65 per cent in the previous trading session. The total market capitalization stood more than Rs 2.9 lakh crore. The stock has fallen more than 5 per cent from its 52-week highs at Rs 1,425 hit on April 2, 2024. Shares of Adani Ports have rallied more than 108 per cent from its 52-week lows at 650.05, hit a year ago. The stock has surged more than 67 per cent in the last six months while it is up about 30 per cent in the year 2024 so far. The stock has added 5 per cent in the last one month.

Adani Ports recorded the highest cargo volumes of around 38 million metric tons (MMT) in March 2024. It handled 420 million metric tons (MMT) across its domestic and international ports, with domestic ports contributing over 408 MMT. On a year-on-year basis, the company's total cargo volume grew by 24 per cent for financial year 2024.

Mundra Port alone handled more than 7.4 million TEUs, which is over a third of India’s container cargo, while  Eight ports, which handle 84 per cent of the portfolio by volume, delivered double digit growth  All broad cargo types including dry, container and liquid recorded double digit growth for the period.

Last week, Adani Ports established a step-down subsidiary company- Poseidon Leasing IFSC Ltd- to operate within the GIFT SEZ in Gujarat with an estimated investment of Rs 1,689 crore. The entity has approached IFSC for setting up the unit. Kotak Institutional Equities has a 'buy' call on Adani Ports with a target price at Rs 1,520 apiece, suggesting an upside of 12.5 per cent.