Stocks to Watch: HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, Nazara Tech, LTIMindtree, NHPC

New Delhi: Following are the stocks that could be in focus on Thursday:

LTIMindtree: India’s sixth largest IT services company reported robust earnings for the December quarter, with 17% year-n-year rise in consolidated net profit to ₹1,169 crore. Revenue from operations rose around 5% to ₹9,016 crore. However, operating margin dropped below its full-year guidance of 17-18% in Q3FY24, as higher than expected furloughs and less working days dented profitability. It reported operating margin of 15.4%, down 60 basis points from September quarter. 

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance: Reported a flat net profit of ₹227 crore for the fiscal third quarter ended December 2023. The company had reported a profit of ₹221 crore in the same quarter a year ago. Net premium income during Q3FY24 rose to ₹9,929 crore, as against ₹9,465 crore in the same period a year ago. Assets under management increased to ₹2.86 trillion, compared to ₹2.51 trillion.

Asian Paints: India’s largest paints company Asian Paints Ltd reported a consolidated net profit of ₹1,447.98 crore for the December quarter, up 35% from ₹1,072.67 crore a year ago on the back of softening raw material prices and growth in luxury products. Revenue during the quarter rose by 5.4% to ₹9,074.9 crore primarily due to double-digit growth in the industrial business along with the extended festive season.

Bharat Electronics: The aerospace and defence PSU on Wednesday said it has received two orders amounting to ₹1034.31 crore. The company received an order worth ₹695 crore from Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd, for supply of spares related to missile systems. The other order worth ₹339.3 crore is regarding combat management systems, composite communication systems, mobile autonomous stabilisation systems, and other spares. Its cumulative orders for FY24 are stands at ₹27,647.31 crore.

NHPC Ltd: The government has proposed to sell 251,125,870 shares, representing a 2.5% stake in the renewable energy major, through an offer for sale on Thursday and Friday. It has set the floor price at ₹66 per share, a nearly 10% discount to closing price on Wednesday. The government has also plans to sell an additional 100,450,348 shares, representing 1% of the total paid up capital of the company, in case of an oversubscription. The OFS will open for subscription to institutional investors on Thursday, and for retail investors on Friday.

Nazara Technologies: The online gaming platform plans to raise ₹250 crore through a preferential issue of equity shares. Nazara aims to issue up to 28,66,474 fully paid-up equity shares, each with a face value of ₹4, at an issue price of ₹872.15 per share. The funds will be used for growth and expansion initiatives. Nazara is also set to acquire a 10.77% stake in social media influencer-led marketing tech platform Kofluence Tech through a share swap deal.

Cochin Shipyard: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated a 310-metre-long new dry dock (NDD) and an international ship repair facility (ISRF) at Cochin Shipyard. The New Dry Dock at CSL, costing around ₹1,800 crore, can accommodate future aircraft carriers and large commercial vessels. The ISRF, built at a cost of about ₹970 crore, will modernize CSL's ship repair capabilities and help transform Kochi into a major ship repair hub.

Persistent Systems: The mid-tier IT services company has said that its board may consider a proposal of alteration in the share capital of the company by sub-division or split of the existing equity shares having a face value of ₹10 each on 19-20 January.

JSW Energy: The company's subsidiary JSW Neo Energy, has announced setting up a pumped storage project with a generation capacity of 1,500 MW, at a cost of ₹9,000 crore in Telangana. The company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state government at the World Economic Forum being held in Davos.

Happiest Minds Technologies: The IT services company reported a 3.5% on-year and 2% sequential growth in net profit to ₹59.6 crore for the December quarter of FY24. Revenue from operations grew 11.7% year-on-year to ₹409.9 crore during the quarter. Revenue growth in dollar terms was 0.5% sequentially and in constant currency at 0.8% for the December quarter.