Stocks in focus on May 8, 2018

 NEW DELHI: The domestic equity market is likely to open

 on the positive note on Tuesday, tracking Asian peers and

 Nifty on Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX). The Nifty

 futures on SGX were trading 24 points or 0.22 per cent

 higher at 10,770. 

Here is a list of top stocks that are likely to be in focus in today's trading session.

ICICI Bank: India’s largest private sector lender by assets on Monday reported 49.62 per cent YoY drop in standalone profit at Rs 1,020 crore for March quarter on sharp rise in provisions for the bad loans. The profit number was better than Rs 980 crore estimated by analysts in an ETNow poll. The bank had reported Rs 2,024.64 crore profit in the year-ago quater.

Lemon Tree: Lemon Tree Hotels on Monday said it will be investing Rs 850 crore in the next three years for expanding its footprint in the country. President of Lemon Tree Hotels, Vikramjit Singh said they have earmarked a total of Rs 1,700 crore for adding 1,500 rooms, which are currently under construction and expected to be completed by financial year 2021 and spent half of the total budget. 

Jaypee Infra: Jaypee group promoter Manoj Gaur on Monday made a Rs 10,000 crore offer to pay off bank loans and complete the stuck housing projects as part of plans to bring Jaypee Infratech out of bankruptcy, PTI reported citing sources. The offer, which includes paying part of Rs 9,800 crore debt, giving lenders an equity stake in the company and completing unfinished housing projects, is over 25 per cent higher than the best bid made for Jaypee Infratech at the bankruptcy proceedings. 

Pfizer: Pfizer on Monday posted 53.60 per cent year-on-year rise in profit at Rs 104.51 crore for the quarter ended March 31. It had posted a net profit of Rs 68.04 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Revenue of the drug firm increased 14.73 per cent to Rs 519.95 crore during the quarter under review against Rs 453.17 crore in the same period last year.

Q4 results today: ABB, Godrej Consumer Products, Blue Dart, HEG, Jubilant FoodWorksNSE 1.55 %, Sanofi, Phoenix, Whirlpool and SPARC will be among the companies scheduled to report their quarterly numbers during the day. 

Castrol India: Kotak Institutional Equities has retained ‘add’ rating on Castrol India and cut target price to Rs 215 from Rs 220. It expects the company to deliver 11 per cent CAGR in Earnings per Share over the next three years and high single-digit growth in earnings in the long term despite muted growth in volumes. Any sharp spike in base oil prices is a near-term risk although Castrol has demonstrated strong pricing power historically. Shares of Castrol India ended down 1.4 per cent at Rs 182 on Monday. 

JSW Energy: Edelweiss has maintained ‘hold’ rating on JSW Energy with a target price of Rs 75. It said JSW Energy’s EBITDA in Q4 came 25 per cent below consensus due to lower realisation and higher fuel cost. JSW Energy has a strong balance sheet, which can usher growth once the sector demand revives. However, its plans to diversify into unrelated businesses raise risks of uncertainty on profitability of the new venture. Shares of JSW Energy ended down 1 per cent at Rs 74.60 on Monday. 

BSE: Motilal Oswal has maintained ‘buy’ rating on BSE with a target price of Rs 1,000. The brokerage said scaling of new segments should continue driving growth in earnings of BSE, given that the benefits should flow directly to the bottom line with costs already baked in. This would also improve the earnings quality as dependency on cash income reduces. Shares of BSE ended up 0.1 per cent at Rs 819.10 on Monday.