Margin pressures due to rising raw material costs will affect consumer stocks in 2025: Dhananjay Sinha
Dhananjay Sinha, Co Head of Equities & Head of Research, Systematix Group, says concerns have eased as the VIX index has fallen globally and in India, indicating a potential short-term improvement in market sentiment. The market is currently experiencing rotation and significant trading activity. However, Systematix’ outlook for the 2025 stock market suggests that margin pressures will continue due to rising raw material costs, particularly affecting companies in the consumer sector and related industries. There are also pressures in the metals, cement, and infrastructure sectors. Sinha is interested in the pharmaceutical sector and the recent changes in the consumer market. They plan to explore several opportunities in this area and have a positive outlook on e-commerce as well.
What are you making of the markets heading into next year, especially sectors like IT and pharma? IT has not done very well for itself, but pharma and real estate have outperformed the entire Street. Is the rally seen in both of these indices continuing heading into the next year?
Dhananjay Sinha: From a market standpoint, the market has been fairly choppy in the recent months. The key factor has been the fact that earnings season has not panned out that great. Over the last couple of quarters, there has been a contraction in the profitability of non-finance companies and that is impacting the earnings expectations from a consensus standpoint.
The consensus expectation generally starts with 16% growth and in the last couple of quarters,
