Stock picks of the week: 5 stocks with consistent score improvement and upside potential of up to 23%
There are currently too many variables that can move the markets in either direction. Oil prices may have settled into a range for now, but there is still no clarity on how the Gulf situation will develop. If uncertainty continues, oil prices may ...
By ETMarkets.com |
After a couple of days of market breadth outperforming the broader indices, they are both under pressure today. And given that there is no negative news on the oil front, it is probably time to watch whether the indices are able to recover or not.
Standalone underperformance does not bode well for the Indian market as it increases the risk of volatility with a bearish bias in the short term. So, it perhaps makes sense to just wait and watch for a while.
There is, however, some solace for the bulls. Even on a day when market breadth is negative, the stock of a company that has declared better-than-expected results has moved up. This merits watching as it can be an indicator of how flows in the market pan out.
Another factor worth watching, though it is being largely ignored at this point of time, is US bond yields. They are close to the level where they were in 2001 and debt which is being raised by AI-related companies is at a record high.
So, if there is any sort of global development which hits the currency markets and a reset takes place, it is very likely that we will see something which the street may not like.
Given all this, be ready for some volatility. Although, the fact that there has been no major spike in oil prices might favour the bulls. And if the prices remain in range, the Indian markets will have the ability to handle any financial instability in the global markets.
We have today curated a list of 5 stocks that have shown an improvement in their average score in a one-week time frame in Refinitiv’s Stock Reports Plus. The selected list applies different algorithms for all BSE and NSE stocks.
Further, we have checked whether these stocks also have a high upside potential over the next 12 months, and if they enjoy the confidence of the analyst community. For this, we have picked stocks by selecting only those stocks with an average recommendation rating of “Strong Buy” or “Buy” or “Hold”.
Our selected stocks come from different sectors like NBFC, auto, cement, and others. All of these stocks had gone into a corrective mode and are now recovering like much of the market. Whether the change in scores translate into better stock performance needs to be watched.
The data used in screening these 5 stocks has been gathered from the latest SR Plus report dated August 17, 2026. Here is the final list:
How scores are calculated by SR Plus:
1. Earnings component score
Earnings component score of a stock is the simple average of Earnings Surprises (measured over the last four quarters), Estimate Revisions (measured over the last four weeks), and the Recommendation Changes (measured over the last 120 days) of a stock. The higher the Earnings component score, the better it is.
2. Price Momentum component score
Price Momentum component score of a stock is the weighted average of (70% weight) Relative Strength score of a stock (measured using RSI of the stock Vs its industry average over the past one month, three months and six months), and the (30% weight) Seasonality in returns of the stock (measured using average monthly returns of the stock Vs its industry average over the last 10 years) of a stock. The higher the Price Momentum component score, the better it is.
3. Fundamental component score
Fundamental component score of a stock is the simple average of Profitability of a company (measured using Revenue growth, Gross Margins, Return on Equity and Net Margin), Debt levels of a company (measured using Current ratio, Debt-to-Capital ratio, Interest funding and Interest coverage), Earnings quality of the company (measured using Operating cash yield, Accruals, Days sales in Inv. and Days sales in Rec.) and the Dividend ratings of a stock (measured using Dividend growth, Dividend payout, Dividend coverage and Current Dividend yield) . The higher the Fundamental component score, the better it is.
4. Risk component score
Risk component score of a stock is the simple average of Magnitude of returns of a stock (measured using Daily return over the past 90 days and Monthly returns over the past 60 months), Volatility score of a stock (measured using Standard deviation over the last 90 days and last 60 months and Intraday swing over the past 90 days), Beta score of the stock (measured using Beta of the stock Vs BSE Sensex and its peers) and the Correlation score of a stock (measured using the Correlation of a stock VS BSE Sensex and its peers over the past 90 days and past 60 months). The higher the Risk component score, the better it is.
5. Relative Valuation component score
Relative Valuation component score of a stock is the weighted average of (50% weight) Price to Sales score of a stock (measured using the stocks latest Price to sales, five-year average price to sales and the latest BSE Sensex Price to sales), (25% weight) Trailing PE of a stock (measured using stocks latest trailing PE, five-year average PE and the latest BSE Sensex trailing PE), and (25% weight) the Forward PE of a stock (measured using stocks latest forward PE, five-year average forward PE and the latest BSE Sensex forward PE). The higher the Relative Valuation component score, the better it is.
What led to improvement in stock score:
Mahindra and Mahindra Limited
The recent change in the Average score was primarily due to an improvement in Price momentum score.
