Chris Wood adds Axis Bank, Thermax to portfolio, increases L&T's weight

Christopher Wood, Global Head of Equity Strategy at Jefferies

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26 Aug, 2025 12:21

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Like several Indian money managers, Christopher Wood of Jefferies also seems gung-ho on private banks and capital goods sectors.

In a recent portfolio rejig, Wood has added Axis Bank with a 5 percent weighting and increased investment in Larsen & Toubro by one percentage point in the Asia ex-Japan long-only portfolio.

To accommodate this, he has removed ICICI Lombard General Insurance and reduced the investments in HDFC Bank and Reliance by one percentage point each.

In the India long-only portfolio, Thermax and Axis Bank have been introduced with 5 percent and 6 percent weighting respectively. To make place, ICICI Lombard General Insurance and Maruti Suzuki India have been removed and the investment in HDFC Life has been reduced by one percentage point.

Finally, in the Global long-only equity portfolio, the investments in HDFC Life, BNP Paribas and Schlumberger have been removed and replaced by investments in Axis Bank, TSMC and BYD.

Wood's move comes on the heels of Axis Bank's merger with Citibank's India consumer business. In Q4, the private lender reported a net loss of Rs 5,728.42 crore on account of acquisition costs.

If we exclude this exceptional item, the profit for the quarter would have been Rs 6,625.29 crore, a 61 percent growth from Rs 4,117.77 crore in the same period last year.

The bank's net interest income jumped by 33.1 percent on-year to Rs 11,742.2 crore, while the net interest margin improved by 73 basis points to 4.22 percent.

The stock has gained over 6 percent in the past one month. It is currently trading near Rs 920 level.

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