Made money in small and midcaps? Book some profit and raise allocation to largecaps: Abhay Agarwal

Investors should reallocate money from smallcaps to largecaps to reduce portfolio risk, even though the Indian equity bull market is still intact, says Pankaj Murarka, the founder of Renaissance Investment. Murarka believes despite valuations being at an all-time high, corporate profits are also at a record high and in sectors such as defence and railways, there are solid underlying growth tailwinds.

At the end of October-month, largecap holding in smallcap schemes rose to Rs 12,470 crore, which is 6.3% of total assets under management (AUM) in the category.

Market expert Hemang Jani predicts that the upcoming ICC World Cup and festive season will drive consumer demand in the next two quarters, benefiting sectors like QSR, hotels, and aviation. Food prices will be a key monitorable, but short-term spikes have been easily absorbed by the markets. Jani recommends investing in Titan, Indian Hotels, Zomato, and other consumption names like D-Mart. He also suggests considering stocks in the logistics space, such as Blue Dart and VRL Logistics, which are expected to benefit from the growth in consumer demand.

Elixir Equities Director, Dipan Mehta, argues that new age companies such as Zomato, Policy Bazaar, Nykaa, and Paytm are stocks of the decade of the 2030s and could be huge multibaggers over the next 5-10 years. However, these companies are still in their investment phase, which reflects in their P&L, although they are making strong efforts to get into EBITDA positive. Regarding concerns about Page's decline, Mehta suggests that a demand slump due to higher inflation and uncertainty around weather patterns may have impacted Page industries.

In this hype, many retail investors are rushing into the market. They may be influenced by the euphoria of Nifty at all-time highs and fear of missing out. However, in this rush to participate and benefit from the markets they are ignoring the risks associated with it. Risk is inseparable from the world of investing.

Pawan Kumar advises caution in the Indian market due to heightened volatility and valuation premiums in mid & small-cap stocks. Customized asset allocation based on individual factors is recommended for FY25, with a neutral stance on the Indian Equity market.

Out of the 3,708 stocks traded on BSE, a vast majority of 3,245 or 88% have given positive returns from the lows of March 20 till December-end. When it came to multibaggers, the list went up to 736 which means every 5th stock has doubled money.

“The next couple of years should be better for pharma companies as the pricing outlook keeps on improving and the cost pressure is moderating as well for inputs like APIs, chemicals, etc. So, generic companies or those with a good specialty portfolio, should do well in the next few years.”

“The market definitely wants the larger number of sectors to play. Engineering R&D is one sector where you have likes of Tata Elxsi; you have likes of Cyient Technology, KPIT, LTI MindTree. Some of these companies which are having their niche position in that and that also adds into the Tata Technology kind of companies.”

“I do not think anybody is going to wait for the next six months outcome. People are going to rush in and start allocating their longer term bets now and that is what is going on when we talk to the foreign investors. Everybody is asking for new ideas, where they can deploy capital. Sometime back, the conversation was about how much to take off the table, how much cash to sit on but that has all gone in the air now.”