As states extend lockdown, here are 6 COVID-proof stocks



Many state governments, over the weekend, have extended lockdown as COVID-19 cases rise across the country to hit a record 3.49 lakh cases in a single day, as on April 25.

The extension of lockdown will hit economic activity and earnings of India Inc in the upcoming June quarter, experts fear.

for FY22. Goldman Sachs and Nomura have cut their forecast for the fiscal year, which began on April 1.

Investors will be better off investing in stocks that are COVID-proof and should be able to show quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) growth.

Pharma is in a clear uptrend and it is likely to perform, going forward as well, whereas auto is likely to see some bounce-back. Metals have been the star performer so far in the April series. However, most of them is priced in and it too can see some consolidation,” Jay Thakkar, VP and Head of Equity Research at Marwadi Shares and Finance Ltd, told Moneycontrol.

“The FMCG sector, like that of pharma, is likely to perform well in the short to medium term. Pathology labs are likely to perform well in the short to medium term,” he said.

The Indian market is down by about 9 per cent from the highs, which factors in the partial lockdown in many states as well as slowdown in industrial activity and demand trends.

The ongoing slowdown is bound to impact the June quarter earnings, but on a YoY basis, the results will be strong. The impact will be visible on a sequential basis.

“The second wave is likely to peak by end-April and then show a steady decline, as many models suggest. For FY22, a GDP growth of 10 per cent is achievable,” Dr VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, told Moneycontrol.

“Since 65 percent of Nifty earnings have global linkage, and segments like IT and metals are doing well, Q1 earnings will not be hit hard,” he said.

The vaccination drive will be opened up for all citizens above the age of 18 from May 1, the Union government announced on April 19. The immunisation drive was so far restricted to citizens aged above 45 years.

“Opening up of vaccines for everyone above 18 years of age brings in a huge positive sentiment among people. The government is also pushing up the manufacturing infrastructure. It has approved many other vaccines as well,” Divam Sharma, Co-founder, Green Portfolio, told Moneycontrol.

“The last 2-3 quarters of FY21 had reflected the strength of our country and its economy. Vaccination drive and lesser restrictions will lead to continuity in the double-digit GDP growth expectations and many listed businesses will continue to outperform, resulting in markets gaining further momentum,” he said.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Centre appeals against ruling on levy of GST on maintenance charges to resident welfare associations

Image
  The Centre has preferred a writ appeal before the Madras High Court against a single judge's order that flat or villa owners paying more than ₹7,500 a month towards maintenance charges to their residents’ welfare associations must pay Goods and Services Tax (GST) at the rate of 18% only for the amount exceeding ₹7,500 and not for the entire monthly contribution. Justices T.S. Sivagnanam and Sathi Kumar Sukumara Kurup on Wednesday allowed an application filed by the Centre to dispense with production of a certified copy of the judgment passed by Justice Anita Sumanth recently and directed the Registry to list the appeal for admission in the usual course. Justice Sumanth had in July this year quashed an order passed by the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) on June 21, 2019 as well as a consequent circular issued by the Department of Revenue under the Union Finance Ministry on July 22, 2019 since both of them had insisted upon collecting GST for entire monthly contribution. The jud...
Read more

Seven key things to know before filing income tax return (ITR) for FY21

Image
  The last date to file income tax return for the financial year 2020-21 has been extended to September 30, 2021. Although there is more than two months left for the deadline to end, it is always recommended to complete the task as soon as possible and not to wait for the last minute. Worth mentioning here is that the income tax department last month launched a new e-filing portal (www.incometax.gov.in) to speed up the processing of tax returns. The I-T department will soon launch a mobile application, having all the features of the new portal. This year taxpayers have to take care of the following changes in the ITR filing process. 1) A new utility named JSON has been launched for filing tax return forms for FY21. At present, only three forms, ITR 1, 2 and 4 have been released. These new forms will import pre-fill data such as personal details, salary income, dividend income, interest income, capital gains and all the information available in Form 26AS. 2) Taxpayers will have the ...
Read more

Income Tax Dept detects ₹350 cr unaccounted cash receipts after raid in Rajkot

Image
  The Income Tax Department carried out a search and seizure operation on a real estate group based in Gujarat's Rajkot and found unaccounted cash receipts in various projects of approximately ₹350 crore, the Finance Ministry said on Friday. The group is among Gujarat’s prominent real estate builders and developers and is actively engaged in real estate, construction and land trading businesses in and around Rajkot. More than 40 premises were covered in the search operation. During the course of operation, many incriminating documents and digital evidences were seized indicating involvement of the group in unaccounted transactions. The IT sleuths found substantial evidence of transactions outside the regular books of accounts, unaccounted cash expenses, cash advances received and interest paid in cash. Evidence of on-money payments in real estate projects-flats, shops and land deals has also been found. Total unaccounted cash receipts in various projects of approximately ₹350 crore...
Read more