Buy only these 2 Adani group stocks; avoid others: Sudip Bandyopadhyay

“This is the monsoon quarter and we should not judge the cement companies’ performance by this quarter, but Q3 onwards we believe that cement companies’ performance will start improving and it will definitely be worth watching the space,” says Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Group Chairman, Inditrade Capital.

What do you make of this uptrend that we are seeing across all real estate names? Do you expect this momentum to continue and big gains as far as the stock prices are concerned?
If you are looking at a one-year plus time horizon, real estate is an excellent play. It was beaten down mercilessly over the last couple of years and from there on, the upswing has started. Very clearly, we are witnessing strong demand as far as residential, luxury residential and even commercial in most of the metros and mini metros are concerned.

This is a sea change compared to what we were experiencing some time back. Also one must say here that a lot of things which were fluid and not clear as far as real estate is concerned have fallen in place whether it is the GST issues pertaining to real estate, whether it is RERA coming in place in most of the states and also the Ind-AS new accounting standard adoption.

I think things are much more clear as far as real estate is concerned on the accounting and governance part. Most of these companies, if they had some unrelated diversification and other things like DLF, have got rid of that and they are pure play focussed real estate players, focussing mostly on one particular metro leave aside Godrej Properties which has got a good portfolio in three-four cities.

Most of the other players like Oberoi and DLF are focussed either on Mumbai or Delhi. Even some of these companies in the south, particularly Prestige and Sobha are focussed in Bangalore. So, this focus has come back, governance has improved and the demand for the product is strong. This is a very good recipe for excellent results over a period of time. Price has shot up but for somebody having a long-term time horizon, it is a good place to move into even now.


The cement bulls are saying that cement is not a global commodity. If you are bullish on real estate, you better be bullish on cement; but the bears are insisting that a war is going to happen between incumbents and new players and in a war shareholders never win.
The war itself gives some positive momentum and I understand that further acquisitions are being looked at by both the players. They would like to fortify their defences, they would like to get a bigger hold in different pockets of the market where they are a little weak.

India Cement probably fits in beautifully with that and that is one argument as far as India Cement is concerned, probably it can become a target.

Second, the IPL team belonging to it is becoming more and more valuable and that is the second argument as far as India Cement is concerned. We have been positive on cement overall. Real estate is one factor, also the infra build which is happening by the central government as well as the state government and a lot of other public sector undertakings require cement. That is basic and you rightly said that the global war does not affect, the global recession does not affect cement companies. If you have a real estate and infra build going on in a big way, private capex comes in, public sector capex comes in. Cement is a basic thing.

This is the monsoon quarter and we should not judge the cement companies’ performance by this quarter, but Q3 onwards we believe that cement companies’ performance will start improving and it will definitely be worth watching the space.

Realty has been a known story and the kind of turnaround that we have seen since post Covid is very well known. Should one look to add positions to Oberoi or DLF on dips? Also, should one now look beyond an Oberoi and a Godrej Properties and a DLF?
Well I think there are compelling reasons to look at these three stocks which you mentioned. Oberoi as well as Godrej for their balance sheet strength and the way they have run their businesses. Also, as far as Godrej Properties is concerned, they have a close to leadership position and very respectable position in NCR, Mumbai and Pune markets. So, that is a geographically diversified book as well.

Of course, the credibility of the promoter and everything else is impeccable. As far as DLF is concerned, the story is slightly different. They went into a lot of challenges, governance as well as unrelated diversification. They have cleaned up their act and the way the real estate market is shaping up, they are in for good times and for some time in the future as well.

All these three make a compelling reason for acquisition for a long term investor. As far as other stocks are concerned, one can definitely look at the Bangalore companies – Prestige as well as Sobha. At this stage there is no harm in acquiring them but one has to be a little careful because of multiple reasons but I would rate Oberoi, Godrej and DLF ahead of Sobha and Prestige at this stage.

As a financial investor and somebody who has not bought Adani stocks at the beginning of the year, when I asked everybody whether one should buy into Adani stocks, everybody said no. When I asked them one year ago everybody said no, but somebody is buying them. My question is why?
Well I think it is extremely difficult to answer. If you ask me today where Adani stocks are and should people buy them, my answer will be yes one can buy Adani Port and maybe if you have a long-term horizon, you can buy Adani Wilmar also. These are the two stocks I believe in and these are good bets even at the current levels.

I would not advise buying at these levels any other Adani Group stocks. That is my personal view but yes, who cares? The market is handsomely rewarding whosoever is buying and I think that is what matters.