Tale of the Tape 

Good evening everyone. Welcome back to The Daily Rip!

Markets snapped their two-day losing streak, with the Nifty (+1.2%) and Sensex (+1.3%) ending higher on heavyweight buying. Midcaps (+1.6%) and Smallcaps (+0.8%) saw solid gains. The advance-decline ratio was in favour of the bulls (3:2).

Except IT (-0.2%), every other sector ended in the green. Oil & Gas (+3.2%) was the top gainer, followed by PSU Banks (+2.4%) and Auto (+1.6%).

Reliance Industries (+5%) was the top Nifty gainer after a strong Q4 show! Read our top story below to get all the deets.

SML Isuzu hit a -10% lower circuit after Mahindra & Mahindra (+2%) said it would acquire the company. Meanwhile, Ramkrishna Forgings cracked -5% after reporting an inventory discrepancy. More details below.

Defence stocks zoomed today! Check out their charts below to find out why.

V2 Retail hit a -5% lower circuit after its CEO abruptly resigned.

Q4 reactions. Shriram Finance (-5%) was the top Nifty loser after its credit costs rose unexpectedly. Meanwhile, Tejas Networks cracked -13% after reporting its first loss in 5 quarters due to an inventory writedown.

Sonata Software soared +7% after bagging a $73 million, five-year contract from a US-based client.

Biocon was up +3% after nearing EU approval for its bone health drug.

Ather Energy IPO was subscribed just 0.1x on Day 1 of bidding.

Earnings
Reliance Industries Q4 Review

Reliance (+5%) zoomed after its Q4 results beat Street estimates! FYI - the conglomerate has three main verticals: O2C (oils-to-chemicals), retail and Jio. The consumer divisions are KILLING it. Take Reliance Retail for example: its topline is up +16% YoY and profits up +29% YoY, helped by massive sales of ACs & coolers due to an early summer. Its quick commerce division, JioMart, saw daily gross orders jump +2x QoQ.

Jio also shined, with ARPU up +13% YoY to hit Rs 206.2. It’s still below Airtel, but it shows tariff hikes are steadily boosting profits. FYI - Jio gained 6.1 million subscribers in Q4 after losing over 10 million in Q2 due to the tariff hikes. This means the subscriber loss is over (usually ppl with two SIMs who take advantage of cheap rates) and business is back to normal.

Finally, there’s RIL’s core cash cow. O2C has been weak for most of 2024-25 due to weak global demand & low refining margins. The segment is recovering slowly: its topline grew +15% YoY, aided by the domestic market. But EBITDA is still weak -- 10% YoY -- and will take another couple quarters to recover depending how China’s stimulus pans out.

Here are its key stats:

• Revenue: Rs 2.65 lakh cr; +10% YoY (vs est: Rs 2.62 lakh cr)

• PAT: Rs 19,407 cr; +2% YoY( vs est: Rs 18,877 cr)

Big Picture: FY26 looks like it will be the year of RIL, with analysts projecting overall EBITDA growth to be ~16% after remaining flat in FY25. More tariff hikes in the future will continue to boost Jio while Reliance Retail’s quick commerce growth has a high ceiling. Petrochemicals continues to be a wild card, so keep a close eye out for that. FYI - Nuvama has a target price of Rs 1,708 p/sh; +25% from current levels!

Specials
Stocks To Buy In This Pullback

Looking for the best stocks to buy in May 2025?

We’ve compiled a list of the top 5 Mid & Small Cap stocks recommended by SEBI RAs on Stocktwits to buy right now.