Abhijit Akella
IIFL
First-place appearances: 0

Total appearances: 2

Analyst debut: 2012

IIFL’s Abhijit Akella repeats in second place, in part because he provides “comprehensive evaluations of all relevant issues and timely, objective recommendations,” according to one portfolio manager. Among the ten stocks Akella tracks is Coromandel International. He reiterated his reduce rating on the Secunderabad-based fertilizer and pesticide manufacturer in October 2012, at 278.78 rupees. Rising production costs and input raw materials prices were exerting downward pressure on earnings, he explains. By July, Coromandel’s shares had fallen to 165.60 rupees, which he deemed a bargain, so he upgraded the stock to add. By mid-October it had rallied to 225.40 rupees. A current top name is PI Industries, which the analyst began covering in March 2012 with a buy rating, citing a strong order book and product pipeline for the manufacturer of synthetic crop-protection chemicals. Through mid-October 2013 the Gurgaon-based company’s shares soared a split-adjusted 62.4 percent, to 166 rupees, against the S&P BSE Sensex Index’s 17.4 percent gain. Akella judges the stock still undervalued, noting that PI is “likely to report continued strong growth in earnings.” — Ben Mattlin