India's Apollo Hospitals gains as Kotak upgrades to 'buy'

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise

21/01/2025 07:30

** Shares of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise  APLH.NS  climb ~3%
to 6,976.6 rupees 
    ** Kotak Institutional Equities upgrades stock to "buy" from
"add", hikes fair value (FV) by 2% to 8,270 rupees ($95.59)
    ** New FV at ~22% premium on last close 
    ** Brokerage says APLH's overall bed expansion over FY25-27
is lower than peers, which poses lower earnings risk amid
expansion spree in the sector 
    ** Expects hospital segment to report sales and core profit
CAGR of 16% and 17%, respectively, over FY25-27, aided by higher
occupancies, steady scale-up plans 
    ** Offline pharmacy growth to stay healthy as margins
continue to improve - Kotak 
    ** Stock among top gainers on Nifty 50 index  .NSEI , which
is down 0.8% 
    ** Analysts' avg rating on stock is "buy", median PT is
8,179 rupees - LSEG 
    ** APLH gained ~28% in 2024 vs ~9% rise in NSEI 


($1 = 86.5190 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Manvi Pant in Bengaluru)
 ((Manvi.Pant@thomsonreuters.com; +918447554364;))