Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) tend to play a critical role when it comes to boosting investor confidence. Participation of such investors exhibit that they have undertook extensive research and due diligence before investing their funds. Participation of FIIs is regarded as vote of confidence in the company’s prospects, adding to the company’s appeal as a prospect for investment. Despite significant volatility in commodity prices in 2023, metal index in India resulted in double-digit returns this year. With this, 2 of its constituents provided multibagger returns, highest in any type of sectoral index. During 2023, there were concerns regarding recession due to high interest rate environment. Collectively, these measures impacted the commodity prices in 2023. However, metal stocks proved to be resilient. Therefore, investors should consider investing in some of the top metal stocks having high FII holdings. Commodities are expected to continue their momentum heading in 2024 as inflation concerns have now moderated to a large extent.
In 2023, Nifty Metal index provided a positive return for 4th straight year, with the index increasing more than ~15% in this calendar year. However, this index has underperformed frontline indexes, with Nifty jumping ~19 percent this year so far. Having said that, Nifty Metal index gave strong and healthy returns in the past few years. In 2022, this index saw an increase of ~22%. In 2021, the index delivered a whopping ~70% return. It gave a return of ~16% in the year 2020. Top metal stocks having high FII holdings are some of the screened stocks which are expected to outperform the overall market in 2024.
Stock prices of several metal companies, operating in both ferrous and nonferrous space, saw continued increase. In the previous few months, investors saw some uptick in steel and base metal prices.
With this in mind, we will now have a look at top metal stocks having high FII holdings.
1. APL Apollo Tubes Limited
The company has a strong presence in every important sector in India such as plumbing, sanitation, water supply, infrastructure, agriculture oil & gas, and construction. It also manufactures piping system and accessories.
It has announced its financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2023, with sales volume increasing by 28% to 19,803 Ton from 15,465 Ton and its revenue growing 20% to INR 2.5 billion in comparison to INR 2.1 billion. EBITDA of the company went up by 8.7x to INR 241 million against INR 25 million.
Net profit of the company grew to INR 129 million in comparison to loss of INR 48 million. The company saw strong quarterly sales volume during 2Q24 with growth of 28% year-over-year to 19,803 ton due to resilient operational improvement and strong demand from consumers throughout segments. It continues to make strong inroads throughout cPVC, HDPE pipe and value-added product segment.
Given the company’s upcoming expansion plan to improve capacity to 286k over next 3-4 years from 136k presently, the company is confident regarding its product portfolio and several other value-added offerings including fittings, solvents, bath fittings, adhesives, etc. which should enhance reach and strengthen sales.
Apart from these measures, the company continues to target optimal utilization of its capacities over the upcoming years. These should also support in augmenting sales volumes.
The company has the FII holding of ~28.6% as at 30th September 2023. Among these holdings, SmallCap World Fund INC has been tagged as the largest holder having ~6.21% followed by K India Opportunities Fund Limited Class S. Its holdings came in at ~2%.
2. Hindalco Industries Limited
Hindalco Industries Limited, which has been categorised as metals flagship company of Aditya Birla Group, is largest aluminium rolling company. It is one of the biggest producers of the primary aluminium.
The company has released its consolidated 2Q24 financial results, with its net profit coming at INR 2,196 crore and consolidated EBITDA coming at INR 6,096 crore. Novelis’ adjusted EBITDA per ton remained at $519, exhibiting a rise of 1% year-over-year and Hindalco plans to invest INR 8,000 crore in 2 million-tonne greenfield alumina refinery in Odisha.
All the business segments of the company saw QoQ improvement in performance. Copper Business saw highest quarterly EBITDA which came in at INR653 crore, exhibiting a rise of 23% QoQ, due to highest-ever metal shipments. It has maintained strong balance sheet and liquidity, with its net debt to EBITDA ratio remaining well below 2x. This has positioned the company well for organic growth.
The company’s FII holding came to the tune of ~27.01%, with an additional ~3.68% being held by overseas depositories as at 30th September 2023. Major foreign shareholder remains Govt of Singapore with 4.04%.
3. JSW Steel Limited
JSW Steel has been categorised as a flagship business of diversified, US$23 billion JSW Group. It has been categorised as one of India’s leading business houses, JSW Group. It also has investments in energy, infrastructure, cement, paints, sports, and venture capital.
IT has released results for 2Q24, with its revenue from operations coming at INR44,584 crore and operating EBITDA of INR7,886 crore. Consolidated crude steel production of the company in 2Q24 came in at 6.34mt, exhibiting a rise of ~12% year-over-year and consolidated steel sales were 6.34mt, up by 10% year-over-year. The company’s Indian operations were supported by lower coking coal prices and moderate fall in iron ore costs on quarter-over-quarter basis.
JSW Steel has the FII holdings of ~26.13% as at 30th September 2023. Largest shareholder of the company is JFE Steel International Europe B.V. which has a 15% stake.
Conclusion
While above are some of the top metal stocks having high FII holdings, there are numerous other companies which have strong FIIs interests which should perform well in the coming year. For example, Jindal Stainless Limited, which is a leading stainless-steel company, has FII holding of ~23.97% as at 30th September 2023. In this company, ELM Papark Fund Limited is the largest shareholder which has ~6.7% stake. Next, Hypnos Fund Limited has a stake of ~4.4%.
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