Tale of the Tape 

Good evening everyone. Markets continued to climb higher.

Nifty and Sensex ended up +0.7% each as US-China trade tensions eased. Midcaps (+1.2%) popped off, while Smallcaps (+0.4%) saw smaller gains. The advance-decline ratio was in favour of the bulls (3:2). Here’s the Nifty500 heatmap:

Are defence stocks on the cusp of a rally? Read our top story to get the lowdown on the sector’s outlook.

HCL Tech zoomed after guiding for a decent FY26. Meanwhile, Waaree Energies (+15%) had its best quarter ever! More details below.

Sona BLW, J&K Bank and AU Small Finance Bank saw big moves today. Check out their charts below to find out why.

PFC (-1%) said it has a Rs 307 cr exposure to Gensol Engineering and that it had filed a complaint with the EOW

Niva Bupa rallied +9% intraday. Motilal Oswal sees a further +19% upside from current levels.

Q4 reactions. Havells India dipped -3% after the management cited inflationary pressures. M&M Finance fell -4% intraday after its profit fell -9% YoY.

Vardhman Special Steels was locked in a 20% upper circuit. The company will invest Rs 2,000 crore to set up a steel plant in Punjab.

Lupin (+2%) gained ahead of a kidney drug launch in the US with Rs 200 million in revenue potential.

Maharashtra Scooters announced a total dividend of Rs 60 p/sh.

Here are the closing prints:

Earnings
Earnings Roundup

HCL Technologies jumped +7% after leading the IT pack in Q4! They estimate revenue growth of +2% to +5% in FY26 vs expectations of 0%-2%. This is in sharp contrast to Infosys and Wipro both who issued much more muted forecasts.

CEO C Vijayakumar says they are betting that clients will jump on generative AI projects to beat Trump’s tariff blues. Not bad! FYI - the company’s Q4 results were mostly in line with Street expectations. Again, a surprise considering every other rival missed estimates. HCL’s digital revenue, which accounts for 41% of services topline, rose +13% YoY in CC terms. PS - JPMorgan has also upgraded the stock and has a new target price of Rs 1,750 p/sh.

Here are its key stats:

• Revenue: $3.49 billion; -1% QoQ

• EBIT: Rs 5,442 cr; -7% QoQ

• EBIT Margin: 17.9%; +34 bps YoY

• PAT: Rs 3,986 cr; +8% YoY (vs Est: Rs 4,300 cr)

HCL Tech is -16% YTD.

Waaree Energies soared +15% on blockbuster Q4 results! The company reported its strongest-ever quarter, with all-time high revenue, EBITDA and Net Profit. Strong demand boosted production of 2.06 GW of modules in Q4 (+52% YoY). Strict cost controls + higher share of premium products helped juice up margins and profits.

FYI - the firm also reported an order book of 25 GW, which is valued at Rs 47,000-cr. Looking ahead, its largest cell facility has begun operations in Gujarat, while its Texas plant started a couple months ago. Just in time to take advantage of the HUGE potential demand from the US.

Here is its Q4 report card:

• Revenue: Rs 4,004 cr; +36% YoY

• EBITDA: Rs 923 cr; +2x

• EBITDA Margin: 23% vs 14% YoY

• PAT: Rs 619 cr; +34% YoY

Waaree Energies is +5% YTD.

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