Stock Picks Today: Coal India, Shriram Finance, PB Fintech, Laurus Labs, And More On Brokerages' Radar

Brokerages have highlighted opportunities across NBFC, fintech, mining, pharma, ports, exchanges, real estate, and automotive retail issuing fresh calls on Coal India, Shriram Finance, PB Fintech, Home First Finance, Bajaj Housing, Meesho, Laurus Labs, Neuland Labs, Adani Power, CarTrade Technologies, Multi Commodity Exchange of India while also sharing their outlook on real estate, and power sector alongside a broader view on credit card data.

Jefferies on Coal India

• Low Coal Inventories amid Rising Power Demand
• Coal stocks at power plants have dropped to just 7 days vs last 10-year average of 15 days
• Power demand growth, conversely, has accelerated from 1% in FY26 to 9% in Apr-Aug
• Believe low coal stocks amid rising power demand provide tailwind for COAL's volumes
• Higher global coal prices should support e-auction prices too
• After 12% EPS fall over FY24-26, expect 6% EPS CAGR over FY26-29E
• Valuations and dividend yield are attractive

CLSA on Shriram Finance

• Maintain Outperform with TP of Rs 1200
• Growth outlook remains healthy
• Funding costs to decline gradually, margin outlook healthy
• Credit costs to improve over the medium term

Jefferies on PB Fintech

• Maintain Buy; Cut TP to Rs 1540 from Rs 2050
• Larger impact on non-life NPV relative to life
• Focus on cost optimization in the near-term
• Est. a 10% cut in new business commission rates translate to a 10-12% fall in earnings
• However, this is a consultation paper which might undergo changes post collection of feedback.

BofA on PB Fintech

• Maintain Neutral; Cut TP to Rs 1410 from Rs 1970
• Distribution likely unattractive for larger agents
• For PB Fintech, capital allocation will remain focused on protecting core position
• Cut valuation multiple of the core business
• Directionally negative for online insurance broker industry
• Impact on PolicyBazaar's life and term business is manageable
• See room for PolicyBazaar to gain market share across categories;
• Risks of asymmetric cuts (a key investor concern) are now behind us
• Believe Policybazaar could explore manufacturing of health insurance now – potentially impacting multiples
• Also, PB Health investments in the hospital business would likely increase as they could build a better competitive edge.

HSBC on PB Fintech

• Downgrade to Hold from Buy; Cut TP to Rs 1150 from Rs 2100
• Commission crunch
• Proposed distribution reforms including commission caps for insurance companies would have a material impact
• Cut FY28/29 EPS by 56/17%, as the impact of lower take rates is partially offset by slightly higher growth and cost savings
• Regulatory clarity would be a key catalyst

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Citi on Home First

• Maintain Buy with TP of Rs 1490
• Growth Momentum Broad-Based, Southern Drag Set to Reverse
• Asset Quality Resilient Through Seasonally Soft Quarter
• Funding Costs Stable; Spread Guidance Defended
• Insurance Commission Consultation Paper — Manageable, Awaiting Clarity
• Ticket-Size Migration Organic, Not a Segment Shift
• Opex Discipline Stays; Competitive Positioning.

Jefferies on Adani Ports

• Maintain Buy with TP of Rs 2160
• Adani Ports' Vizhinjam Port, India's first mega transshipment port
• This demonstrates Adani Ports's ability to develop inimitable port assets
• Leveraging advanced automation/technology, Vizhinjam delivers the highest crane productivity across Adani Ports's India portfolio
• The port accounted for 4% of domestic volumes in FY26
• Expect this to double by FY31 driven by its strategic location, deep-draft, operating strengths and MSC partnership.

GS on Neuland Labs

• Maintain Buy with TP of Rs 23300
• Peptide facility occupancy secured pre-commissioning, both via incumbent displacement
• Positioning targets full peptide API with route flexibility
• Interactions with customers suggest push towards higher capex
• Reiterated its topline growth guidance of 20% CAGR over the medium/ long term.

PL on Adani Power

• Initiate Buy with TP of Rs 259
• Multi-year Expansion with De-risked Growth
• 23.72GW expansion to strengthen ADANI's baseload position
• Higher capacity charges to drive superior EBITDA/MW
• Expansion de-risked through PPAs and coal linkages
• Strong earnings growth despite elevated capex
• Proven track record of turning around stressed thermal assets
• Strong capex of INR2trn to boost 23.7GW capacity
• Superior technology to strengthen long-term competitiveness
• Exploring nuclear energy as a long-term growth avenue
• Bangladesh receivables normalizing, collections remain steady
• Controlled leverage despite elevated capex.

