Subex fails to cheer Merry Lunch

STREET SIGNS

The interest at the India Cement counter continues. After the Big Bank's desi fund bought the shares at Rs 99 levels last week, it was the turn of AB Amre to buy the stock at Rs 111 levels.

The scrip has found support above Rs 100 levels after slipping recently. The company had recently announced that it has acquired over 50 per cent stake in Andhra Pradesh based unlisted cement company - Visaka Cement Industry. With the outlook on cement prices firm, the funds who have bought the stock seem to be on a strong footing.

Analysts anticipate a 5-7 per cent rise in cement prices in the country this year. However, some investors in the company like Stargate Investments Ltd of the Sanmar Group had offloaded the stock recently. Stargate sold 2.52 per cent stake in India Cements in late September, thus bringing down it's holding in the company to 10.74 per cent.

Merry dumps Subex
Merry Lynch seems to have had enough of Subex Systems and sold the shares at Rs 604 levels. May be the disillusionment has something to do with the fact that the stock has risen by only 20 per cent in the past three months, which is nothing much to write home about, whne you compare the insane rise in prices in some other mid-cap counters.

Subex has recently emerged as a leading telecom software product by collaborating with some of the leading global telecom carriers by offering a suite of products.

The company's acquisitions had also enabled it to emerge as the world's largest supplier of fraud management solutions, even over taking Hewlett Packard (HP) in the process. But if the stock price doesn't support the fundamentals, then even Merry Lunch is bound to be disappointed.

HS Busy prefers tea
HS Busy was a buyer at the Tata Tea counter. The fund is said to have bought some four lakh shares at the counter at a price of Rs 850. Not that HS Busy is alone in its admiration for Tata Tea.

Merry Lunch had recently declared its liking for the stock and had put a price target of Rs 975 by the end of August 2006. Merry Lunch forecasts that Tata Tea's EPS would grow by 18 per cent in FY06 and 18 per cent next year.

According to them, the key drivers in the domestic business are healthy volume growth in the branded business and cost reduction through divestiture of the loss-making plantation business. However, it did point out that weak commodity prices in the domestic market could upset its calculations.

In other news...
The French Bank was a buyer at Videocon International counter, with the buying taking place at Rs 94 levels.

The scrip has seen buying interest after Videcon International's parent company, Videocon Industries said that said it has got shareholders consent for amalgamating Videocon International with itself and has completed the acquisition of picture tube units of French major Thomson.

Videocon International acquired Thomson's picture tube units in June this year for 240 million euros. The deal was a zero debt deal.