Vanguard, which owns Indian stocks worth nearly Rs 36,000 crore through its various funds, has seen a decline in its portfolio value by Rs 664 crore in 2024 so far, shows data from ACE Equity. 15 of the 26 stocks from its India holdings have fallen up to 149% on a year-to-date (YTD) basis.
The US-registered global investment adviser with over $8.7 trillion in assets under management is the world’s second-biggest money manager after BlackRock.
With a 148.5% fall in stock in 2024, Zee Entertainment Enterprises has been the biggest laggard. The stock has been reeling under pressure following a fallout of merger with Sony. Last week, ZEE terminated 50% of its Technology & Innovation Centre (TIC) staff in Bengaluru after a company-formed review panel had suggested substantially reducing losses in its businesses. Vanguard as of the December quarter held a 1.53% stake in the media stock. The shareholding pattern for the March quarter is yet to be released.
“We believe recalibration measures taken to reset the cost structure by re-visiting content, technology, marketing and people spends will take some time to unfold and the competitive landscape is likely to evolve after the merger of Disney-Viacom18,” brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher said.The brokerage maintains estimates and expects sales CAGR of 10% over the next 2 years with EBITDA margin of 11.3%/16.8% in FY24E/FY25E but upgrades rating to Hold from Reduce with a target price of Rs 167.Brightcom Group, down -57.5%, and GHCL, down 47%, are other big underperformers in Vanguard’s portfolio. Brightcom stock has been facing hefty selloff after being under Sebi scanner regarding irregularities in preferential share allotment.
RBL Bank, Crompton Greaves, Cyient, Indiabulls Housing Finance, IDFC, Coforge and UPL are among stocks from Vanguard’s India portfolio that are down over 20% YTD.
Bluechips underperformers include Axis Bank, which has lost 9.9% this year, and Infosys, which is down 5.71%.
CLSA recently cut the target price for Infosys to Rs 1,706 from Rs 1,741 while retaining an “outperform” rating. It expects Infosys to start seeing recovery in earnings from the first quarter of FY25 on expectations of large deal ramp-ups.
Some top performers from Vanguard’s portfolio are Indiabulls Real Estate, following a sharp surge in real estate stocks. The stock is up 66% for the year and hit its fresh 52-week high on Wednesday.
Tata Motors DVR, latest Nifty entrant Shriram Finance and multibagger Suzlon Energy are some of the other top performers from Vanguard’s India stock holdings.
Important Note: For this article, only those stocks were considered where Vanguard holds over 1% stake. According to the Sebi mandate, companies are required to inform about only those investors who hold 1% or more in the company. Furthermore, the shareholding data is available as of the December quarter.
(Data Inputs: Ritesh Presswala | ACE Equity)
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