Pharmaceutical stocks climb new highs amid record spikes in Covid-19 cases

By Sanjay Maurya

News Highlights

India reported nearly 3.16 lakh new cases and a record 2,104 deaths in the past 24 hours.
Panacea Biotech stock was in the top 10 percent upper circuit at INR 323.70 for the 2nd straight day, hitting a 12-year high on the BSE on 22 April.
The index has won around 9 percent, at the same time as Nifty is down approximately5 percent.

Pharmaceutical stocks scale fresh highs amid record rise in Covid-19 cases

India has reported nearly 3.16 lakh new cases and a record of 2,104 deaths in the past 24 hours. This is the first time the country has crossed the three-lakh mark for new infections.

Pharmaceutical stocks outperformed benchmarks today on a record high of 3.16 lakh Covid -19 cases in the last 24 hours. When Sensex traded 200 more points yesterday (22 April), the BSE health index rose 258 points on 23,633 shares in Suven Life Sciences (plus 18.36%), Morepen Labs (plus 15.44%), Necter Life Sciences (plus 14.94%), AstraZeneca Pharma (plus 13.44%) and Panacea Biotech (up to 10%) these included the main beneficiaries of the pharmaceutical sector.

Panacea Biotech stock came in the top 10% upper circuit at INR 323.70 for the 2nd straight day, hitting a 12-year high on the BSE on Thursday. The Apolo Hospitals share price also reached a new 52-week high in today’s meeting. Numerous brokers expect that the Indian pharmaceutical sector is poised for a valuation upgrade & likely to reward investors with double profits.

“The biggest players in the sector can make more than the smallest, and the fragmented market share allows the biggest players to expand their market share,” Brokerage IIFL Securities said in a note. Potential for runtime growth of 11-12 percent, and national diagnostic chains would continue to outperform industry growth. Increased health awareness following COVID-19, the specialty and household collections segment, would continue to lead to insights, “he added.

The company noted that post-COVID-19 healthcare could remain a focus and could drive more specialized prevention and wellness testing, as well as home collections.

“The indexed Indian diagnostic companies (Dr. Lal, Metropolis, and Thyrocare) change at median valuations of approximately 49 times FY23 PER (price-income ratio),” it said.

Last 1 month, the pharma index has great performance frontline indices. This month so far, the index has won 9 percent, at the same time as Nifty is down approximately 3.5 percent. Expect pharma shares to preserve growth and outperform Nifty over the medium period as Covid 19 cases continue to reached fresh highs almost every day in the country.