The brokerage house Motilal Oswal has picked two stocks at this hour. It picked to bet on Anant Raj after the company’s revenue beat the estimates, while it has raised the target price on ICIC Bank as it delivers a strong set of numbers in Q4FY25.
Anant Raj
The brokerage house has a Buy rating on the stock of Anant Raj with a target price of Rs 494. The company’s earnings in Q4FY25 came in line with the broker’s expectations. Its revenue came in at Rs 540 crore, up 22% year-on-year, which was above the estimates of Motilal Oswal. Its EBITDA margin stood at 26.3%, up 2.8% YoY, but came below the estimates. In FY25, Anant Raj’s revenue was above expectations at Rs 2,060 crore, which was up 35% YoY. EBITDA was at Rs 490 crore, up 47% YoY. EBITDA margin was at 24%, up 1.4% YoY in the financial year 2024-25. Also, the company proposed a final dividend of Rs 0.73/share on shares having a face value of Rs 2 a share. Its net cash was at Rs 190 crore in FY25 as against net debt of Rs 3.7 crore in FY24.
ICICI Bank
The brokerage house remained confident in ICICI Bank with a ‘Buy’ call and raised the target price to Rs 1,650, seeing an upside of 17%. The bank reported strong operating performance amid a volatile macro environment, elevated competition for deposits, and ongoing normalisation in asset quality. “This underscores the management’s intent and capability to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns (credit cost stood at 27bp/37p during Q4/FY25) while focusing on its core ethos of ‘Fair to customer – Fair to Bank’,” said Motilal Oswal. The broker upgraded earnings estimates by 2.5%/ for FY26 and 4.2% for FY27 on the back of positive NIM surprise and controlled credit costs. However, the upcoming rate cuts are likely to affect margins, with a lag in deposit repricing. Despite falling deposit rates, NIMs may see some pressure.