Private sector banks – the biggest part of the BFSI space– have continued to underperform the market, which now makes them attractive on relative value while they were always sound on quality. Growth is where there are some concerns – Preethi is looking for pick up in corporate credit growth to get the much awaited momentum going for these stocks.
The PSU bank mean reversion play is largely done and on balance, Preethi sees more value now in private sector banks.
Life insurance is looking interesting, now that the regulatory risk overhang seems to be receding. She cautions however not to expect valuation multiples of the past.
Capital market segment has seen tremendous wealth creation over the last couple of years and valuations now in many parts are looking challenging. Preethi prefers AMCs and RTAs now over stock brokers, wealth managers and exchanges.
UTI BFSI Fund has delivered a steady 2ndquartile performance over 1 and 3 yr timeframes. Underweight in the large private sector banks contributed positively towards performance while her cautious stance on capital market players dragged down relative performance vs some peers.
Preethi is most comfortable deploying incremental cash today into large private sector banks and life insurance companies.