My View On Bajaj Finance

About The Company

This company provide finance to the customers to buy two-wheelers which should have actually seen a dip, given the soaring interest rates and thereby culling demand, Bajaj Auto Finance has emerged victorious. Despite Bajaj Auto reporting a fall in the sale of its two-wheelers, month after month, this company which finances the two-wheelers also has posted a very good performance for third quarter ended 31^st Dec 2008.

About The Results

For current Q3, the company has shown a 44% rise in net sales on a YoY at Rs.157.46 crore which on QoQ was up 15.6%. Despite operating expenses going up by 25% and interest coming down marginally by 2%, the rise in PAT has been phenomenal – it has gone up by a whopping 147% on a QoQ and 40% on a YoY at Rs.11.28 crore. Deployments were down at Rs.612 crore and the company has tightened its credit lines across all its products.

The company’s bad debts for the quarter rose by a sharp 54% at Rs.45.81 crore and its recovery commission was up 13% at Rs.10.91 crore.

Clues In the Stock

Clearly, the jump in the topline has helped the company and this jump was achieved through some smart marketing strategies. During Q3, it launched a new scheme – Loan against property across 11 cities in India. And this scheme, as the name suggest, offered loans against the properties – residential or commercial, for amounts ranging from Rs.25 lakhs to Rs.10 crore. This was sweetened with unique features like rewards for prepayment, nil preclosure charges, free personal accident coverage and non-medical insurance cover too. And for the two wheelers that it finances, it announced a scheme wherein it gave free extended warranty on all the Bajaj Auto vehicles it finances.

About The stock

The result could not be based as justification for fresh investment in this stock. This stock should be avoided for current times.

Disclaimer: I do not have any personal holding in this stock.

My View On J K Lakshmi Cement

About the Company

One of the renowned company in the cement sector and been fancied stock in the capital market.

About the Results

The company declared its third quarter performance for the period ended 31^st Dec 2008, the company did surprise all with a very good QoQ increase in performance, though on a YoY there has been a slip in the bottomline.

QoQ profit margins have improved and this has been vastly possible due to the lower operating expenses and lower interest outgo. Net sales rose by just 1.35% but a 7.68% fall in operating expenses helped it post a 39% rise in EBITDA at Rs.78.58 crore. Interest outgo, which was at Rs.10.82 in Q2FY09, has come down to 4.73 crore in Q3FY09. Net profit at Rs.56.04% was up by a whopping 108% on QoQ. OPM improved from 19.30% to 26.39% and NPM from 9.15% to 18.82%.

But the story does a U-turn when compared on a YoY basis. Net sales was up 5.45%, operating expenses rose 12% and this pulled down the EBIDTA, which was down 10% and consequently, PAT was also down 8.28%. Production on a YoY rose from 8.89 lakh tonnes to 9.98 lakh tonnes and sales was up marginally from 9.09 lakh tonnes to 9.98 lakh tonnes.

QoQ, this is a good performance but YoY, clearly the pressure of the slowdown in realty activities and the fall in the price of cement, especially in Northern India where KJ has its cement unit and also where it sells, has been reflected. The lower fuel costs have come to the rescue which helped it post a better QoQ, which otherwise might not have been possible.

The company’s ongoing expansion plans are well on schedule. Infact the project is expected to be completed by Jan 09’ end and then the capacity will go up from the present 3.65 mtpa to 4.75 mtpa. It is also setting a greenfield cement plant with a 2.7 mtpa capacity in Chattisgarh and for that it is yet to acquire the land.

About The Stock

Unless the slowdown is over and specially in reality sector , any hope for major positive news from cement sector could not be made. Stock is a good buy but the present scenario doesn't suggest an immediate buy.

Disclaimer : I do not have any personal holding in this stock.

My View On Ahluwalia Contractors

About The Company

This Delhi based company is engaged in constructing wide range of structural buildings such as healthcare facilities, hotels, educational institutions, information technology parks and corporate office premises. Despite the slowdown in the sector, the company is poised to do well and this change in fortune is on the back of this huge order

About The Results

The going has been good for the company. In the second quarter ended 30^th September 2008, the company posted a very healthy 60.5% rise in net sales on a YoY. EBITDA was up 45% and PAT grew 19% at Rs. 14.52 crore. The company's current equity is Rs 12.55 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2. The revenue guidance for FY10, based on the back of the order book looks promising a growth of 40% is expected in the topline.

