Stock Shastra

The Pantaloon stake sale created quite a buzz in the last week. The point to ponder here is, if a large brand like Pantaloons has been forced to go for a stake sale to reduce its debt burden, what lies in store for the smaller retail players.
We at MoneyWorks4me.com decided to have a look at how the mid-sized retail apparel players have been faring over the last year. So, considering the performance of these companies, should investors go for retail stocks?

Which sector should I invest in? Is this sector’s performance good or bad right now? What are the future prospects of a sector? These and many more such questions do cross an investors mind. Rightly so, since choosing the right sector to invest in, is almost as important as choosing the right company.

Therefore, our concept of Index@MRP! A few weeks back we started with a report on the FMCG sector. Today, our report is on CG@MRP index (Capital Goods sector). Is it over or under valued? What has been its past performance and what’s in store for the future?

With the Nifty going higher every week, the markets have witnessed a sudden rally for the past few months. While there have been a few sectors which have done extremely well during this period, a few sectors have lagged behind!

Which are these sectors? And what are the reasons for this rally?

The first month of the new year 2012 has been very good for the stock markets. The month of January saw the Nifty go up by 12.4% – the best monthly returns over the last 30 months! This rise has been fueled to a large extent by FIIs who were net buyers of more than Rs. 26,000 Cr. The month also saw many companies announce their December i.e. 3rd quarter financial results. Out of the BSE 500 companies as many as 212 companies have announced their results so far.
Let’s take a look at the report card for the December quarter and what it reveals:
The 212 companies which have reported their results so far (till 1st Feb’12) have clocked a healthy growth of 26.8% in Net Sales as compared to December 2010 figures. However, this growth hasn’t resulted into increased profitability as higher inflation and high interest costs have reduced operating [...]

Inflation rates have been consistently over 9% for several months now. High prices of food and essential commodities have kept it at such high levels. Though the various measures by RBI have helped to moderate the inflation to a certain extent, it still hovers in an uncomfortable zone. Bringing down the inflation rate has been on top of the agenda for RBI, given that high inflation has severe effects on the common man.
Read on to find out how Inflation affects the common man.