MC Pro Inside Edge: A prop broker's pivot, HPCL's to-do list, a Midas-touch tycoon, and an expensive glitch

 MC Pro Inside Edge: A prop broker's pivot, HPCL's to-do list, a Midas-touch tycoon, and an expensive glitch

This behind-the-scenes piece peeks into the inner workings of Dalal Street, revealing what stocks seasoned bulls are targeting, what bears are banding together to target, covert transactions, and more.

The market is not optimistic that any oil marketing business would have the leeway to boost prices, should crude prices rise, given the series of elections scheduled until May.

Krisz

The stock of this company that specializes in construction materials goods took a break over the last several trading sessions. It's about time, given the stock's 14x increase over the last six months. The cause seems to have benefited greatly from the lack of cash. The mogul has a reputation as a makeover expert, and his initials are part of this company. In the past, every unremarkable business he took over turned into multi-baggers. This explains why the same group of elite Dalal Street investors are content to subscribe to this tycoon's firms' preferred allocation. Not very long ago, a financial services stock from the same stable was the subject of a similar playbook.

Put on hold, but no apparent help

Investors and analysts have been waiting impatiently for this insurance stock to be rerated since it has been in limbo. Naturally, money managers have not exactly been fond of insurance stocks in general. The parent company's hesitation to promote the insurer's goods to clients who stroll into its branches, however, is making things more challenging. With its rivals, such is not the case. Both previous and current insurance management have insisted that choosing not to place an undue dependence on any one channel was a deliberate choice. However, Inside Edge discovers that despite several inquiries, the head of the company's headquarters has not responded.

a broadening of

A well-known proprietary stockbroking company in North India, whose name is reminiscent of a popular song from the film Slumdog Millionaire, has

been a frequent feature in the disclosures made by bulk trades on stock exchanges lately. Market observers are taken aback since this company was formerly well-known for its strength in the futures market. This broker, like many others, operates under the pretense of being a proprietary broker by funding traders and encouraging them to trade on its platform. Many "prop traders" are reportedly expanding their business model and trading outside derivatives as a result of the NSE and Sebi tightening the guidelines for trading terminal allocation.

The valuation gap

"Our firm has one of the best worldwide returns on equity—25 percent—but one of the lowest price to earning multiples—two. Why is it that way? During the HPCL results call, a foreign fund house's money manager posed this question to the company's management. The fund manager also offered the management several recommendations, which included raising the dividend distribution to 45–50 percent, splitting off the lubricant company to unlock value, and providing EBITDA forecasts. The management expressed their hope that eventually the market would realize the genuine value of the firm. It's not like domestic fund managers don't find the narrative interesting. Some people share the management's optimism, such as Desi Soros and PRUde Dude. The market is not optimistic that any oil marketing business would have the leeway to boost prices, should crude prices rise, given the series of elections scheduled until May.

Mix-match

Mish Designs' stock had a difficult start on the BSE. The discovered price was Rs 160, whereas the IPO was priced at Rs 122. For the first ten trading sessions, SMEs are subject to a circuit filter of five percent, thus the price shouldn't have dropped below Rs 152 on the downside or increased over Rs 168 on the upside. The stock dropped to Rs 124 for a short period of time due to an odd cause affecting the lower circuit limit, but it later recovered to Rs 152 when the lower end of the circuit filter was operational again. While some investors would have profited handsomely from their market orders, anticipating that Rs 152 would be the lowest price, others would have been able to purchase it at a reduced cost. It goes without saying that the development raised eyebrows. Their query was, was it an error or was it intentional?