Tale of the Tape 

Hola Amigos. Sadly, markets snapped a seven-day winning streak! 

Nifty (-0.8%) and Sensex (-0.9%) ended in the red as investors booked profits. Midcaps (-0.6%) and Smallcaps (-1.1%) tumbled too. 385 stocks in the NSE 500 ended lower. Check out the Stocktwits Sentiment Meter:

All sectors either took a hit or ended flat. Oil & Gas (-1.4%) was the top loser, while Real Estate (-1.3%) and PSU Banks (-1.2%) saw deep cuts too.

Zomato has sank -35% in the last six months. Read our top story to understand why the investment narrative around the stock has changed.

Goldman Sachs sees a minimum +20% upside in these 7 stocks. More details below.

Ashok Leyland (+2%) will infuse Rs 200 cr in its financing arm ahead of its proposed listing. PS - the firm also denied reports of buying a controlling stake in SML Isuzu.

Maruti Suzuki (-1%) will invest Rs 7,410 cr to set up its third plant in Haryana.

One Mobikwik (-4%) was down after announcing an entry into the stock broking business.

Samvardhana Motherson gained +3% after Goldman Sachs acquired 65 lakh shares.

Order wins. Larsen & Toubro was in focus after it won its largest-ever order worth Rs 15,000 cr from QatarEnergy LNG. NCC won multiple new order worth nearly Rs 11,000 cr from BSNL.

ZFCV India (+6%) was in focus. The GOI proposed the use of advanced safety technologies like emergency braking, driver drowsiness detection, and lane departure warning for large passenger vehicles.

Here are the closing prints:

Stock
Zomato, WTF!

What’s going on with $ZOMATO.NSE ( ▼ 0.6% )? The stock went from being the hero of 2024 to falling -35% in the past 6 months! For those wondering: there’s been a narrative shift on three of the sector’s biggest triggers. Here’s how it played out:

1) ‘Quick commerce is a sunrise sector’: When Goldman Sachs declared that Blinkit was more valuable than Zomato’s food delivery biz, it was a wet dream for investors. The only problem? In the last year, the competition has tripled. This means more discounts, more dark store investments and MUCH-delayed profitability. Quick commerce rapidly went from ‘high growth + improving unit economics’ to ‘rising losses + high competition’.

2) ‘Food delivery is a cash cow’: Now, quick commerce wouldn’t have been a problem if food delivery stayed solid. Unfortunately, growth slowed which meant companies couldn't continuously increase platform fees. On top of this, the rush for 10-min food deliveries started. This requires higher investments which translates to lesser cash flows. FYI - this is a double whammy because the food delivery vertical used to fund quick commerce’s cash burn. Without that, the future of both looks a little darker. It’s no surprise that Deepinder Goyal recently complained the overall industry was burning Rs 5,000-cr every month and pointed fingers at Zepto’s aggressive strategies.

3) ‘Gig workers will always be cheap’: The GOI recently announced that platforms like Zomato need to start providing pensions! This will be done through the existing PF scheme and will likely see an uptick in manpower costs. Now, this isn’t crippling just yet. But low labour costs are one thing that makes Zomato and its rivals work. As it becomes more expensive, the picture isn’t gonna be pretty.

TL;DR: Things aren’t dire just yet. But a lot of our core assumptions about the sector are starting to fade away. FYI - BoFA recently downgraded Zomato and cut its target price to Rs 250 p/sh vs Rs 300 p/sh earlier.

Stocktwits Specials
Top 5 Blue Chips To Buy NOW!!!

Markets are back with a bang! The Nifty just had its best week in over 4 years and is on track to erase all of 2025’s losses. Here are 5 high quality blue chips to play this recovery, according to SEBI registered advisors. Miss it at your own cost!