Macquarie on Titan

Maintain Outperform, TP at 4000 (Reduced by 4%) 

Titan preferred pick in consumer space 

Rise in gold lease cost for smaller players, see Titan’s competitiveness rising 

Lab grown diamons concern not material 

Cut FY25-27 EPS by 3-4% due to higher lease costs (Trump’s Tariff) and near term impact on jewellery demand due to higher gold prices

MOSL on Hotels

The Indian hotel industry is poised to continue its strong recovery in 4QFY25 

Fueled by healthy traction in MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) activities, cultural events, and a strong wedding season. 

Key hospitality players are likely to witness 12-14% YoY RevPAR growth in 4Q (similar to 3QFY25) 

Primarily driven by growth in ARR (11-13%) and higher occupancy levels 

incremental contributions from inventory addition, stabilization of key hotels, and reopening renovated hotels with additional keys 

Indian Hotels-Reiterate Buy, TP 960 

Lemon Tree-Reiterate Buy, TP 190

Investec on PCB/EMS Sector

Kaynes Tech-Upgrade to Hold from Sell, TP 3465 

Syrma SGS-Upgrade to Hold from Sell, TP 460 

Valuations looking reasonable 

Convinced about growth opportunities in EMS space 

Stay concerned about low entry barrier and high working capital for PCBA 

Amber-Electronics/Railways business yield impressive ROIC 

Dixon Tech-capital efficiency, costs competitiveness standout 

Preference stays for Dixon and Amber over PCBA companies

Nomura on Cement

Pan-India: Trade Prices Increase Rs3/bag MoM In March, Prices In Q4FY25 Up By Rs6/bag QoQ

Northern region: Trade Prices Increase By Rs7/bag MoM In March, up Rs15/bag In Q4FY25 QoQ

Southern region: Trade Prices Increase By Rs5/bag MoM In March, up Rs3/bag In Q4FY25 QoQ

Western region: Trade Prices Rise By Rs4/bag In March, Up Rs2/bag In Q4FY25 QoQ

Eastern region: Trade prices are flat MoM in March, up Rs11/bag In Q4FY25 QoQ

Central region: Trade Prices Remain flat MoM In March, Up Rs3/bag In Q4FY25 QoQ

Prefer ultraTech, Ambuja & Ramco (ALL Buy)

Neutral On Shree Cement

Reduce Rating On Dalmia, Nuvoco & ACC

JPM on Paints (Dealer Checks)

Marginal improvement in demand trends so far in Jan-Feb’25.

The leading paint players clocked flat to LSD vol growth in Q3 (ex-BRGR) amid a muted consumption environment, shorter festive season and Birla Opus scale up (mid single digit market share).

Primary paints sales were further weighed down by trade de-stocking and high channel discounting, amid demand uncertainty and sustained competitive intensity.

Pricing should start to get better with the lapping of price cuts.

Birla Opus is on track to exit FY25 with HSD market share (with a reach of ~50k dealers) though increasingly they would need to manage intra-dealer dynamics with an expanded base.

Many dealers noted enhanced aggression from Asian Paints on channel incentives, better quality product launches and even higher on-ground engagement intensity with dealers/contractors.

After a period of moderation, margins are starting to stabilize with companies mitigating increased competitive spends (at the channel level) via optimizing overheads and benign raw material costs, though currency volatility will be key to monitor.

We stay on the sidelines on Asian Paints as we believe the improvement in visibility of volume/revenue growth will be crucial for the stock to reverse its performance.

We remain constructive on Pidilite, which is clocking better volume-led revenue growth and healthy margin.