Stock Picks Today: IT Sector, Knowledge Realty Trust, Hyundai, Paytm, Voltas, IndiGo On Brokerages' Radar

IT Sector stocks, One97 Communications Ltd., Knowledge Realty Trust Ltd., Adani Enterprises Ltd., Hyundai Motor India Ltd., Voltas Ltd., and Interglobe Aviation Ltd., are among the companies garnering brokerage commentary today.

Analysts have shared their insights and, in several cases, revised their target prices based on their updated fundamental outlooks for these firms. Here are the key analyst calls to watch out for today:

Morgan Stanley

• Maintain equal-weight with target price of Rs 1175

• Expects contribution margin to be sustained largely around current levels

• Expects consumer lending to accelerate over the next 3-6 quarters

• Reiterated its strong momentum in merchant loan disbursements

Morgan Stanley

• Initiate overweight with target price of Rs 122

• Offers a defensive profile with steadily rising cash flows and acquisition upside potential

• Strong GCC-led office demand and scale, with the highest tax-free yield among listed India REITs

• Offers a stable yield backed by contracted long-term cash flows with escalations

• Stands out for its geographic diversification and highest mark-to-market upside potential

• Has the lowest Special Economic Zone (SEZ) area and highest tax-free dividend component among India's listed REITs

Jefferies

• Maintain buy with target price of Rs 3,000

• Management said Navi Mumbai Airport is set to launch in Oct-25 with 20 million pax

• Management targets 80%+ CU in FY27

• Management also discussed new tariffs across its airports giving visibility on the profitability

• In ANIL, the solar/ wind projects are scaling up, while GH2 projects will be taken up based on project viability

• In another development, SEBI has cleared Adani Group of Hindenburg’s stock manipulation allegations

Citi

• If H-1B visa rules are implemented as is, see multiple potential impacts

• Cost of doing business in the US goes up – part of this will be passed on to clients

• Higher nearshoring & offshoring (including GCCs) is a very likely outcome, medium term

• Indian IT margins will get impacted

• Indian IT competitiveness in a global context doesn’t change

• Within IT companies, HCL Tech & Infosys have said earlier this year that 80% & 60%+ of their US workforce is visa independent

• Relatively better but increased cost of doing business will impact everyone

• Indian IT view has been cautious

Jefferies

• $100K fee on new H-1B applications, set to shift IT firms away from H1B visas

• 7-12% of business set to be renegotiated over 3-5 years

• Higher onsite wages to hit profits by 4-13%

• A change in operating model likely for Indian IT

• Growth may slow amid operating model shifts, macro pressures, and AI risk

• Among large caps, view TCS/INFOSYS as well placed; among midcaps: COFORGE well placed

Morgan Stanley

• Prima facie, new developments around H-1B visas appear negative

• However we see a minimal near-term impact

• Medium-term impact could be a higher cost structure in order to de-risk the business model

• Do see potential mitigants that could alleviate the overall impact

• Expect current regulations could push for higher offshoring of roles

• It will allow room for building this into potential pricing of new contracts over time

• Least impacted names are ER&D while most impacted are mid cap IT names

BofA on IT Sector

• On a gross and pre-mitigations basis, estimate the cumulative impact to annual profit as ranging from 7%-18%

• On an annual basis, the impact will get distributed over 3years i.e. an annual EPS impact of 2-6% for each of next 3years

• Expect immediate stock reactions to be closer to the annual EPS impact

• Do not see any ongoing revenue impact for companies or shift in market shares

• Majority of the US workforce is already local and talent models of global peers is largely comparable

• 12months+ to plan mitigations of off & near shoring that can potentially nullify the impact over 3-5 years

• Indirect risks to watch: US tech wage inflation, escalations

• Infosys – Maintain Buy; Cut target price to Rs 1,780 from Rs 1,840

• Wipro – Maintain Underperform; Cut target price to Rs 218 from Rs

DAM Cap

• IT companies typically have 10–15% of their workforce in the US

• Of these 65–70% are locals and 30–35% are on visas (H1B/L1)

• Only 1–3% of total workforce on H1Bs

• New applicants account for <1/3rd of total H1B employees

• See impact of 20–50 bps on EBIT margins or 2–4% on EPS either if companies pay the visa fee for new applicants or do local hiring

• Expect no material impact on companies because of this

• Near-term growth might get impacted as RFPs might now take more time to close to negotiate on this incremental expense

ICICI Sec

• $100,000 levy on onsite employees on H-1B visas would imply 100 bps average headwind on margins

• See 6% average impact on EPS, considering IT companies continue to employ new people on H-1B visas

• If companies pivot towards hiring local US talent, the impact on margins is likely to remain negligible

• IT companies would further reduce dependence on the H-1B visa and increase localisation

• Believe IT services companies should benefit from this move, as it would trigger higher offshoring to reduce costs

Emkay

• Companies will have time to prepare by increasing local hiring, using L1 visas, limiting the use of H-1B visas, building cost escalation in contracts, shifting work offshore, etc,

• Thereby limiting the overall impact

• Believe such an impact is unlikely to be disruptive for IT companies

• There may be a near-term overhang on stock prices as investors are likely to price-in the increased risks of protectionist measures

Morgan Stanley

• Maintain Overweight with target price of Rs 330

• Reiterated 2x FY25 NBFC AUM target in 3 years

• Given current macro environment it guides for stable 22-23% YoY AUM growth in FY26

• Expects NBFC NIM to expand in 1-2 quarters as share of unsecured personal loans increases

