Tale of the Tape 

Howdy folks. Welcome back to the market of stocks!

Nifty and Sensex recovered from the day’s low to end with minor losses. Midcaps (+0.6%) and Smallcaps (+1.2%) had a far better day. The advance-decline ratio was in favour of the bulls (3:2).

Most sectors ended in the green. Real Estate (+2.3%) and PSU Banks (+2.2%) saw the most buying. IT (-0.7%) and Pharma (-0.2%) witnessed some selling pressure.

Ola vs Ather. Which EV stock should you place your bets on? Read our top story to get the breakdown.

Nykaa (-5%) fell after a HSBC double downgrade. Also, Inox Green (-5%) was down on mixed Q4 numbers. Check out our analysis below.

Niva Bupa cracked -10% after a promoter stake sale. Meanwhile, India’s GDP & GST hint a solid macro story for India in FY26. More details below.

Mphasis slipped -3% after reports said it lost FedEx as a client, which accounted for 8% of its revenue!

Auto sales for May were a mixed bag. Maruti reported a +3% YoY bump, while Hyundai’s numbers fell -8% YoY. Check out the full list here.

State-owned banks stocks were on fire over market expectations of a rate cut later this week. Union Bank, IOB and Bank of Maharashtra gained between +4% and +7%.

Yes Bank soared +8% after reports said SMBC could take a majority stake. PS - the lender’s board will meet tomorrow to consider a fundraise as well.

Market debut. Leela Hotels ended at Rs 434 p/sh; unchanged from its IPO price. Aegis Vopack closed at Rs 242 p/sh; +3% from its issue price. 

Astrazeneca Pharma India (+16%)  was the top NSE 500 gainer after its Q4 net profit jumped +48% YoY.

Stock
Ola Vs Ather: Who’s The Chosen One?

India’s two-wheeler EV space has been chaotic AF lately! With the Q4 dust settling, it’s time for a quick head-to-head on Ola vs Ather. Let’s take a look.

Ather beat Ola in Q4 revenue: Rs 676 cr vs Rs 611 cr for the FIRST TIME! But, Ola edged out in volumes, with 51.3k scooters sold vs Ather’s 47.4k. FYI - Ola claims its numbers would’ve been a lot higher if it didn’t have registration & delivery issues. This is being probed by the GOI & SEBI, so we’ll find out the truth soon enough. But tbh, it really doesn’t matter. Sales data for May is out and it shows Ola sold 18k vs Ather’s 12.8k -- so clearly, the gap is closing no matter what. 

Next, the bottomline. Ola’s losses doubled to Rs 870 cr while Ather reduced its bleeding to just Rs 234 cr. Interestingly, Ather also caught up in terms of gross margins (19% vs Ola’s ~20%). But what will really decide the road ahead are these three factors:

• Motorcycles: Ola has already started deliveries while Ather is late and won’t have a model till next year. 

• Battery: While Ather has done well to boost margins, Ola has a trump card in making its own cells. This could push Ola’s gross margins to ~38% levels and make it profitable faster.

• Warranty & expansion: Both companies have their own challenges. Ola has to move beyond its awful quality issues. And Ather has to successfully expand beyond South India.

Big Picture: Ola looks cheap right now after the massive selloff, but can it fix its issues before completely losing market share? Meanwhile, Ather has a market cap of ~Rs 11,730 cr which means its expensive AF as we pointed out during its IPO. Most experts say hold your horses and wait before taking a plunge on either of them.

Specials
Exclusive Promoter Interview!

Belrise Industries just hit the market. We sat down with Swastik Badve, promoter of the company, to know about its operations, 5-year vision and more.