Adani Ports shares decline in early trade after latest cuts in ratings

Adani Ports stocks declined in early trade on Thursday as stock investment banking firm Macquarie cut its rating.

The shares of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone fell by 1.60% or Rs 5.25, at Rs 322.30 per piece at 09:36 hours on BSE. On NSE it was trading down 1.68% or Rs 5.50, at Rs 322.10 per piece.

Macquaire cut Adani Ports ratings to Neutral from Outperformer earlier. Adani Ports was previously rated outperform by analyst Inderjeet Singh Bhatia at Macquarie.

Adani Ports had 16 buys, 7 holds, 2 sells before today.

This comes after another investment banking firm Goldman Sachs cut Adani Ports ratings to Neutral on April 6. Adani Ports was previously rated buy by analyst Pulkit Patni at Goldman Sachs.

Moody’s and S&P had slashed its ratings outlook to negative last year.

Yield on Adani Ports’ 3.95% bonds due January 2022 have declined 44 basis points to 3.62% since issuance this year, according to Bloomberg reports.

However, Citi Group report stated on April 6 that ratings companies are expected to reverse their negative outlook back to stable after Adani Ports announced there were no more related party transactions outstanding.

The issue was a significant overhang for the credit over the past 12 months, the Citi report said. It further added that the company has delivered on its guidance after announcing all loans, advances and deposits have been received back.

Adani Ports’ $2,022 bond have been one of its preferred picks since beginning of the year given cheap valuations, said the report. “We think the bonds now look fair versus global ports peers, and also within the curve,” said Manjesh Verma, head of Asia credit sector specialists at Citi.