HDB Financial Services Limited
The recent change in the Average score was primarily due to an improvement in Earnings component score.
Muthoot Finance Limited
The recent change in the Average score was due to relative changes in other companies within the market as a comparison, even though the underlying component scores did not improve for this company.
JSW Cement Limited
The recent change in the Average score was primarily due to an improvement in Price momentum and Fundamental component scores.
NTPC Green Energy Limited
The recent change in the Average score was primarily due to an improvement in the Earnings and Relative Valuation component scores.
Methodology used in filtering the list of stocks:
1) Score improvement over a one-week period
The records of only those companies have been considered, scores of which have been improving over a period of one week. We have compared the latest average score with one-week prior score. All those companies which reflect an increase in score are selected.
2) Stocks with “Strong Buy” or “Buy” or ”Hold” recommendation rating
The recommendation rating for each stock has been used from Institutional Brokers Estimate System (I/B/E/S) by Refinitiv. The recommendations are presented on a five-point standardised scale – Strong buy, buy, hold, reduce, and sell.
The I/B/E/S mean is the average recommendation of all analysts covering the stock. The list provided incorporates recommendation ratings having the recommendation rating of “Strong Buy” or “Buy” or “Hold”.
3) Stocks with minimum upside potential of 11%
The mean price targets for all the stocks are calculated where analyst target prices are available over the next 12 months. This mean price target is then compared with current market prices to arrive at the mean upside potential in percentage terms. The upside potential should be of minimum 11% to fit into this list.
4) Market cap of at least Rs. 17,000 crore
Only companies having market capitalisation of more than Rs. 17,000 crore form part of this selected series of stocks.
About Companies
Mahindra and Mahindra Limited is engaged in the mobility products and farm solutions. The Company's segments include Automotive and Farm Equipment. The Automotive segment comprises the sale of automobiles, spares, mobility solutions, construction equipment and related services. The Farm Equipment segment comprises the sale of tractors, implements, spares and related services It also comprises Powerol and spares business unit. The Company offers a range of products and solutions, including sport utility vehicles (SUVs), pickups, commercial vehicles and tractors to electric vehicles, two-wheelers, and construction equipment. Its industries include aerospace, aftermarket, agribusiness, automotive, boats, clean energy, consulting, construction equipment, defense, farm equipment, hospitality, information technology, insurance broking, logistics, power backup, retail, steel, real estate and infrastructure, and vehicle and equipment finance.
HDB Financial Services Limited is a diversified retail-focused non-banking financial company. The Company offers a portfolio of lending products that cater to a diverse customer base through an omni-channel distribution network. Its lending products are offered through its three business verticals: Enterprise Lending, Asset Finance and Consumer Finance. Its Enterprise Lending products include business loans, loan against property (LAP), enterprise business loan (EBL), salaried personal loans (SPL), and gold loans. Its Asset Finance products include commercial vehicle loans, construction equipment loans and tractor loans. Its Consumer Finance products include Relationship Personal Loans, and Auto Loans. It also offers business process outsourcing (BPO) services such as back-office support services, collection and sales support services to its promoter as well as fee-based products such as distribution of insurance products primarily to its lending customers.
Muthoot Finance Limited is a gold financing company. The Company is a non-deposit taking, non-banking financial company, which is engaged primarily in the business of financing. It provides personal and business loans secured by gold jewelry. It lends against security of household used gold ornaments (HUGO) and does not deal in gold bullion. Its gold loan schemes include Muthoot One Percent Loan, Muthoot Ultimate Loan, Muthoot Delight Loan, Muthoot EMI Scheme, Muthoot Mudra Loan, Muthoot Advantage Loan, Muthoot High Value Loan Plus, Muthoot High Value Loan and Muthoot Big Business Loans. Its core offering is gold loans, however the Company offers a range of other products and services to its customers, which includes foreign inward money transfer services, domestic money transfer services, instant money transfer services, microfinance, non-convertible debentures, home loans, personal loans, corporate loans, foreign exchange services and insurance services, among others.
