Apollo Tyres, IOCL to Tata Power: Which shares should you invest in?

Indian equity indices continued their downward movement on Friday, with BSE's Sensex hitting the day's low of 36,616 points after yesterday's close to 400 point fall on closing. The stock market has been very volatile this year and under such situation, it is very difficult for the small investors to pick out right shares. However, the right information help make better buying decisions. Here are the stock recommendations from brokerages: 

Marico (BUY):
JM Financial said Marico’s Q1FY20 report was expectedly strong - domestic volumes grew 6 percent and was again led by Parachute rigid packs while Saffola’s performance is likely to continue raising question marks on the brand’s value proposition. Benefit from the sharp deflation in copra prices (c.25% lower YoY) was finally visible on margin this time round and helped operating margin expand 324 bps despite 32 percent increase in ad-spends, driving a strong 26 percent growth in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) (on expected lines, though). 
"We expect Marico’s stock to do well on the back of this result – management upping margin guidance from over 18 percent earlier to over 19 percent is likely to drive confidence in the near-term earnings trajectory. Maintain BUY; we prefer Marico over Dabur."

Apollo Tyres (BUY):
The new quarter narrative was not very different for Apollo Tyres (APTY) as the company reported operationally in-line numbers in its standalone business. Moderate growth of 12 percent year-on-year (YoY) in the domestic replacement market helped offset continued weakness in original equipment (OE) demand. JM Financial maintains BUY with a revised March 2020 target price of Rs 250. "Key risks to our call are weaker-than-anticipated revival in domestic OE demand due to BS6 pre-buy and market share loss in EU replacement market."

Indian Oil Corporation (BUY):
With gross revenue multiplier (GRMs) doubling quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to over $7/barrel, brokerage Edelweiss said it expects Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL)'s GRMs to have bottomed in Q1. Refining/petchem will be the key earnings driver in the future. "With IOCL trading at an inexpensive 4.8x FY21E EV/EBITDA, we maintain ‘BUY’ with a target price of Rs 174/share."

Tata Power (BUY):
Edelweiss said sale of international assets, stake sale in Tata Projects, sale of defence business (subject to approval by NCLT), acquisition of Prayagraj, Mundra resolution, etc., are some of the key triggers. "We take cognisance of the uncertainty around the applicability of the draft coal mining policy in Indonesia and factor it by way of higher discounting rate. Hence, we revise our target price to Rs 90 (earlier Rs 94). We maintain ‘BUY’. The stock is trading at FY20/21E EV/EBITDA of 9.5/9.2x."

Magma Fincorp (BUY):
Edelweiss said that Magma was on track in its transformation journey, but emerging challenges—macro and management change—impacted Q1FY20 performance. "We anticipate near-term challenges to persist, but valuation at 0.6x FY21E lends comfort. Hence, maintain ‘BUY/SP’."