In the past week Sensex was up by 0.94 per cent while Nifty was up by 0.92 per cent with both reaching all time highs on July 20,2023. Gainers in sectoral indices were BSE Bankex which gained 3.1 per cent in the week whereas BSE PSU and Capital goods indices gained 2.6 per cent and 2,5 per cent respectively. BSE IT and BSE Teck were the highest losers as they were down 3.8 and 3.4 per cent in the week.

Among the BSE 500 stocks, the top gainers with fundamental news driving the shares were Sterling & Wilson Renewable, Polycab cables and IRCON International. While RITES and Finolex also had a good week, there was no significant fundamental news with regard to those shares.

Sterling and Wilson Renewable energy

The stock of Sterling and Wilson Renewable energy saw the highest single day gain of 15.6 per cent on July 17 and the overall gain of the week was 26.69 per cent. The company announced its June 2023 results on July 13,2023. The share price of the company rose on July 17,2023 after the earnings call was held, and the management stated that it expects to be profitable in the ongoing financial year (2023-24) based on a healthy order book. The management told analysts in a conference call that it hopes to bag a substantial portion of Reliance Industries’ (RIL’s) roll-out of 100GW of solar projects by 2030. RIL subsidiary, Reliance New Energy, has a 40 per cent stake in the company. The net loss of the company came down to ₹95 crore in Q1FY24 whereas the net loss in Q1FY23 was ₹356 crore.

Polycab Cables

The stock of Polycab cables witnessed the highest single day gain of 9.4 per cent on July 20,2023 and the overall gain of the week was 18.33 per cent. The company announced its June 2023 quarter results on July 18, 2023, which seems to have led the rally in the stock. The company reported a 42 per cent rise in revenue on YoY basis, EBITDA growth was 77 per cent YoY and PAT growth of 81 per cent YoY. This positive set of numbers seems to have caused traction in the stock.

The trailing PE of the company is 47.4x and the Price to book ratio is 6.5x.

IRCON International

The stock of IRCON International saw the highest single day gain of 5 per cent on July 21 and the overall gain of the week was 15.98 per cent. The railway stocks have been in focus for some time and IRCON has grown 55 per cent YTD. The company in an exchange filing announced that it has received a Letter of Award for a railway project at Jiribam-Imphal new Railway Line Project for a total price of ₹144 Crore. The project will involve Supply, Installation, Testing and commissioning of Integrated Tunnel Communication Systems, OFC based industrial grade network system including laying of OFC & other cables for Railway network which includes tunnels and stations in Jiribam Khongsang.

The trailing PE of the company is 11.45x whereas the price to book ratio is 1.68x.