JSW Cement Limited is a cement manufacturing company. The Company is focused on manufacturing green cementitious products comprising blended cement, which includes Portland slag cement (PSC) and Portland composite cement (PCC) and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS). It also manufactures ordinary Portland cement (OPC), clinker and a range of allied cementitious products such as ready-mix concrete (RMC), screened slag, construction chemicals and waterproofing compounds. Its product offerings include cement, cementitious, aggregates, construction chemicals, additives, plaster, and ready-mix concrete. Its subsidiaries are JSW Green Cement Private Limited, Utkarsh Transport Private Limited, Cemterra Enterprise Private Limited, and Shiva Cement Limited
NTPC Green Energy Limited is engaged in the business of developing, owning and operating a diversified portfolio of renewable energy power plants in India. Its renewable energy portfolio encompasses both solar and wind power assets with a presence across multiple locations in more than six states. Its portfolio consists of 16,896 megawatts (MWs) including 3,320 MWs operating projects and 13,576 MWs projects contracted. Its solar projects include SKB-II, Ayodhya, Nokhra, Jetsar, Ettayapuram, Devikot, SKB-I, Fatehgarh, Bhadla-I, Rajgarh, Anantapur, Mandsaur, and others. Its wind project includes Rojmal. The Company is also engaged in Green Hydrogen, Small Hydro, and ESS. The Company is also involved in Battery Storage, Pumped Hydro Storage, and Hydrogen Storage systems to deliver a more sustainable and resilient energy system.
Source for About Companies: SR Plus.
Stock Reports Plus, powered by Refinitiv, is a comprehensive report that undertakes an in-depth quantitative analysis to generate standardised scores for each of the five key components. A simple average of these scores is then normally distributed to reach an average score. Each stock is ranked on a scale of 1 to 10. A score of 8 to 10 is considered positive, 4 to 7 is neutral and 1 to 3 is given a negative outlook.
In addition to these scores, the report also contains trend analysis, peer analysis and mean analysts’ recommendations to help an investor make better & informed investment decisions.
“Strong Buy” or “Buy” or ”Hold” recommendation ratings - The recommendation rating for each stock has been used from Institutional Brokers Estimate System (I/B/E/S) by LSEG. The recommendations are presented on a five-point standardised scale – Strong buy, buy, hold, reduce, and sell.
The I/B/E/S mean is the average recommendation of all analysts covering the stock. The list provided incorporates recommendation ratings having the recommendation rating of “Strong Buy” or “Buy” or “Hold”.
ET is providing these reports as a complimentary offering to all ETPrime users. Click here to know more.
Disclaimer: The views, scores, research and investment tips expressed herein are not that of Economic Times (“ET”) or its management and have been gathered from various third-party sources. ET does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information. The content provided herein including any output of tools/analysis is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon or construed as an investment advice. ET advises users to check with a certified professional before making any investment decision.
Standalone underperformance does not bode well for the Indian market as it increases the risk of volatility with a bearish bias in the short term. So, it perhaps makes sense to just wait and watch for a while.
There is, however, some solace for the bulls. Even on a day when market breadth is negative, the stock of a company that has declared better-than-expected results has moved up. This merits watching as it can be an indicator of how flows in the market pan out.
Another factor worth watching, though it is being largely ignored at this point of time, is US bond yields. They are close to the level where they were in 2001 and debt which is being raised by AI-related companies is at a record high.
So, if there is any sort of global development which hits the currency markets and a reset takes place, it is very likely that we will see something which the street may not like.
Given all this, be ready for some volatility. Although, the fact that there has been no major spike in oil prices might favour the bulls. And if the prices remain in range, the Indian markets will have the ability to handle any financial instability in the global markets.
ADVERTISEMENT
We have today curated a list of 5 stocks that have shown an improvement in their average score in a one-week time frame in Refinitiv’s Stock Reports Plus. The selected list applies different algorithms for all BSE and NSE stocks.
Further, we have checked whether these stocks also have a high upside potential over the next 12 months, and if they enjoy the confidence of the analyst community. For this, we have picked stocks by selecting only those stocks with an average recommendation rating of “Strong Buy” or “Buy” or “Hold”.
Our selected stocks come from different sectors like NBFC, auto, cement, and others. All of these stocks had gone into a corrective mode and are now recovering like much of the market. Whether the change in scores translate into better stock performance needs to be watched.
The data used in screening these 5 stocks has been gathered from the latest SR Plus report dated August 17, 2026. Here is the final list:
ADVERTISEMENT
How scores are calculated by SR Plus:
1. Earnings component score
ADVERTISEMENT
Earnings component score of a stock is the simple average of Earnings Surprises (measured over the last four quarters), Estimate Revisions (measured over the last four weeks), and the Recommendation Changes (measured over the last 120 days) of a stock. The higher the Earnings component score, the better it is.
