Stocks To Watch on February 19: Benchmark Nifty gained for fourth consecutive day on Friday, recovering more than 500 points from a low of 21530 and reaching close to its life-high levels of 22,126. Analysts said the index is hovering near all-time zones and is all set to make new highs in the current week.

Quess Corp: The recruitment firm has said it will be demerged into three listed entities– Quess Corp Ltd, Digitide Solutions Ltd, and Bluspring Enterprises Ltd. The new Quess Corp will handle workforce management; Digitide Solutions will provide business process management solutions and insurtech; and Bluspring Enterprises will offer facility management, industrial services and investments. The demerger is expected to attract investment, improve capital allocation and boost growth. Once complete, all the shareholders will receive an additional share of each of the new companies for every share they hold in Quess Corp Ltd. The process is expected to take 12-15 months, and depends on regulatory approval.

Hero MotoCorp: The motorcycle maker’s CEO Niranjan Gupta anticipates a double-digit revenue surge in the domestic two-wheeler industry in the upcoming fiscal year. He suggests that the demand for premium models is likely to escalate further. “As far as the demand is concerned, as we have been saying, we do expect the industry to grow double digit on revenue in the coming year at the least,” Gupta said in an analyst call.

Chalet Hotels: The company has set ambitious plans to expand its portfolio of “big-box”, or large inventory, hotels, aiming to add approximately 800 rooms to its offerings. Having earmarked Rs 2,000 crore as current capital work-in-progress, the expansion will increase its total room count to 5,000 in the next three to four years. Sanjay Sethi, the company’s managing director and chief executive, told Mint that Chalet Hotels’ strategy aims to capitalize on demand generated by office spaces in proximity to its properties, ensuring a robust and continuous customer base.

Life Insurance Corporation of India: The country’s largest insurer announced that it received refund orders for Rs 21,740.77 crore from the Income Tax Department. The company had received refund orders for Assessment Years 2012- 13, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20, according to a report by Economic Times. The total amount of refund was Rs 25,464.46 crore. “In this regard, the Income tax Department has released Rs 21,740.77 crore on 15.02.2024. The Corporation is pursuing for the balance with the Income Tax Department,” said LIC. The remaining amount of Rs 3,700 crore in awaited as tax refund.

Paytm: In its recent assessment, brokerage firm Bernstein has assigned an ‘Outperform’ rating to Paytm, along with a target price of ₹600 per share, as per an ET Now report. The brokerage firm notes in its report that the RBI’s actions are primarily directed at Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL), with no adverse observation on other integral functions of Paytm. This distinction is crucial in understanding the scope of regulatory measures impacting the company. It added that the linking of merchants’ operations to a non-PPBL bank is a “major positive”, which carries significant benefits for Paytm. Bernstein further acknowledged the extension of the cut-off date to March 15, which provides Paytm with a larger window to implement necessary changes in response to regulatory requirements.

RVNL: The Public Sector Undertaking’s order book has touched Rs 65,000 crore, 50% of which are railway projects, the company has said. RVNL is also looking for new projects in off-shore markets including Central Asia, UAE and Western Asia, the management said in an investors call. “We have got an order book of around Rs 65,000 crore, which roughly constitutes 50% from the nomination, that is the typical railway projects, and 50% from the market. In time to come, we should maintain an order book of around Rs 75,000 crore,” top management officials said in reply to a question.

JSW Steel: India’s largest steelmaker by capacity will invest Rs 65,000 crore in Odisha to set up one of its biggest manufacturing plants, adding to the country’s efforts to boost production of the alloy. In the announcement made on Friday, JSW Steel said it will establish a greenfield complex in the industrial city of Paradip, which will include a steel plant with a capacity of 13.2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), a captive power plant, captive jetties with cargo-handling capacity, a cement manufacturing unit, and a modern township. The investment will be in phases. “There will be a total investment of Rs 65,000 crore in this facility and more than 30,000 direct and indirect employment potential,” said Sajjan Jindal, chairman of JSW Group, following a foundation-laying ceremony on Friday that was presided over by Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

Adani Enterprises: Adani Realty has secured the contract to redevelop the 24-acre Bandra Reclamation land parcel, put up by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRDC), as per a report by the Free Press Journal. The final approval is pending and will be decided by the MSRDC Board in their upcoming meeting. Adani Realty emerged as the ‘preferred bidder’ by offering the highest financial bid, providing 22.79 per cent revenue to MSRDC. This surpassed Larsen and Toubro’s bid of 18 per cent, as per the report. The decision comes despite L&T having a stronger net worth of approximately Rs 84,000 crore compared to Adani’s Rs 48,000 crore, Adani’s higher bid secured the preference, it added.

Lupin: The pharma company in a filing to the stock exchanges said it has received approval from the US drug regulator for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Minzoya tablets. The tablets are used by women of reproductive potential to prevent pregnancy, the company informed the bourses. The product will be manufactured at the company’s Pithampur facility in Madhya Pradesh.

TD Power Systems: Vijay Kirloskar, the founding director and large shareholder of Bengaluru-based engineering services company TD Power Systems, has lodged a complaint with the stock exchanges, accusing the company of omitting and suppressing material facts in the financial results for the quarter ending December 2023, as per a report from Economic Times. In a letter dated February 3, 2024, Vijay Kirloskar, who also serves as the chairman of Bengaluru-based Kirloskar Electric Company, urged the bourses to acknowledge that the company’s disclosure on February 1, 2024, stating there is no action initiated by Kirloskar against TDPS is “entirely factually incorrect, a misstatement and a deliberate suppression of vital information” intended to mislead TDPS shareholders.

Equitas SFB: Equitas Small Finance Bank has become the official banking partner of Chennai Super Kings.

SpiceJet: SpiceJet CMD Ajay Singh has partnered with Easy Trip founder Nishant Pitti to bid for Go First airline.