Market experts have these stocks on their radar for 2024

The Indian stock markets concluded the year 2023 on a positive note, recording a 20% increase, with the Nifty50 surpassing 21,700 and the Sensex crossing 72,000.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, and Ruchit Jain, Lead of Research at 5paisa.com, shared their top stock picks for 2024.

Khemka expressed optimism about the State Bank of India (SBI) within the underperforming banking sector, projecting a potential 25% return from current levels.

“We believe that there is a huge room in terms of valuation upside in PSU banks given that they are now gearing to sustainably deliver 1% plus return on assets (RoAs) and within that State Bank of India is targeting 1.2% return on asset (RoA) and 20% return on equity (RoE). So with these kind of return ratios and consistent growth in the core business, we believe that SBI would be one of our preferred picks within the overall banking space," Khemka said.

The domestic broking firm has revised its target price for SBI upward to ₹800,  an upside of 25% from current levels..

The Mumbai-headquartered banks, which has a market capitalisation of ₹5,72,379 crore, has returned around 9% over the last six months.

Ruchit Jain echoed Khemka's sentiments, citing strong volume support for SBI's upward price moves, giving the stock a buy rating with an initial target of ₹740.

Investor sentiment received a boost in November and December, fuelled by global interest rate stabilisation and enhanced political stability ahead of the 2024 general elections. These factors contributed to upgrades in India's rating and GDP growth forecasts by global firms.

Khemka believes that despite geopolitical concerns crude oil is likely to stabilise around $90 per barrel, benefiting Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). With ONGC planning to increase production to 50 MMtoe (million metric tonnes of oil equivalent), Khemka set a price target of ₹235, indicating a 15% upside.

ONGC, based in New Delhi, ranks 11th among global energy majors, boasting a market cap of ₹2,58,336 crore and a 26% return over the last six months.

Khemka also expressed positivity about Coal India, the world's largest government-owned coal producer, citing its favourable position to capitalize on the power sector's growth. With domestic power demand expected to grow at 1.1x GDP, reaching 1,750bu in FY24, Khemka assigned a buy rating to the stock, setting a target price of ₹430, suggesting a 14% upside.