Stocks To Buy: Macquarie highlights LIC, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank among top ideas

Global brokerage firm Macquarie has made several rating and target price changes across the Indian financial sector.The brokerage upgraded PB Fintech from ‘Underperform’ to ‘Neutral’ and raised the price target to ₹1,945 from ₹1,530 per share earlier. Macquarie expects an improvement in revenue CAGR (35% over FY24-27F as against 29% earlier).
On the other hand, IndusInd Bank was double downgraded from ‘Outperform’ to ‘Underperform’, with the price target cut to ₹650 from ₹1,210 per share earlier.
The downgrade was on account of decline in sustainable ROAs from 1.4% to 1.0%, primarily driven by decline in sustainable margins.
The brokerage has also slashed its earnings per share estimates by 44% and 35% for FY26 and FY27, respectively.

	Rating		TP (₹)
Stock	Old	New	Old	New
Indusind	Outperform	Underperform	1,210	650
PB Fintech	Underperform	Neutral	1,530	1,945
Bank box	Outperform	Neutral	2,200	2300
SBI Cards	Outperform	Neutral	1,000	1,040
HDFC Life	Neutral	Underperform	570	720

Kotak Mahindra Bank was downgraded to ‘Neutral’, though the target price was raised to ₹2,300 per share. Similarly, SBI Cards was assigned a ‘Neutral’ rating with a target price of ₹1,040 per share.

HDFC Life was also downgraded, moving from ‘Neutral’ to ‘Underperform’, but its target price was raised to ₹720 per share.

Macquarie believes current margin pressures are temporary and expects banks to deliver a solid 15% EPS CAGR over the next three years.

It prefers large private sector banks and sees selective opportunities in NBFCs based on risk-reward.

Top picks from the brokerage include HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Aditya Birla Capital (ABCAP), Power Finance Corporation (PFC), Shriram Housing Finance (SHFL), and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).