Nomura on Meesho

• Initiate Reduce with TP of Rs 167
• Ecommerce getting accessible to Bharat
• Making ecommerce accessible to hinterland India
• Trading at significant premium to other ecommerce platforms
• Asset-light business model, AI-led innovations, improving FCF key attractions
• Competition from horizontal platforms and overlap with quick commerce (QC) could rise.

GS on Laurus Labs

• Maintain Sell with TP of Rs 1250
• Inflecting CDMO business with mix and pipeline entry point improving
• Peptides and ADCs at a nascent but promising stage
• Affordable medicines remain steady
• Expects CDMO to continue ramping up in the coming quarters
• Guides for 30%+ margins to sustain in FY27 and beyond

Citi on Bajaj Housing

• Maintain Sell with TP of Rs 85
• Holds the Growth Guidance
• NIM Compression Structural; But Book Increasingly Rate Agnostic
• Competitive Intensity – Permanent Feature; Sambhav An Offset
• Real Estate Demand: Broadly Stable, Gurugram The Outlier
• LAP AND LRD: No Stress; Selective Growth Bias
• Insurance Income – IRDAI Consultation Paper Impact Too Early To Quantify

Citi on CarTrade

• Maintain Buy with TP of Rs 3300
• Landmark partnership accelerates used-car retail ambitions
• Elite Buyer emerging as a key commerce growth lever
• Launching VAYA LIVE, with rollout expected in the next 4-6 weeks
• Expansion into non-auto commerce through escrow, payments and logistics solutions
• While the initiatives are encouraging, would watch out for any data-indicators on adoption trends.

Nomura on CarTrade

• Maintain Buy with TP of Rs 3340
• Focus on growth levers
• Offline used-car dealer partnerships, OLX monetisation, VAYA AI ramp-up to widen growth avenues
• See potential for revenue to, at least, double from FY26 levels
• See strong reach of OLX and limited monetisation to date.

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Macquarie on MCX

• Maintain Outperform with TP of Rs 3820
• SEBI approvals broaden FPI participation
• FPIs currently account for about 2.5% of average daily turnover
• MCX is the clear beneficiary
• The change opens FPI access to MCX's dominant bullion and base-metal products
• Incremental transaction revenue should carry high margins

Jefferies on Real Estate

• Improving trends, strong Q3 likely
• An improved launch pace vs. Q1, and continued industry wide double-digit sales growth in Jul-Aug should drive a 10-15% pre-sales growth
• Launch pipeline for Q3 is already strong as delayed festive start has led to some launches with RERA approvals being pushed to October
• Broadly, expect strong quarter for Oberoi and improving trend for Lodha in Q2
• Launch momentum to rise for Godrej Properties, DLF in near term

Jefferies Greed & Fear

• One change in India long only equity portfolio
• Investment in ABB India will be removed and replaced by Hitachi Energy

HSBC on Credit Card Data

• August 2026: Spends remain subdued
• Card issuances increased by 10.3% YoY but credit card spending growth remains muted at 5.9% YoY in August 2026
• Credit cards get some relief from MDR on UPI, but UPI still dominates in payments
• Remain negative on this segment on muted spending growth, higher competition and weakening profitability

Jefferies on Credit Card Data

• Aug 2026 Card data: Spending growth eases; SBI Cards spending share dips
• For Aug-26, industry credit card spending growth moderated to 5.5% YoY
• Card volume growth improved to 9.5% YoY
• For SBI Cards, spending growth slowed to 7% YoY & spending share eased to 17.5%
• Card growth improved to 7.6% YoY and net additions rose to 0.19mn (5.5% MoM), with 18% share of industry additions
• HDFCB gained spend share MoM while ICICI and Axis lost share.

HSBC on Power Sector

• Renewables to the rescue
• Power demand continues its strong run into September
• Evening peak stress rises as hydro generation disappoints
• Renewables do the heavy lifting with 40% generation growth in August; share of thermal reaches decadal low for the month
• Coal stocks dip to less than 8 days as monsoons hinder production; 40% of thermal plants at critically low coal stock.

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