6 stocks that lost love of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala; did he lose money?

Many investors idolize Rakesh Jhunjhunwala for his savvy investments in stock markets. After all, the ace investor has mastered the key of patience, persistence and effort when it comes to his appetite for equities.

Representational Image: Photo: Reuters

The September 2018 quarter was very busy for ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. His strategy was in place and many new interesting investments were in the works. However, it was this very quarter when both Sensex and Nifty 50 were losing their shine to such an extent that they have now fallen below 34,000-mark and 10,200-level. During this time, the Dalal Street king was unstoppable as he invested more money in six of his favorite stocks, while adding two new companies into his portfolio. In the midst of all this buying, Jhunjhunwala also sold some stocks. A total of six companies saw his love fading away, as he removed hefty amounts of money from them.

Many investors idolize Rakesh Jhunjhunwala for his savvy investments in stock markets. After all, the ace investor has mastered the key of patience, persistence and effort when it comes to his appetite for equities.

Jhunjhunwala made a massive cut in Jaiprakash Associates, by as much as 0.93% taking his overall holding down to 1.13% from previous 2.06%. Now he holds about 27,500,000 equity shares worth Rs 149.7 crore.

It was interesting to notice that Jhunjhunwala slash his holding down in JP, after all this was his latest newly added company - in June 2018 quarter. In fact, Jhunjhunwala has also increased his holding in this company by end of June month. Everybody doubted his strategy, asking why would Jhunjhunwala want to purchase any stock of JP as the company was trapped in debt and controversies on the back of its subsidiary Jaypee Infratech which is at the edge of insolvency.

But Jhunjhunwala worked against all the odds and chose to increase his investment in JP. In June 2018, Jhunjhunwala added another 0.83% in the company. He held 2.06% with 50,000,000 shares in Jaiprakash.

However, looks like Jhunjhunwala was not earning anything great in JP - the stock has dropped tremendously and is now trading in single-digits. By end of April 2018, Jaiprakash was trading near Rs 20.2-mark, however, by end of September 2018 the company slipped by over 67% and was at Rs 6.62-level. In current month, the company has recorded an all-time low of Rs 6.01 per piece.

Coming to the second highest investment cut, Jhunjhunwala trimmed his holding by 0.26% in Rallis India. Now he holds about 9.41% in Rallis with 18,305,820 equity shares worth Rs 374.6 crore. Earlier he had held about 9.71% in the company.

Trading in Rallis was quite volatile in last three months. Rallis India was over Rs 209 per piece in August month, and dropped by over 13% and was near Rs 180 per piece by end of September 2018. In October month, the stock touched a low of Rs 169.05 per piece which results in nearly 42% decline from high of Rs 289.40 recorded in December 2017.

Notably, Jhunjhunwala also removed money from pharma major Lupin by 0.16% taking his holding down to 1.74% from previous 1.95%. He now holds about 8,098,605 equity shares worth Rs 714.7 crore.

Lupin was the second stock in which Jhunjhunwala had added money in June quarter after Jaiprakash.

Trading in Lupin was also very volatile as pharma sector saw heavy selling by end of September 2018. Lupin which rose from Rs 808.05 per piece in August 10, 2018 to a massive Rs 966.4 per piece on September 14, 2018 staring in the eye of Rs 1,000-mark. However, within just last two week of September month, Lupin reversed its gain and was below Rs 860-level. The stock has plunged by nearly 12% from September 14 to September 30.

Delta Corp was also among the companies that saw Jhunjhunwala's interest in them disappearing. Jhunjhunwala removed about 0.10% in Delta taking his holding down to 7.38% from previous 7.48%. He now has about 20,000,000 equity shares in Delta, which are worth Rs 440 crore.

Just like Lupin, Delta also saw its performance slipping in last three months, as by end of August month the company was trading near Rs 274 mark, however, by end of September the stock came downto Rs 210.4 per piece - a drop of 23.21%.

Moving ahead, Jhunjhunwala removed his money gradually from Prakash Industries and NCC by as much as 0.06% and 0.05% respectively.
He now holds about 1.53% in Prakash with 2,500,000 equity shares worth Rs 26.3 crore. By end of June 2018, Jhunjhunwala had 1.59% stake in Prakash.

In last three months, trading in Prakash was quite mixed. In the start of August, the stock was near Rs 156-mark, however it dropped to as much as Rs 138-level by end of the same month. In first week of September, the stock shot up to Rs 158, but saw its days decline by 28% and even clocked to Rs 113-level in end of same month.

Shockingly, Prakash in fact today has touched an all-tome low of Rs 101.65 per piece which would be an overall loss of 63% if compared from high of Rs 276 per piece registered in January 2018.

Then in NCC he now has 9.45% with 56,708,266 equity shares worth Rs 374.6 crore. Holdings in NCC was at 9.50% in June quarter.

NCC is also among the companies like Lupin and Jaiprakash, where Jhunjhunwala had made investment in June quarter.

The stock price of NCC traded between Rs 90 to Rs 103 from July to September 03. However, as everything tumbled in Sensex, the company also plunged by over 29% and has been below Rs 73-mark since then.

Guess what! Yesterday, NCC even clocked an all-time low of Rs 63.90 per piece resulting in loss of 55% from its all-time high of Rs 141.85 witnessed in January 2018.

Hence, the above six companies must have made losses for Jhunjhunwala. However, Jhunjhunwala is the master of equities, he is even called the Warren Buffett of India, and volatility in stocks does not bother him. He once said in an interview, 'in any market at any stage some stocks are going to underperform and some are going to outperform'.

Moreover, when Jhunjhunwala removed money from the above six companies, he must have invested in the 8 companies that he had found faith in at that time.

He invested in pharma service provider Fortis Healthcare and low-cost carrier SpiceJet. He has purchased about 2.41% in Fortis Healthcare which accumulated to 12,500,000 equity shares worth Rs 164.1 crore. In SpiceJet, the investor has bought 7,500,000 equity shares which are worth Rs 54 crore. With this, Jhunjhunwala’s holding stands at 1.25% in the airline.

Jhunjhunwala has bought about 0.43% extra in NBFC-giant Dewan Housing Finance Limited. Now his holding stands at 3.19% in DHFL from previous 2.76%. He has now 1 crore shares in the company, which are worth Rs 188.4 crore.

Going ahead, TV18 was the second company where Jhunjhunwala made heavy investment. He had increased his holding in TV18 by 0.37% to 2.97% from previous 2.60%. He now holds about 50,810,000 equity shares worth Rs 184.2 crore.

Similarly, Jhunjhunwala increased holding by 0.31% in Jubilant Life Science to 1.57% from previous 1.26%. He now has about 2,500,000 equity shares in Jubilant worth Rs 162.5 crore.

Surprisingly, Jhunjhunwala has charted only a gradual rise in investment in his favorite stock Titan Company, which is also the highest return provider for the investor.

Furthermore, Jhunjhunwala also raised his holding by 0.04% and 0.02% in Escorts and Federal Bank.

Jhunjhunwala’s top holding is still in Titan, followed by companies like NCC, Escorts, Dewan Housing, Lupin, Crisil and Delta Corp.

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