As Sensex soars 250% from March lows, 155 stocks outperform the BSE barometer

Interestingly, about 72 per cent of BSE500 stocks have turned multibaggers from March lows with almost 360 stocks doubling investors’ wealth during the period.

Analysts said that good pace of vaccination, strong liquidity inflows from domestic investors and institutional investors, solid policy support from the government and accommodative RBI stance auger well for the ongoing bull run.

However, only 155 stocks have been able to outperform the index by surging more than 250 per cent each. Only three constituents of Sensex have topped the index return during the given time period, whereas one-third of index shares have failed to even double investors’ wealth.

One reason for this one-way Dalal Street is the total domination of the market by retail investors who account for 45 per cent of total cash market transactions, said VK Vijayakumar, Chief investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Among the BSE500 counters, Tanla Platforms has led the rally with an eye-popping return of 2,350 per cent in less than 19 months. It is followed by Balaji Amines, which has zoomed 1,886 per cent and Adani Total Gas that jumped 1,667 per cent.

Other companies like Intellect Design Arena (1,443 per cent), Adani Enterprises (1,146 per cent), Trident (1,134 per cent) and Tata Elxsi (1,045 per cent) have delivered 10x returns.

Jindal Stainless, Laurus Labs, Adani Transmission, KPIT Technologies, Dixon Technologies, Tata Motors DVR, Gujarat Fluorochemicals, Deepak Nitrite, Adani Green Energy, JSW Energy, Firstsource Solutions, APL Apollo Tubes, Hindustan Copper, Tata Power, Tata Motors, Birlasoft, Zensar Technologies and Indian Energy Exchange have surged over 500 per cent during the period.

Ankur Saraswat, Research Analyst, Trustline Securities, said positive developments at home and global front along with expected V-shaped recovery in the economy are aiding the market.

Among the Sensex players, Tata Steel has topped the charts with 420 per cent return, followed by Bajaj Finserv (316 per cent) and IndusInd Bank (290 per cent). Mahindra & Mahindra, Titan Company, Bajaj Finance and Infosys have surged more than 200 per cent from the March lows.

Market experts find no major triggers for an immediate correction. “Euphoria has been built but investors should be extremely careful in stock selection,” Saraswat added.

In the broader market, HEG, Vedanta, Mindtree, SAIL, Delta Corp, Suven Pharma, Tata Coffee, Dalmia Bharat, MMTC, EID Parry, Radico Khaitan, KEI Industries, Piramal Enterprises, Grasim Industries, NCC, Dishman Carbogen, Motherson Sumi, Orient Cement, Jamna Auto, Wipro and Info Edge are other players which have outperformed BSE Sensex.

Vijayakumar has a word of advice for new investors, who are absorbing the selling pressure at supernatural valuations.

“Current levels of PE, market cap-to-GDP and price-to-book are way ahead of historical averages,” he added. “The absence of corrections distinguishes this bull market from the previous one, which is strange.”

Among the Sensex constituents, NTPC, HDFC, Power Grid, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Airtel, Maruti Suzuki, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Nestle India and HUL have failed to double investors’ wealth in the historic bull run.

Only four players of BSE500 index have delivered negative returns during this period. Stocks like Future Retail (43 per cent down), GE Power India (30 per cent down), Future Consumer (13 per cent down) and Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (6 per cent down) are in this list.

Vijayakumar is bullish on high-quality banking, IT, and metal names, whereas Saraswat suggested investors should keep textiles, realty and infrastructure themes on radar.