YES Bank, Tata Power, ITC, Suzlon, VIL, IRCTC, JFS: How retail-heavy stocks fared ahead of Budget 2024

Retail-heavy stocks such as YES Bank Ltd, Tata Power Ltd, Suzlon Energy Ltd, Vodafone Idea Ltd, Jio Financial Services Ltd (JFS) and ITC Ltd, among others, delivered mixed returns in July so far, ahead of the Union Budget 2024. Out of 20 BSE500 stocks with highest number of individual investors (up to Rs 2 lakh), 10 delivered returns that beat Sensex's 2.7 per cent rise this month, 10 underperformed the BSE barometer, with seven others delivering negative returns.

YES Bank, which had the highest number of retail investors as of recent June 30 (62.11 lakh), saw its shares delivering 8.69 per cent return in July so far.

Tata Steel, which had 46.46 retail investors as of March 31, saw its shares falling 4.39 per cent this month. The Tata group firm is yet to announce its June quarter shareholding pattern. Vodafone Idea Ltd, which had 46.41 lakh investors as of June 30, fell 9 per cent this month. The stock has fallen even as telecom operators, including VIL, recently hiked tariff rates.

Tata Motors, which had 45.30 lakh retail investors at last count, rose 3.6 per cent this month, beating the Sensex return.

Railway stock Indian Railway Finance Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) climbed 18 per cent this month. Fisdom Research in a note sees Budget announcements aiming at expanding and modernising railway infrastructure, which may include new lines, station redevelopment, and the introduction of modern trains. This brokerage sees IRCTC among likely beneficiaries of Budget announcements.

Retail favourite Tata Power fell 2.4 per cent, Suzlon Energy climbed 4.7 per cent while JFS declined 6 per cent in July so far.

As far as power stocks go, there are hopes for enhanced incentives for renewable energy in the Budget, given the 500 GW target by 2030. This could include higher viability gap funding for areas like battery storage, offshore wind plants, and solar energy, JM Financial said. Such a development is likely be positive Tata Power Company and Suzlon Energy, among others, JM Financial said.

JFS fell as the company reported a 5.81 per cent dip in its year-on-year (YoY) consolidated profit, at Rs 312.63 crore, for the June quarter.

ITC delivered a solid 10 per cent return as hopes are there would not be any tinkering to cigarette/tobacco related taxes in the Budget. "We increase weight behind ITC by 50bps as we expect benign cigarette taxation environment to prevail, which will provide upside in the stock after long consolidation, revival in FMCG and paperboard profitability from 2H25 and hotel demerger will unlock value," PL said in its strategy note on July 11," PL said in a note.