2. Price Momentum component score
Price Momentum component score of a stock is the weighted average of (70% weight) Relative Strength score of a stock (measured using RSI of the stock Vs its industry average over the past one month, three months and six months), and the (30% weight) Seasonality in returns of the stock (measured using average monthly returns of the stock Vs its industry average over the last 10 years) of a stock. The higher the Price Momentum component score, the better it is.
3. Fundamental component score
Fundamental component score of a stock is the simple average of Profitability of a company (measured using Revenue growth, Gross Margins, Return on Equity and Net Margin), Debt levels of a company (measured using Current ratio, Debt-to-Capital ratio, Interest funding and Interest coverage), Earnings quality of the company (measured using Operating cash yield, Accruals, Days sales in Inv. and Days sales in Rec.) and the Dividend ratings of a stock (measured using Dividend growth, Dividend payout, Dividend coverage and Current Dividend yield) . The higher the Fundamental component score, the better it is.
4. Risk component score
Risk component score of a stock is the simple average of Magnitude of returns of a stock (measured using Daily return over the past 90 days and Monthly returns over the past 60 months), Volatility score of a stock (measured using Standard deviation over the last 90 days and last 60 months and Intraday swing over the past 90 days), Beta score of the stock (measured using Beta of the stock Vs BSE Sensex and its peers) and the Correlation score of a stock (measured using the Correlation of a stock VS BSE Sensex and its peers over the past 90 days and past 60 months). The higher the Risk component score, the better it is.
5. Relative Valuation component score
Relative Valuation component score of a stock is the weighted average of (50% weight) Price to Sales score of a stock (measured using the stocks latest Price to sales, five-year average price to sales and the latest BSE Sensex Price to sales), (25% weight) Trailing PE of a stock (measured using stocks latest trailing PE, five-year average PE and the latest BSE Sensex trailing PE), and (25% weight) the Forward PE of a stock (measured using stocks latest forward PE, five-year average forward PE and the latest BSE Sensex forward PE). The higher the Relative Valuation component score, the better it is.
What led to improvement in stock score:
Mahindra and Mahindra Limited
The recent change in the Average score was primarily due to an improvement in Price momentum score.
HDB Financial Services Limited
The recent change in the Average score was primarily due to an improvement in Earnings component score.
Muthoot Finance Limited
The recent change in the Average score was due to relative changes in other companies within the market as a comparison, even though the underlying component scores did not improve for this company.
JSW Cement Limited
The recent change in the Average score was primarily due to an improvement in Price momentum and Fundamental component scores.
NTPC Green Energy Limited
The recent change in the Average score was primarily due to an improvement in the Earnings and Relative Valuation component scores.
Methodology used in filtering the list of stocks:
1) Score improvement over a one-week period
The records of only those companies have been considered, scores of which have been improving over a period of one week. We have compared the latest average score with one-week prior score. All those companies which reflect an increase in score are selected.
2) Stocks with “Strong Buy” or “Buy” or ”Hold” recommendation rating
The recommendation rating for each stock has been used from Institutional Brokers Estimate System (I/B/E/S) by Refinitiv. The recommendations are presented on a five-point standardised scale – Strong buy, buy, hold, reduce, and sell.
The I/B/E/S mean is the average recommendation of all analysts covering the stock. The list provided incorporates recommendation ratings having the recommendation rating of “Strong Buy” or “Buy” or “Hold”.
3) Stocks with minimum upside potential of 11%
The mean price targets for all the stocks are calculated where analyst target prices are available over the next 12 months. This mean price target is then compared with current market prices to arrive at the mean upside potential in percentage terms. The upside potential should be of minimum 11% to fit into this list.
4) Market cap of at least Rs. 17,000 crore
Only companies having market capitalisation of more than Rs. 17,000 crore form part of this selected series of stocks.
About Companies
Mahindra and Mahindra Limited is engaged in the mobility products and farm solutions. The Company's segments include Automotive and Farm Equipment. The Automotive segment comprises the sale of automobiles, spares, mobility solutions, construction equipment and related services. The Farm Equipment segment comprises the sale of tractors, implements, spares and related services It also comprises Powerol and spares business unit. The Company offers a range of products and solutions, including sport utility vehicles (SUVs), pickups, commercial vehicles and tractors to electric vehicles, two-wheelers, and construction equipment. Its industries include aerospace, aftermarket, agribusiness, automotive, boats, clean energy, consulting, construction equipment, defense, farm equipment, hospitality, information technology, insurance broking, logistics, power backup, retail, steel, real estate and infrastructure, and vehicle and equipment finance.