Clue In The Stock

1. Investor fancy was back on this counter on news that it has bagged orders worth Rs 394.01 crore. And post this order, its order book stands at Rs 4150 crore as on 31 December 2008, which is nearly 5 times its sales in the year ended March 2008.

2. This is being viewed by the analysts as a great news and reflects very good going for the company in the coming fiscal. These projects are to be executed over a period of 24 months so this naturally means that in FY10, the company will have a robust growth and the future looks bright.

About The Stock

The stock performance is good but fresh investment at current times in reality sector is to be avoided as the slowdown in reality is yet to come.

Disclaimer : I do not have any personal holding in this stock.

My View On Future of Future Group

The present scenario is tough for the retail sector. The future group engaged in retail business under the brands for all categories of public including Pantaloons , Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar is not an exception.

The consumers just do not seem to be in any mood to buy. Ignoring the massive sales and discounts announced by the Pantaloon group, which are also includes Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar; consumers seem to have given it all the thumbs down. People are buying less and surely, with uncertainty all over, the mood steers towards saving and being discreet in where they spend their monies.

In December, Big Bazaar, food Bazaar reported a 4% fall in sales, Pantaloon sales fell 14% and its home retail sales was down 10%. Its fashion, food and general merchandise have registered a good growth in same-store sales but the fall in categories like mobile handsets, electronics and furniture have pulled down the overall sales. Sales in the lifestyle segment have taken a hit because some high-value international brands sold, like Etaam and Lee Cooper, from the stores did not do well.

Kishore Biyani refuses to accept that the margins will be under pressure as he justifies saying that his private labels are doing well and sales would go up across all segments, by around 19% in January. Right now expansions are on hold but once again, Biyani is confident that it will be able to add 15 Big Bazaars, 5 Centrals, 3 Home Towns, 10 E-zones, 1 Ethnicity and 4 Pantaloon stores by July 09’. Once again, expansions are on hold not because the group has a crunch but more due to the fact that malls are deferring openings and slower construction of malls due to the liquidity crisis faced by the developers. The market did not buy this logic and the stock dipped yesterday by around 9% and touched a new low at Rs.170.15.

My View On NIIT Technologies

About The Company

One of the most fancied stock of the sector among both the investor as well as the traders. The company is a software company but belongs to midcap IT companies.

About The Results

The company has posted results for the third quarter ended 31^st Dec 2008, on a YoY, the net revenue of the company rose by 8.37% at Rs.118.37 crore but on a sequential basis, it dropped 4.33%. Its operating expenses rose 25% and this was mainly on account of the rise in development costs at rs.12.13 crore and the forex loss of Rs.11.73 crore, which in Q2FY09, it had managed to post a gain at Rs.6.50 crore. Employee cost more or less remains stable at Rs. 66.90 crore, which was at Rs.66.25 crore in Q2FY09. So looks like the company has not had to resort to any major downsizing.

OPM of the company is -84.46% as against 31.98% in Q3FY08. Net profit for the quarter took a massive beating and was down 59% on a YoY at Rs.12.02 crore. And on a QoQ, it was down 59% too. NPM slipped to a meagre 9.37% from 24.11% in Q3FY08.

About The Stock

The upcoming times would be more tough for the company and the stock performance accordingly wouldn't be good. A fresh investment in this stock would not be a good idea at present times.

Disclaimer : I do not have any personal holding in this stock.

My View On RS SOFTWARE

About The Company

The company is a software company but a very small company with insignificant position in this field.

About The Results

A tiny software company, it has anyway been between down quite a bit but it was surprising to see that it ended yesterday with a gain of over 3% at Rs.14. Surely, it managed to do this based on the performance of Q3FY09, which YoY has been good but down on a sequential basis. It posted a PAT of Rs.1.60 crore for the quarter ended 31/12/08 and this far exceeds PAT of FY 08, which was at Rs.1.17 crore. But compared to Q2FY09, this was down 6.74%.

