Stock Recommendations Today: Ashok Leyland, JSW Steel, Container Corp On Brokerages' Radar

Brokerages offered a largely tepid take on Ashok Leyland Ltd. post the company's declaration of its financial performance in the quarter ended March, with ratings like 'neutral' and 'hold' dominating the tone. They noted the expansion in margins, and expect healthy earnings growth at attractive valuations.

Morgan Stanley sees JSW Steel's results as in line with expectations, noting that the performance of overseas subsidiaries was weaker.

NDTV Profit tracks what analysts are saying about various stocks and sectors. Here are the analyst calls to keep an eye out for on Monday.

Macquarie

• Maintain 'neutral' rating with a target price of Rs 234.

• Gross margin surprise drove an Ebitda beat in the quarter ended March.

• Due to better-than-expected margins, there may be upside risk to earnings estimates.

• In the near term, the company may benefit from improving demand, market-share gains, and margin upside.

Nomura

• Maintain 'buy' rating and hike target price to Rs 275 from Rs 250.

• Ebitda for the quarter ended March was in line with estimates, led by improved gross margin.

• A pick-up in replacement demand could drive growth in the financial year 2026.

• Healthy earnings growth is expected at attractive valuations.

CLSA

• Upgrade to 'hold' from 'underperform' and hike target price to Rs 225 from Rs 190.

• Strong execution at the margin level.

• A 143 basis points beat in gross margin drove a 6% beat in Ebitda versus estimates for the quarter ended March.

• In the last leg of the commercial vehicle downcycle, a 5% decline in medium and heavy commercial vehicles is expected in the financial year 2026.

• Maintain 'buy' rating with a hike target price to Rs 825 from Rs 790.

• The quarter ended March showed an all-round miss.

• Weak macroeconomic conditions impacted the financial year 2025, but a low base is expected to aid recovery.

• Dedicated Freight Corridor connectivity is the key catalyst.

• Volume growth recovery is expected to drive upside.

Morgan Stanley

• Higher dividend is positive to align the fiscal deficit with the government’s fiscal consolidation path.

• It will also maintain capital expenditure momentum, especially when global external factors pose headwinds to growth and revenues.

Nomura

• Higher dividends provide more fiscal headroom.

• The fiscal deficit forecast is lowered by 0.1 percentage points to 4.4% of gross domestic product, in line with the government’s target.

• Core liquidity is likely to jump to around Rs 5 trillion, but banking liquidity is expected to remain around Rs 2 trillion.

• Expect the Reserve Bank of India to do more liquidity infusions, with a bias towards foreign exchange swaps.

BofA

• The Reserve Bank of India has given its largest dividend to the government of India.

• The economic capital framework adopts flexibility.

• Fiscal slippage risks remain small.

• Maintain 'equal-weight' rating with a target price of Rs 1,000.

• The quarter ended March results were in line, though standalone Ebitda was 5% below estimates.

• Performance of overseas subsidiaries was weaker.

• Management expects improvement in the financial year 2026, mainly driven by higher steel prices.

• Management believes it has implemented a resolution plan in compliance with the law and is in discussions with legal advisors for legal remedies.