Stocks to Watch: ICICI Bank, Cipla, ZEE, Axis Bank, Coforge

Here are a few stocks likely to be in focus on Tuesday, January 23:

Axis Bank: The lender is set to announce its third quarter results for FY24 on January 23. Kotak Institutional Equities estimates the bank to announce Net Interest Income (NII) of ₹124,553 million for Q3FY24, up 8.6% compared to the corresponding period last year. Net profit for Q3FY24 is projected to stand at ₹62,120 crore, up 6% year-on-year. Increased cost of funds or higher borrowing costs are expected to exert downward pressure on the bank's profit margins for the quarter. Axis Bank's net interest margins (NIMs) are projected to decrease to 3.9% in Q3FY24, compared to 4.1% in Q3FY23.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises: Global brokerage firm CLSA has revised its recommendation on Zee Entertainment Enterprises, changing it from a previous 'buy' rating to 'sell.' This update comes in response to the cancellation of the $10-billion mega-merger with Sony Pictures Network. "With Zee-Sony merger being terminated, we believe Zee’s PE will slump back to 12x levels, seen prior to the Sony merger announcement in August 2021," the brokerage firm stated. The global brokerage firm has further slashed the target price of Zee Entertainment Enterprises stock by 34% to ₹198. Sony has formally asked Zee to halt the merger, while simultaneously seeking a termination fee of $90 million, alleging breaches on the part of the Indian media giant.

ICICI Bank: The private lender released its Q3FY24 results on Saturday and reported a 23.5 jump in its standalone net profit at ₹10,272 crore compared to ₹8,312 in the corresponding quarter last year. The bank reported a healthy jump of 10% in its core operating profit and its asset quality remained stable during the quarter. ICICI Bank's Net Interest Income (NII) grew by 13.4% YoY to ₹18,678 crore during the quarter under review from ₹16,465 crore during the year-ago period. Its Net Interest Margin (NIM) stood at 4.43% during the quarter ending December 2023 compared to 4.53% in Q2FY24 and 4.65% in Q3FY23.

Cipla: The Pharmaceutical major's consolidated net profit rose 32% to ₹1,056 crore in Q3FY24, compared to the ₹801 crore net profit it earned in the corresponding quarter last year. Cipla's total revenue from operations for the quarter saw a marginal dip at ₹6,603 crore, compared to ₹6,678 crore in the previous quarter, but up 13.66% from ₹5,810.09 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. The company also reported an 8.78% increase in total expenses, amounting to ₹5,119.81 crore, compared to ₹4,706.47 crore in the same period last fiscal.

Coforge: The IT firm recorded a 31% jump in its quarter-on-quarter net profit at ₹238 crore in Q3FY24, from ₹181 crore during the quarter ending September 2023, and a 4.2% rise from ₹228.2 crore in Q3FY3. The revenue from operations of the company rose 16% to ₹6,820.5 crore during the period under review, from ₹5,844.6 crore in December 2022.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) and Adani Electricity Mumbai (AEML): Brokerage firm S&P Global, on Monday, upgraded its outlook for Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. (APSEZ) and Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd. (AEML) from negative to stable after thorough investigations found no wrongdoings into Adani stocks. Regulatory investigations have mostly concluded without proving wrongdoing on alleged governance matters raised in a short-seller report released in January 2023. Investigations have not uncovered any specific wrongdoing related to allegations in the report of non-compliance of minimum public shareholding, non-disclosures of related party transactions, or stock price manipulation.

Colgate-Palmolive India: The fast-moving consumer goods major reported a net 35.71 per cent increase in its net profit to ₹330.11 crore for the December quarter, on Monday, led by a double-digit growth in the toothpaste segment. The company's sales increased by 8.21 percent to ₹1,386.41 crore in Q3FY24, compared to ₹1,281.21 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. Total expenses during the quarter under review stood at ₹970.14 crore, marginally down from the previous quarter. The company's total income in the quarter under review was at ₹1,413.54 crore, up 8.6 percent.

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL): The company reported a consolidated net profit of ₹392.08 crore for Q4FY24, compared to a loss of ₹194.95 crore in the same period a year ago, the company said in an exchange filing on Monday. Its consolidated revenue from operations stood at ₹28,383.41 crore in the quarter, down from ₹30,966.16 crore in the same period last fiscal year. It reported a consolidated total income of ₹28,422.99 crore in Q3FY24, compared to ₹31,008.46 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal year. Its total expenses came down to ₹27,831.84 crore in Q3FY24 from ₹31,314.45 crore a year ago.

Reliance Industries: Brokerage firm Elara Securities has increased the target price of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries to ₹3,354, while retaining the ‘buy’ tag on the stock after the conglomerate reported its third quarter results for FY24 last week. “We reiterate Buy with a higher TP of ₹3,354 from ₹3,194. We assume 22.8x (unchanged) FY26E EV/EBITDA for Retail, 18.0x (unchanged) for Digital Services and 6.5x (from 6.0x) for O2C," Elara Securities said in its report. Reliance Industries’ EBITDA grew 16% year-on-year (YoY) to ₹407 billion in Q3FY24 versus its estimates of ₹381 billion. The conglomerate further reported a 11% YoY rise in PAT to ₹196 billion as compared to estimated figure of ₹175 billion.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) and Adani Electricity Mumbai (AEML): Brokerage firm S&P Global, on Monday, upgraded its outlook for Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. (APSEZ) and Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd. (AEML) from negative to stable after thorough investigations found no wrongdoings into Adani stocks. Regulatory investigations have mostly concluded without proving wrongdoing on alleged governance matters raised in a short-seller report released in January 2023. Investigations have not uncovered any specific wrongdoing related to allegations in the report of non-compliance of minimum public shareholding, non-disclosures of related party transactions, or stock price manipulation.

Tata Motors: The carmaker plans to commence production of electric vehicles at the Sanand plant acquired from Ford India from April this year, as per a top company official. Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd, a unit of Tata Motors, acquired the facility from Ford India for ₹725.7 crore in January last year. "We are planning to commence electric vehicle production at Sanand with Nexon EV from April," Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles MD Shailesh Chandra told PTI. The company has already commenced production of internal combustion engine-powered versions of the Nexon at the manufacturing plant with an installed capacity of 3 lakh units per annum. It can be further scaled up to 4.2 lakh units per annum. Chandra said the company is also looking to produce upcoming models at the facility.