There seems to be no correlation between the profitability over the quarters, as also in regard to EPS stated by the company, for various periods. For FY 08, on equity base of Rs.744 lakhs, with PAT of R.117 lakhs, EPS is stated at 16 paise, while for September 08 quarter, on PAT of Rs.178 lakhs, EPS on equity of Rs.744 lakhs is stated at Rs.2.18. And now for the Dec quarter the EPS is at Rs.2.02.

The sole aim of the company is to create sensation by publishing its quarterly results with blocks of “Net Profit up 100 times” etc. The sole aim of the promoters of the company is to have market operations and to trap the investors at the higher levels. Share now ruling at Rs.14 had its 52 week high of Rs.41 and Rs.10.90 and when established mid cap I.T. companies are available at a PE multiple of 3 to 4 times, who would be interested in these manipulative stocks?

At especially such time, it is best that the management refrains from indulging in these gimmicks and also for the investors to take a fundamental view on the stock.

About The Stock

Any investment at this point of time in such company is not recommended.

Disclaimer : I do not have any personal holding this stock.

My View On South Indian Bank Ltd

About the Company

A bank has steady growth. The bank’s asset quality recorded further improvement both in terms of gross and net ratios.

About The Results

South Indian Bank has posted a good performance for the quarter ended 31^st Dec 2008. It posted a net profit of Rs.144.50 crore for nine months ended 31^st Dec 2008 while the net profit target for the fiscal FY09 is expected to be at Rs.190 crore. Aggregate business of the bank rose to Rs 27,778.69 crore. For Q3FY09, net profit was at Rs. 54.20 crore, recording a y-o-y growth of 33.10%. The bank’s EPS on annualized basis improved from Rs 15.75 as on December 2007 to Rs 17.05.

Net interest income (NII) stood at Rs 146 crore as against Rs 92.6 crore.Net interest margin registered an improvement from 2.61% during the Q3 to 3% of the corresponding period of this fiscal. Return on Average Assets (annualized) for the Q3 increased to 1.11% compared to 0.98% in Q3FY08. Capital adequacy ratio was at, after the recent bonus issue of shares, at 14.62% vis-à-vis the regulatory minimum of 9%.

Gross NPA of the bank declined to 1.85% as compared to 2.53% a year ago. As on December 2008, net NPA ratio came down to 0.39% against 0.49% in December 2007.

For Q4, the Bank expects to maintain NPAs and profit margins at same levels, if not better. The net interest incomes have gone up due to the fall in the PLRs. 20% of the Bank’s deposits come from NRI’s. Yield on advances have gone up at 11.48%. the Bank will reduce its PLR once the others set the trend but surely, there is one more round of cuts expected.

FIIs are holding 43% while 12% are held by banks, insurance companies, FIs, and MFS and 45% is held by the general public. Prominent shareholders of the bank are Federal Bank (4.94%) IFC, Washington (4.80%) Goldman Sachs (3.93%) LIC (1.77%) Union Bank (1.06%) and SBI 1.02%.

About The Stock

The stock seems to be good for long term prospective but no certain gain is to be expected in short to medium term.

Disclaimer : I do not have any personal holding in this stock.

My View On Infosys

About The Company

The boss of Information Technology sector. The company has tough competition with Wipro , Satyam , TCS . Though one of the rival has lost all its strength (Satyam Computers).The Company has well managed team with good order book. Right since the time the Satyam scam broke out, Infosys has been a gainer on the bourses. Infact on Wednesday, when Raju confessed to the scam, all stocks closed the day in the red, except Infosys, HUL, Maruti and TCS. This is because the investors now know that Infosys is a company much above the others when it comes to corporate governance, For the market now, corporate governance, the ability to trust what the management declares as results has become a priority. And it is companies like Infosys which can lead the way and it is in companies like these that investors would probably invest more.

