Stocks in the news: HUL, Bajaj Auto, HCL Tech, PTC India, Vedanta and PFC

Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 72.5 points, or 0.40 per cent lower at 17,905, signaling that Dalal Street was headed for a negative start on Thursday. Here are a dozen stocks which may buzz the most in today's trade:

HUL, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv: Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, Havells India, Bajaj Holdings, Mphasis, Biocon, Container Corporation of India, Persistent Systems, Hatsun Agro Products, Bank of Maharashtra and Cyeint are among the companies that will announce their December quarter results today.

Bajaj Auto: The two-wheeler auto major reported 17 per cent decline in consolidated profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 1,430 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2021 on account of lower sales. The company had posted a consolidated PAT of Rs 1,716 crore in October-December period of 2020-21.

HCL Technologies: The IT major said it has appointed Accenture former executive Prabhakar Appana as senior vice-president and global head of its AWS Ecosystem business unit.

Vedanta: The private lender Citi Bank offloaded shares of Vedanta worth over Rs 1,200 crore, through an open market transaction. According to bulk deal data on the BSE, over 3.2 crore shares were sold at an average price of Rs 314.65 apiece. This took the total deal value to Rs 1,204.48 crore.

Jubilant Foodworks: The country's leading quick service restaurant (QSR) operator, announced to launch the iconic US Fried Chicken brand Popeyes in India by opening its first store in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Louisiana-born Popeyes was founded in 1972 and has been one of America's most popular and fastest-growing chicken brands.

JSW Energy: The energy copany reported over a two-fold jump in its consolidated net profit to Rs 324 crore for the December 2021 quarter, mainly on the back of higher revenues. Its consolidated net profit had stood at Rs 124 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Power Finance Corporation: The State-owned power player said its arm PFC Consulting Ltd has transferred two wholly-owned subsidiaries to Adani Transmission Ltd for implementing power transmission projects. Adani Transmission had emerged as the successful bidder for these two transmission projects on January 18.

PTC India Financial Services: In an unusual development, all three independent directors on the board of PFS resigned over corporate governance issues and other matters. The three independent directors who have resigned from the board with immediate effect are Kamlesh Shivji Vikamsey, Santosh B Nayar and Thomas Mathew T.

L&T Infotech: The infotech arm of EPC major Larsen & Toubro reported an 18 per cent growth in its net profit to Rs 612.5 crore for the December 2021 quarter, on higher revenues. The city-based company's revenue from operations increased 31.2 per cent to Rs 4,137 crore, and was 9.8 per cent higher than the preceding September 2020 quarter.

ICICI Lombard General Insurance: The private insurer reported a marginal 1.2 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 318 crore for December quarter 2021-22. It had posted a net profit of Rs 314 crore in the year-ago period, the non-life insurer said.

CEAT: The tyre major reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 20 crore for the December 2021 quarter, due to muted demand. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 132 crore in the third quarter of the financial year 2020-21.

Tata Investment Corporation: The holding company reported a 42.86 per cent jump in consolidated profit after tax to Rs 39.73 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 2021. The company had posted a consolidated profit after tax of Rs 27.81 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.

VA Tech WABAG: Global pure play water technology firm said the company is planning to expand its overseas business and is exploring to tap the desalination market for green hydrogen.

JSW Ispat Special Products: The metal player posted a consolidated net loss of Rs 28.24 crore for the December 2021 quarter. It had reported a net profit of Rs 29.49 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Tata Communications: The telecom services player posted a 27.8 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 395.21 crore for the third quarter ended December 2021. The company had a net profit of Rs 309.41 crore in the same period a year ago.

Rallis India: The subsidiary of Tata Chemicals reported a 13.3 per cent fall in its consolidated net profit to Rs 39.56 crore for the third quarter ended December 2021. It had posted a net profit of Rs 45.64 crore in the October-December quarter last fiscal.

SJVN: The state-owned power player said it earned Rs 34.40 crore as an incentive from its hydropower plants during April-December 2021. The company has earned Rs 34.40 crore as incentive under the deviation settlement mechanism from 1,500-MW Nathpa Jhakri HPS and 412-MW Rampur HPS in three quarters of FY 2021-22.

Nandan Denim: The rating agency ICRA has upgraded the long term rating of the textile player to BBB/positive from BBB-/stable and short term rating has been upgraded to A3+ from A3.