Country’s biggest institutional investor Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has been busy through this year booking humongous profits on its equity portfolio.
Through April-September of this financial year, the insurance behemoth managed to book Rs 13,500 crore trading profit, which was 23.8 per cent higher than over Rs 10,900 crore it had earned over the same period last financial year.
The domestic equity indices are currently hovering around their all-time high levels, having risen 27 per cent for the year
An analysis done on the basis of LICs holding as of September 30, 2017, showed more than 85 per cent of the insurer’s stock picks have given positive return this calendar till November 2017.
With nearly 320 per cent return on a year-to-date basis (YTD), Bombay DyeingBSE 2.15 % emerged the top money spinner for the insurer.
Shares of Bombay Dyeing rose to Rs 204.60 as of November 27, 2017 from Rs 48.80 on January 2. LIC was holding 3.21 per cent stake in the company as of September 30, 2017.
The company has scripted a huge turnaround, having reported a net profit of Rs 52.79 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2017 compared with a net loss of Rs 36.56 crore reported for the same quarter last year.
Adani Transmission was the second highest grosser on the list. That stock has soared 245 per cent to Rs 196.95 from Rs 57.05 so far this year.
Other major stocks that have more than doubled LIC’s wealth this year include Sterlite TechnologiesBSE -1.23 % (up 181 per cent), Jai CorpBSE -3.10 % (up 175 per cent), VakrangeeBSE -0.12 % (up 163 per cent), DCM Shriram (up 152 per cent) and Titan Company (up 150 per cent).
Sterlite Technologies recently posted a 40 per cent surge in consolidated net profit for second quarter at Rs 71.23 crore, driven by demand for optical fibre cable for high-speed data networks.
The company had reported Rs 50.83 crore profit for the same period a year ago. Emkay Global Financial ServicesBSE -0.80 % has a ‘buy’ rating on Sterlite with a target price of Rs 318.
Stock picker Porinju Veliyath recently said he was buying shares of DMC Shriram since it was at Rs 50. At present, the stock is hovering at Rs 557. He said DCM Shriram was a risk-free company and he would continue to hold it.
Among others, Dewan HousingBSE 0.18 %, KEC International, JP Associates, Jindal SawBSE 0.72 %, Tata GlobalBSE -2.73 %, PC Jewellers, TVS MotorBSE -0.98 %, RCF and GNFC have delivered returns in excess of 100 per cent to LIC between January and November this year. CentrumBSE 0.13 % Broking has a ‘buy’ recommendation on KEC InternationalBSE -1.14 % with a target price of Rs 344.
Brokerage firm Motilal Oswal Financial ServicesBSE -0.58 % recently initiated coverage on PC Jeweller with a target price of Rs 490.
India’s second-largest jewellery retailer with strong presence in North India and in the wedding jewellery segment is expanding aggressively to leverage the ongoing value migration.
“We see enormous opportunity unfolding in Indian jewellery segment as a result of value migration towards organised players. Among all the consumer categories, jewellery has the largest share of the unorganised segment, both in absolute and percentage terms,” Motilal OswalBSE -0.58 % said.