HDB Financial Services Limited is a diversified retail-focused non-banking financial company. The Company offers a portfolio of lending products that cater to a diverse customer base through an omni-channel distribution network. Its lending products are offered through its three business verticals: Enterprise Lending, Asset Finance and Consumer Finance. Its Enterprise Lending products include business loans, loan against property (LAP), enterprise business loan (EBL), salaried personal loans (SPL), and gold loans. Its Asset Finance products include commercial vehicle loans, construction equipment loans and tractor loans. Its Consumer Finance products include Relationship Personal Loans, and Auto Loans. It also offers business process outsourcing (BPO) services such as back-office support services, collection and sales support services to its promoter as well as fee-based products such as distribution of insurance products primarily to its lending customers.
Muthoot Finance Limited is a gold financing company. The Company is a non-deposit taking, non-banking financial company, which is engaged primarily in the business of financing. It provides personal and business loans secured by gold jewelry. It lends against security of household used gold ornaments (HUGO) and does not deal in gold bullion. Its gold loan schemes include Muthoot One Percent Loan, Muthoot Ultimate Loan, Muthoot Delight Loan, Muthoot EMI Scheme, Muthoot Mudra Loan, Muthoot Advantage Loan, Muthoot High Value Loan Plus, Muthoot High Value Loan and Muthoot Big Business Loans. Its core offering is gold loans, however the Company offers a range of other products and services to its customers, which includes foreign inward money transfer services, domestic money transfer services, instant money transfer services, microfinance, non-convertible debentures, home loans, personal loans, corporate loans, foreign exchange services and insurance services, among others.
JSW Cement Limited is a cement manufacturing company. The Company is focused on manufacturing green cementitious products comprising blended cement, which includes Portland slag cement (PSC) and Portland composite cement (PCC) and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS). It also manufactures ordinary Portland cement (OPC), clinker and a range of allied cementitious products such as ready-mix concrete (RMC), screened slag, construction chemicals and waterproofing compounds. Its product offerings include cement, cementitious, aggregates, construction chemicals, additives, plaster, and ready-mix concrete. Its subsidiaries are JSW Green Cement Private Limited, Utkarsh Transport Private Limited, Cemterra Enterprise Private Limited, and Shiva Cement Limited
NTPC Green Energy Limited is engaged in the business of developing, owning and operating a diversified portfolio of renewable energy power plants in India. Its renewable energy portfolio encompasses both solar and wind power assets with a presence across multiple locations in more than six states. Its portfolio consists of 16,896 megawatts (MWs) including 3,320 MWs operating projects and 13,576 MWs projects contracted. Its solar projects include SKB-II, Ayodhya, Nokhra, Jetsar, Ettayapuram, Devikot, SKB-I, Fatehgarh, Bhadla-I, Rajgarh, Anantapur, Mandsaur, and others. Its wind project includes Rojmal. The Company is also engaged in Green Hydrogen, Small Hydro, and ESS. The Company is also involved in Battery Storage, Pumped Hydro Storage, and Hydrogen Storage systems to deliver a more sustainable and resilient energy system.
Source for About Companies: SR Plus.
Stock Reports Plus, powered by Refinitiv, is a comprehensive report that undertakes an in-depth quantitative analysis to generate standardised scores for each of the five key components. A simple average of these scores is then normally distributed to reach an average score. Each stock is ranked on a scale of 1 to 10. A score of 8 to 10 is considered positive, 4 to 7 is neutral and 1 to 3 is given a negative outlook.
In addition to these scores, the report also contains trend analysis, peer analysis and mean analysts’ recommendations to help an investor make better & informed investment decisions.
“Strong Buy” or “Buy” or ”Hold” recommendation ratings - The recommendation rating for each stock has been used from Institutional Brokers Estimate System (I/B/E/S) by LSEG. The recommendations are presented on a five-point standardised scale – Strong buy, buy, hold, reduce, and sell.
The I/B/E/S mean is the average recommendation of all analysts covering the stock. The list provided incorporates recommendation ratings having the recommendation rating of “Strong Buy” or “Buy” or “Hold”.
ET is providing these reports as a complimentary offering to all ETPrime users. Click here to know more.
Disclaimer: The views, scores, research and investment tips expressed herein are not that of Economic Times (“ET”) or its management and have been gathered from various third-party sources. ET does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information. The content provided herein including any output of tools/analysis is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon or construed as an investment advice. ET advises users to check with a certified professional before making any investment decision.
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