YES Bank shares have least 'buy' calls; Adani Ports, Hindalco are 100% buys for analysts

YES Bank, which had the highest number of retail shareholders as of December 31, has the lowest percentage of 'Buy' calls among the top 100 listed companies by market capitalisation. It is also among the least popular stock among analysts, data showed. In contrast, Adani Ports & SEZ Ltd, Hindalco Industries Ltd and Max Healthcare Ltd enjoy 100 per cent recommendations as 'Buy',  data showed.

Only 7 per cent of recommendations on YES Bank Ltd are 'Buy' calls, the lowest in the top 100 pack. It is followed by JSW Energy (9 per cent), JSW Steel (19 per cent), Divi’s Labs (20 per cent) and Hind Zinc (20 per cent). This is in contrast with Hindalco Industries, which is covered by 24 analysts, with all 'Buy' calls. Adani Ports & SEZ and Max Healthcare also have 100 per cent buy ratings. SBI and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) at 98 per cent are some other consensus buys.

YES Bank is also the fifth least popular stock among the top 100 companies, being covered by only 14 analysts. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Abbott India and Max Healthcare are tracked measly by 10 analysts each while JSW Energy is tracked by 11 analysts. On the flipside, ICICI Bank Ltd is the most popular stock, with 53 analyst coverage, followed by Maruti Suzuki (52 analysts), Bajaj Auto (51 analysts) and Axis Bank (51 analysts).

Meanwhile, UPL (potential upside 42 per cent), Zomato (39 per cent), SBI Life Insurance (38 per cent), LIC (36 per cent), FSN E-Commerce (35 per cent) and ICICI Prudential Life (35 per cent) are stocks with highest upside potential, Motilal Oswal Securities said in a strategy note. JSW Energy potential downside 22 per cent), Shree Cement (10 per cent), ABB (5 per cent), Cummins India (4 per cent) and Berger Paints (3 per cent) are among stocks with most downside potential.

Motilal Oswal said based on the consensus target prices for the available Top-100 companies, the potential upside stands at 17 per cent (from the current free float market value of Rs 90 lakh crore to a target market value of Rs 105 lakh crore.

The brokerage noted that analyst sentiment, which is measured by the proportion of Buy, Hold and Sell ratings, has not changed much over the past year with the percentage of Buy ratings moderating slightly to 71 per cent from 73 per cent a year ago.

The percentage of 'Hold' and 'Sell' ratings stood at 17 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively. This is against 16 per cent for 'Hold' ratings and 11 per cent for 'Sell' ratings, a year ago.

Overall, the top-15 stocks by m-cap are estimated to contribute 61 per cent to the earnings growth of the Top-100 set. Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, HDFC, SBI, Tata Motors are expected to contribute the most with respect to earnings.

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