Expect Avenue Supermarts to continue its strong performance: Nischal Maheshwari, Centrum Broking

Nischal Maheshwari, CEO- Institutional Equities at Centrum Broking, shared his views on Infosys earnings and outlook on the IT sector.

On Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Maheshwari said he expects Infosys to outperform TCS in the short-term.

"Infosys had a good set of numbers and they increased the guidance. Simultaneously what is interesting is they have said that going ahead even though in the second quarter you will have a wage hike, they will still be able to increase the margins. So, I think their phase of investment is over and they seem to be in a good position. So Infosys has done better in this quarter and relatively we have positioned Infosys above TCS," Maheshwari said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

On Avenue Supermarts, he said: "It has corrected a bit, so it makes sense to look at the stock at these prices. I think the growth has been quite good in this current quarter, they have been able to maintain the margins at around 9 percent EBITDA levels, which is the highest among the whole retail space. So, definitely one of the outstanding companies which has continued to do pretty well and at this size also they continue to do very well. So, I think this should be part of the portfolio."

According to Maheshwari, it is a good time to start nibbling on IndusInd Bank.

"I think valuations are pretty in much favour, 2.5 times price to book, I think this is a good place to be in. People were worried given that they have a large portfolio on the commercial vehicle (CV) side so what kind of growth will come. However, they still continue to show a 20 percent plus kind of growth even on the CV side. If I look at the stressed book, all the three or four groups which are there in the market, they also have exposure to them, but their exposure is limited and they have already provided 40 percent for that. So, I think it is a good place to be in and it is a good time to start buying the stock," he added.

On Sun Pharmaceutical, he continues to remain positive.

"The whole pharmaceutical sector per se has a couple of challenges on its hand. One is the US market where sales are under pressure and the margins are more under pressure and second is regulatory. Both of these things continue to be there in front of these companies. After a couple of years of bad performance by Sun Pharmaceutical, I think this year on a year-on-year (YoY) basis you may see the good performance but nowhere close to what Sun Pharmaceutical used to be historically."

Source: CNBC-TV18