Check out the mid and large-cap stocks where delivery ratio has jumped

Stocks move due to activities of two sets of participants in capital markets: traders and investors. While traders are also investors, they are essentially short-term momentum investors. In fact, some traders invest for as short a time period as a few minutes or a few hours within a single trading session or day.

A stock could be a traders’ favourite because of volatility in the price providing an opportunity to take advantage of sharp ups and downs, but it could still provide a meaningful opportunity for long-term investors to put some of their money.

One filter that some long-term investors use to decide on new stock picks is where the delivery ratio of stocks is high. The delivery ratio represents the proportion of shares that have changed hands for good and not just for intra-day trading. Stocks with high delivery means that people took positions in those stocks at least for a few days or possibly even for months or years.

We scanned through the data to find out stocks that have seen higher delivery ratios on Monday, February 28, compared with the previous trading day as also the average of the previous month along with strong volumes.

The exercise sprung out names of nine large-cap stocks, or those with current market valuation of at least Rs 20,000 crore. These companies are Kotak Mahindra Bank, Siemens, United Breweries, Alkem Labs, Cadila Healthcare, TVS Motor, Schaeffler India, Bata, Ipca Labs and GMR Infrastructure.

While these large-cap companies have seen their delivery ratio rise over the past month, notably none of them is in the 70%-plus range.

This shows that while the trading activity has given way to some long-term picks by investors, they are not yet going all out to bulk up on the counters given the volatile state of the markets with uncertainty due to geopolitical activity and its repercussions on oil prices and other businesses.

Mid-cap picks

It’s not just the large caps where some counters have seen an increase in delivery ratios. If we pick mid-cap stocks, with current market cap in the Rs 5,000-20,000 crore range, at least 19 companies have seen visible change in delivery ratios above the 50% mark.

These include Clean Science & Technologies, Ramco Cements, Ajanta Pharma, WABCO India, Alembic Pharma, Blue Dart Express, GR Infraprojects, Nuvoco Vistas, Apollo Tyres, IIFL Finance, Ratnamani Metals and Blue Star. 

Lower down the order, we have names like KNR Constructions, Gujarat Narmada Valley, RHI Magnesita, Mahanagar Gas, Deepak Fertilisers, India Cements and Jyothy Labs.