About The Results

Infosys is expected to declare its third quarter performance for the period ended 31^st Dec 2008. And in the second quarter ended 30^th September, the performance was encouraging if not trailblazing. Its consolidated income was at Rs. 5,418 crore, YoY growth was 32%. PAT was Rs.1,432 crore and YoY growth was 30.2% . Earnings per share increased to Rs. 25.02 from Rs. 19.26 in the corresponding quarter in the previous year; YoY growth was 30% . The company also declared an interim dividend of Rs. 10 per share ( 200% on par value of Rs. 5 per share) compared to Rs. 6 ( 120% on par value of Rs. 5 per share) for the corresponding period in the previous year.

During Q2, it added 40 new clients and gross addition of employees was at 10,117. Employee strength is almost double that of Satyam at 1,00,306 employees as on September 30, 2008 for Infosys and its subsidiaries.

The company has given an encouraging guidance for Q3FY09. Income is expected to be in the range of Rs. 5,519 crore and Rs. 5,730 crore; YoY growth of 29.2% – 34.2% . Earnings per share is expected to be Rs. 26.63; YoY growth of 23.6%. And for the fiscal ended 31^st March 2009, income is expected to be in the range of Rs. 21,309 crore and Rs. 21,731 crore; YoY growth of 27.7% – 30.2% and EPS is expected to be Rs. 101.06; YoY growth of 24% . Throughout all this, it has assumed the US$ at Rs.46.97.

About The Stock

As already said the company is one of its kind and the best choice in the IT Sector for investment.

Disclaimer : I do not have any personal holding in this stock.

My View On Mastek

About The Company

The entire IT sector has been disturbed due to amazing disclosure of Satyam scam and this make a suspicious finger on all big and companies engaged in this field.

About the Results

Mastek, for second quarter ended Dec 31^st 2008 clearly shows the pressure of the ongoing global financial crisis. The performance has been affected due to the significant weakening of the British pound sterling relative to the dollar and the rupee, forex losses amounting to Rs 11.7 crore, as well as some headwinds on account of the prevailing economic environment. The positive movement of dollar was not enough to offset the move of pound sterling.

The company had targeted a revenue of Rs 265-270 crore and a net profit of Rs 43-44 crore with the exchange rate prevailing at the beginning of the quarter. As against this, its total revenue was at Rs. Rs 256.2 crore, up 19% on a YoY. Excluding foreign exchange losses, PAT for quarter at Rs 43 crore. But after providing for the forex loss, the PAT has come down to Rs. Rs 31.1 crore, which is still 16% up on a YoY. But on a QoQ, total income represents a 2% decline, EBITDA at Rs 38.1 crore was 19% lower and PAT was down 24%.

During Q2FY2009, Mastek added 4 new customers and its 12-month order book was at Rs.453 crore as on 31 December 2008.

About the Stock

The stock remain a bad investment option and should be avoided at current times.

My View On BHEL

About the Company

The fancied stock and one of the best company in capital good sector has strong order book and have steady growth.The effect of the slowdown cannot be seen in this PSU capital goods company. Infact it seems to be business as usual, with orders burgeoning as has always been the trend.

About The Financials

For the first half ended 30^th September 2008, BHEL posted a 31% rise in net sales on a YoY. The value of production (net of excise duty) has also improved by 34.07%. Other operating income was at Rs.599 crore which included one time interest income of Rs.267 crore on IT refund of earlier years. PAT was at Rs.1000.20 crore as against Rs.976.60 crore (Rs.847.60 crore excluding interest on IT refund) in Q2FY08.

Orders worth Rs.14,350 crore were received during the current Q2 and order outstanding currently is at about Rs.1,04,000 crore. So the company continues to have the issues of a huge backlog and unless the expanded facility or new facility does come up soon, this burgeoning issue of order backlog will continue to dog the company.

Wage revision is also a big issue, infact the biggest bane of PSUs. For BHEL, the provision for wage revision was reassessed in the current year at Rs.1907 crore for the period from 01.01.07 to 31.03.09. Amount already provided upto 31.03.08 was Rs.594 crore. Balance Rs.1313 crore is being provided in the year 08-09. In the first 2 quarters of 08-09, Rs.547 crore has been provided. This wage revision is about 5% of the market share of the turnover and will continue to remain so for the next 2- 3 years, denting the margins.

About The Stock

The company remain a good investment opportunity and partial investment is recommended in this stock.

Disclaimer : I do not have any personal holding in this stock.