• In HFC, it expects 30-35% AUM CAGR and operating leverage of 100 bps over 6-8 quarters

• Reiterated 20-25% VNB CAGR, 18%+ VNB margin for life insurance

• Evaluating product construct (no premium increase) to offset GST impact on margins

Morgan Stanley

• Maintain Underweight with target price of Rs 1,370

• September 2025 has been muted so far

• Expects premium growth to improve from Q3 also helped by a lower base

Morgan Stanley

• Maintain Underweight with target price of Rs 710

• Expects receivables growth to pick up gradually

• Optimistic but said that it will watch the impact of GST rate cuts on spending growth

• Expects NIM to expand in Q2 with lower borrowing costs and remain stable thereafter

• Expects cost-to-income ratio of 55-57% in FY26 taking into account NIM expansion, higher corporate spending, and sourcing volume

• Guides for a downtrend in credit costs from H2

• Refrained from quantifying but expects a 9-9.6% range in Q2 and ~9% for FY26

Morgan Stanley

• Maintain Overweight with target price of Rs 860

• For FY26, it expects loan growth to be ~20%

• Expects strong improvement in margin in H2 helped by CRR rate cut and lagged repricing of deposits

• Management reiterated credit cost at 1% of average assets for FY26

Morgan Stanley

• Maintain equal-weight with target price of Rs 68

• Credit cost peaked in Q1 and will likely improve sequentially every quarter

• Expects NIMs to moderate 10-15 bps in Q2 and recover thereafter

• Reiterated its loan growth guidance of around 20% YoY

• Deposit flows have remained strong despite rate cuts

• Bank expects RoA to improve every year from FY26 levels

Morgan Stanley

• Maintain underweight with target price of Rs 110

• Bank guided for deposit growth of 10-11% and loan growth of 11-13% YoY in FY26

• Expects NIMs to remain under pressure with an impact of 6-7 bps in Q2

• Reiterated its full-year NIM guidance of 2.6% with improvement expected in H2

• Continues to see robust trends in asset quality

• Remains confident in sustained recoveries from written-off accounts

Jefferies

• Air Con GST rate cut to 18% vs 28% wef 22 Sept would reduce market price by ~8%

• This can help liquidate existing inventory (30 days above normal)

• While Q2 has been weak so far, the last week would be key, post GST cut and festive onset

• Industry expects strong offtake in Q3 led by festive sale, volume boost (pent-up demand), old inventory sale before new BEE norms and second summer in the West and South India

BofA

• Eternal – Maintain Buy; Hike target price to Rs 400 from Rs 350

• Swiggy – Maintain Neutral; Hike target price to Rs 475 from Rs 450

• QC competition low: Blinkit & Instamart are benefiting

• Dark store additions: Blinkit adds strong, others slowing

• Food delivery: Gradual recovery in growth & margins

• Quick-com momentum remains strong

Goldman Sachs

• Maintain Buy; Hike target price to Rs 2,970 from Rs 2,600

• Expect more favorable demand elasticity on compact SUV models, premium hatchback, and sub 4 meter sedan than the larger SUVs or entry level cars

• Domestic India market represents ~78% of Hyundai Motor India’s revenue

• Increase FY27-FY28 EPS estimates by up to 8%

BofA

• Modest demand, competition are key issues in India Paints

• Demand pick-up on last year lows possible

• High competitive intensity likely to sustain

• Making efforts to tackle the tough environment

Nomura

• Maintain Neutral with target price of Rs 1,317

• Navigating near-term pressure on both demand and margins

• GST cut and festive demand likely to drive a stronger H2

• Although elevated channel inventory remains a concern

• Hot season will be a key driver of a demand recovery but that remains elusive

Jefferies

• Maintain Buy with target price of Rs 6,925

• IndiGo maintained early double-digit capacity (ASK) growth guidance for FY26

• PRASK is expected to be flat-to-higher YoY in Q2

• Management reiterated long-term tailwinds for Aviation growth in India, despite the near-term softness

• On Int'l side, Co is seeding new European routes using leased 787s

• Expects XLR delivery starting from Q4

• Long-term, IndiGo targets 600+ aircraft by FY30

• Co is expanding its Geo and customer profile with recent initiatives

JP Morgan

• Shriram Finance – Assume Overweight; Hike target price to Rs 740 from Rs 730

• M&M Finance – Assume Overweight; Hike target price to Rs 335 from Rs 300

• Bajaj Finance – Assume Neutral; Hike target price to Rs 1,070 from Rs 970

• Chola Finance – Assume Neutral; Hike target price to Rs 1,620 from Rs 1,600

• SBI Cards – Assume Underweight; Hike target price to Rs 830 from Rs 800

• L&T Finance – Upgrade to Neutral from Underweight; Hike target price to Rs 260 from Rs 140

• Stay selective as we await visibility on an earnings upgrade cycle

• Believe the valuation re-rating is justified by earnings tailwinds from potential NIM expansion, as liabilities reprice faster than fixed-rate loans

• Earnings support has been limited thus far on a weak macro, slower-than-expected transmission of rate cuts in NBFC earnings, and asset quality issues in select segments

• With the RBI likely on pause, positive earnings revisions will be important for the sector to re-rate

• See near-term challenges - slowdown in macro, tariff-related uncertainty and incremental asset quality stress

• Many NBFCs trade at the higher end of their historical valuation bands following the recent rally

• This is likely to limit upside unless we see earnings upgrades

• Remain selective as we await better entry points and prefer stocks that offer value along with the positive earnings impact of the normal monsoons, as well as recent GST cuts