Time to extend your stay? 4 hotel & related services stocks with an upside potential of up to 33%

Capital good companies had faced tough times for many years. Given the fact that hardly any capacity buildup was taking place in any industry, a number had to change their product portfolio and had to live with very low margins. But all the efforts have now started to show some results. Given the performance of the stock, a large majority of these stocks have hold recommendations from the analysts.

Cement has been a sector where most of the analysts have been caught off guards. The stocks have done well and a large number of analysts have been sticking to their stands that pricing and capacity utilization is an issue. What they probably ignored was the fact that any industry which has been facing headwinds for a long time tends to sort the issues and few players are able to make a comeback as consolidation takes place. Pretty much what we have seen in power.

In 2008, the IPO of a power company got subscribed in less than a minute of its opening and the size of that issue was Rs 11,563 crore. This just shows the desire to own power sector stocks at that point of time. From those days of frenzy to the nadir in 2014, when power companies were on the top of the list of NPA of the banks. Power companies have seen both the extreme of valuations. It is a sector where after many failures and to some extent a consolidation, some companies have emerged which know how to deal with all kinds of economic and industry cycles. That is probably the reason why a number of companies from the power sector have seen a sharp re-rating in the last one year. Hoping the survivors have learnt their lessons.

Among many industries which have seen a strong transformation in the last nine years due to policy initiatives has been the sugar industry. This is despite the fact that sugar is a state subject where central policies can only play a limited role. If one looks at the balance sheet of a large number of them, they are far better placed than they were six years ago and to some extent in the last two years even the institutional investors have started to take exposure in this sector which they have avoided for more than three decades.

The bull run which started right in the middle of 2020 when covid was ravaging the world, had seen many sectors coming into limelight. One among them was agrochemical. The whole sector got rerated and some of the Indian companies which are focussed on domestic markets got fair share of attention from the street. But then they faced headwinds and have been underperforming, but in case of the companies the headwinds are temporary and the underlying changes these companies are doing makes them worthy of looking as long term investment bets. ET screener powered by Refinitiv’s Stock Report Plus lists down stocks from the chemical sector with high upside potential over the next 12 months, having an average recommendation rating of “buy” or a “hold”.

While the recent performance of stocks like REC, PFC and recently listed IRDEA has brought focus back to one segment of power companies. But the fact is that in the last few years, the sector has been going through a consolidation. Some of it was forced by the banks due to many companies going under the IBC and some due to the fact that any industry which has gone through a troubled phase of almost a decade, the players who are able to survive tend to get more attention because they have learnt the art of surviving a tough phase which is one most important feature for long term survival. Power sector stocks are now catching up with what the market has witnessed in the last few years.

There are sectors which under perform for years and then they come back to focus. Thanks to the fact that the textile industry was completely dominated by China and other countries, the Indian textile industry has been in bad shape for decades. However, post covid, partially due to China Plus one narrative. Secondly due to the fact that the government has been focusing on manufacturing, textile stocks have come into focus. This list is drawn from Stock Reports Plus, powered by Refinitiv, with over 4,000 listed stocks along with detailed company analysis focusing on five key components - earnings, fundamentals, relative valuation, risk and price momentum.

If one goes by airline ticket prices, room rent and occupancy level of hotels it is very clear that what appeared as revenge traveling in early phases when covid get over has more to it. Both airlines and hotel prices have remained higher than normal in all seasons of the year, whether busy or off season. Going by the changed preferences and all the challenges right from tech aggregator and others, there is a good chance that large chains with asset light model along with own asset have high probability of doing well.

Thirty years back in 1994, when the Indian market witnessed the first round of bull run after the Harshad Mehta scam, the sector which was on top gainer list was the hotel sector. In those days, the logic given in the brokerage research reports, which used to come out very infrequently and were miniscule in numbers, was that as the Indian economy opens up, more foreign business travellers would be coming to India. That will lead to higher occupancy and it is not easy to set up a 5 star hotel so the demand supply equation would be in their favour. Today there is an element of foreign travellers but more importantly, the unstoppable traveling Indians along with domestic business travellers who are creating a situation where once again demand is higher than supply leading to a situation which is favorable for the bottomline of hotel companies. The question is are the valuations cheap, surely not, but is the growth likely to be stronger and stable? The answer is probably yes. We take a look at 7 stocks, some of which are not rated, but their over score is positive to neutral.