Shares in Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, rose as much as 3.3% after brokerage JP Morgan upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral and raised its target price to Rs 160 from Rs 145, citing expectations of robust earnings growth and strong performance at Mundra Port.
"We think Mundra Port is in a sweet spot over the next five years with spare capacities in high growth coal and container cargo segments," said JP Morgan in a note.
Consolidated annual compunded EPS is estimated at 35% over FY12-17 with average 26-27% return on equity, which merits a "valuation premium," said the investment bank.
The bank also says a scalable non-major port alternative to Mundra on the west coast is still elusive.
Adani Port has underperformed Nifty in 2012, rising 10% versus 15.3% gains in the broader index.
Adani Port was last up 2% at Rs 132.20.
