Why Kotak is nervous about GAIL India, when others believe it#39;s top pick in gas space

Stocks

Kotak Securities has set the lowest target price of Rs 115 for the stock in the Street. It has recommend to sell the stock as it believes that the scrip may further decline another 13 percent from last closing price.

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GAIL India has had an eventful 2022 so far. The stock zoomed to about four year highs of 173.50 in April when there was a lot of uncertainty about gas supplies in the international market, but since then it has seen profit booking falling by 24 percent.

Apart from the volatile price chart, analysts’ outlook on the stock also appears to be divided. While some analysts believe the stock might see another leg of the rally, some are very skeptical.

Analysts at Kotak Securities are in the latter camp. The brokerage has set the lowest target price of Rs 115 for the stock in the Street. Kotak has recommend to sell the stock as it believes that the scrip may further decline another 13 percent from last closing price.

What makes them nervous is the “triple whammy” of gas allocation, tariff cut and spread reduction.

“The situation has worsened. Gas allocation for consumption in transmission has been cut by 30 percent; the regulator has cut tariffs in three of four regional pipelines by 41-98 percent; and with rising Henry Hub (HH) prices and falling oil, spreads on oil-linked sales of HH volumes have compressed and will get negative soon,” said Anil Sharma, an analyst at Kotak Securities.

This bearish opinion comes amid a jump in gas prices due to higher demand from the US and Europe. Currently Natural Gas prices trade at $ 9.31 per Metric Million British Thermal Unit (MMbtu).

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Meanwhile, Gazprom recently enforced a force majeure on 2.5 mmt (million metric tonnes) of volumes, forcing GAIL to take some unallocated cargoes from the UK on a ‘pay and take’ basis. Till the time the same remains in force, analysts expect some impact on overall gas supplies.

The stance of Kotak Securities is in contrast with what many others think on the Street. Earlier in the month, Motilal Oswal said GAIL India was its top pick in the large-cap energy and gas space.

It counts many reasons for this including strong gains in the trading business in Q1, which was offset by other weak segments and management expectation of volumes of 120 million standard cubic meters of gas per day (mmscmd) once its fertilizer plants run at full utilization.

Moreover, its petchem plant operated at a utilization rate of 83 percent in Q1. It will achieve a utilization rate of over 100 percent in FY23 due to the opening up of the economy and better demand from the Pata plant, Motilal said.

ICICI Securities has a target of Rs 160 on the stock with a ‘buy’ call. The brokerage sees pick-up in gas transmission volume while gas trading is expected to report healthy gains in the near term due to favourable spot LNG prices. It also expects consistent dividend payout.

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