Top Forecaster Says India Stocks Pricey, Sees Earnings Cut
- HSBC says earnings to grow 12% in 2016 vs 18.5% consensus
- India budget positive for sentiments, need `follow-up' action
Men look up at an electronic ticker board that indicates stock figures at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015. Indian stocks advanced in volatile trading a day after the benchmark gauge plunged the most in six years, as banks helped counter declines in software exporters.
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/BloombergIndian equities are expensive even after the worst start to the year since 2011 for the most accurate forecaster for the nation’s benchmark stock index. The reason: earnings.
Company earnings will grow 12 percent in 2016, slower than the “very optimistic” 18.5 percent forecast by analysts, Devendra Joshi, Asia equity strategist at HSBC Holdings Plc, said in a phone interview from Hong Kong. The S&P BSE Sensex ended 2015 within 1 percent of his year-end target of 25,800, the closest call among the gauge’s forecasters.