>MOST HATED & LOVED STOCKS (ICICI SECURITIES)

India’s most ‘hated’ & most ‘loved’ stocks

We have run a couple of screens (Tables 1&2) for our clients who are looking for contrarian bets. The BSE-100 list of companies has been screened for consensus recommendations. The most hated stocks are those covered by minimum 10 brokers, of who at least 60% have a SELL recommendation. At least 60% of the ratings for the most loved stocks are BUYs.

From I-Sec Research’s perspective, the one stock that stands out is Ranbaxy – 32 brokers cover it, 75% of them think it is a SELL, and the stock has underperformed the Sensex by over 40% in the past 12 months. Our pharma analyst, Rajesh Vora, recently upgraded the stock to BUY (refer our note ‘Ripe for a turnaround’ dated August 10, ’09) based on the argument that the worst developments on the US FDA front are behind us and two of the company’s blockbuster products may hit the market in the next eight months.

To see full report: MARKET STRATEGY